Jan,
I have a Rene Herse ladies mixte bike built for 650B wheels that is, like you say, a work of art. It was built in 1951 and it looks pretty much like the 1953 mixte pictured in the Rene Herse book. Mine is all chrome, but the blue one in the book is awsome also. I'm anxious to get her back together. The workmanship of this bike is really quite special and shows more that a mans bike does for sure. I'm hanging on to this one for sure.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
Finding a classic bike for a short rider, especially female, is simple: There are many lovely classic French 650B randonneur bikes out there. With that tire size, even a small frame (down to about 48 cm is common) can be designed to ride very nicely, and nicely they ride indeed.
Obviously, the old French "slack head angle + lots of fork offset = short trail" frame design lends itself to small frames, as toeclip overlap is minimized that way.
If you are willing to take a women's frame, from a second-tier maker, you have to pay mostly for the components - unfortunately, many of these bikes are taken apart, because their Maxi-Car hubs and JOS lights are worth several times the value of the entire bike.
Performance-wise, the mixte frames cannot give up too much to a men's frame - witness Lyli Herse's speeds in the technical trials! - and as far as workmanship, the extra joints mean that beautiful craftsmanship shows even more than with a men's frame. I know a 1950s Jo Routens mixte, fillet-brazed, that is absolutely sublime.
Lovely machines, crying for a good home. In fact, I rescued a lovely Ondet mixte, superlight, built-in rack, front derailleur under the chain guard, etc. that will need a new home once I have it back together.
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/