This is being hashed out pretty good, so my nickle's worth of thought.
My wife wanted a nice bike, but, not a diamond frame. We found a very
cherry Motobecane Super Mirage mixte (1972-75) that a local woman tried
to race on. We bought it when she got a Colnago. Outfitted with some hi
grade french parts plus sew-ups, it was a fine bike indeed. I rode it
several times and I do mean it would just float and felt so light
riding. I jammed a few times on it and the frame flexed side to side. I
was 160 lbs then and rode hard daily. Wife was 110 lbs and and very
causual in riding. All she really liked was the 25 mile LAW rides! She
was happy, I was happy, it worked great for that causual light duty
purpose.
Now that we are retired I sure wished we'd kept it.
Dickey Greer
West Monroe,La