I never understood the true purpose of a mixte until my first trip to Europe. It was in Florence that I watched a very attractive lady wearing an impossibly tight skirt walk down the street, unlock a mixte and ride off. The skirt never would have survived had she mounted anything but a mixte. The image is burned into my brain as if it were yesterday. And just to keep it on-topic, the mixte was one of those ancient, lugged city bikes ubiquitous to the continent. I can't really think of another reason to build a bike that way but I'm interested if there are. BTW, I believe there is a certain nomenclature concerning these bikes. I think it was Jerry Moos who disabused me of the notion of a Paramount mixte. What is it Jerry, a split tube? I have three on-topic women's bikes: a 1974 Cinelli, a 1977? Jack Taylor and a 1970's Paramount and they are all built differently but I think the Taylor is the only one that is definitively a "mixte". I think this Holdsworth is one too but is built differently still, what with the reverse seat post clamp and the webbing where the twin tubes meet the seat tube. I'll try to post some pictures of the bikes in the next few days.
George Allen Lexington, Ky USA
Tom Sanders wrote:
>Billy David remarked that "mixtes are unisex not female specific". I really
>perked up my ears at this. I had not heard this said before. I have
>wondered for years why more mildly physically handicapped folks are not
>riding these instead of recumbents.
>
>Is this idea of the non-sex nature of them historically true or is it just
>Billy's and my own opinion? It sure could open up new choices for folks
>who have trouble swing a leg up over the seat, etc. Are any of our American
>One Person Shops that I love so much building a high quality Mixte? Could
>there be a new market there? I even like the looks of some I have seen.
>Most seem kind of junky, but I have see a few that were really great! A
>couple of years ago a really exciting Paramount Mixte went through E-Bay for
>less than $500.in retrospect, I really wish I had made a move on it, but my
>ideas on them were just nascent at the time.
>
>I haven't owned one (and then it was my wife's) for 30 years. How do folks
>find they ride and handle relative to a conventional bike?
>
>Tom Sanders
>
>Lansing, MI USA
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