Hi all, I have always thought of a mixte frame, regardless of the French intentions of making a unisex frame (at a time when the Ladies still work skirts when cycling), as an attempt by a few manufacturers to make a genuine lightweight Ladies low top tube frame as opposed to the gas pipe Ladies frame. In my opinion the one essential of the mixte frame was an additional set of stays to the rear wheel aligned with the sloping top tube. My Wife has an ex-Mrs. Fred Delong 1940 Claud Butler Ladies Lightweight mixte that has a single down tube complete with the requisite additional stays. Cheers, Phil Easton, Cambria, California