Moving on from a Mixte

I have discovered something about myself and Mixtes.  When I'm building one for someone, like a sister in law, or niece or daughter, I enjoy the process.  When I am building one on spec, not so much.

I found the above Mixte at bike works in September of 2015, it was $32.50, it was all there, the paint and decals were in good shape, sold.  I really disliked the bars for some reason,  too much rise I think, and I quickly replaced them with a Wald bar with 2.5 inch rise.  I had picked up a set of grips at the sale as the ones on the bike had seen better days and the new ones were a buck.

I wasn't wise in the ways of rubber grips then and I don't think I prepped them very well and they only ended up going on about half way.  For some reason I let that defeat me, the bike got put aside, then put outside where it languished for at least a year.  It was on a covered porch but it still allowed the new bars to start to get some surface rust - bad Ryan!!

Last fall as unemployment wore on I brought the bike back in, thinking I could fix it fast and sell it, that was in October.  I saw it everyday from my favorite chair for months and I finally got fed up and in the stand it went.

I was too broke to list it for what I paid and too apathetic about it to do a complete tear down, so I made a list, poured an IPA, put on some John Lee Hooker and got to work.

Since grips had sidelined this project I thought I would tackle them first,  I got the grips from bike works off the bars and set them aside.  I'm still mad at them and didn't want to jinx the project by reusing them.  I had some rubber grips, still new in packaging that I think I had got for a 3 speed, which I decided to use instead.  I have learned since the 2015 fiasco that dish soap is your friend for mounting rubber grips.  It makes things slick but eventually evaporates. I coated the inside of the grip and lightly coated the bar and got them started...

And then I reached for the "persuader" to finish the job.

Grip problem solved!

At one point, early on I think, I removed an important part of the rack and the equally important hardware and instead of putting them in a baggie and taping them to the rack I put them down...somewhere.  I do not remember where and they are nowhere to be found, so I just removed the rack.  It was going to bug me anyway because they designed this bike with such a short seat tube that this particular rack was never going to be level.  I hate slanty racks.  

The bike also came with fenders but both front and back were rubbing on the tires and since fixing fender lines can take 20 minutes or 20 hours, I chose to just remove them.

The tires that came with the Mixte, as is often the case with vintage bikes, were dry rotted.  Normally I would go with some nice gum-wall tires but I didn't want to spend a penny more than necessary on this project, so I went with the Specialized Tri-Sports that I took off the Passage.  

I also used the saddle that came with the Passage as both it and the tires are basically new.

I really though I could get the Mixte up and running with out a penny out of pocket but it turns out I needed two mountain bike style brake cables (round end) and I only had one.

I have a whole box of cables and I had probably 5 or 6 road bike brake cables but only one with a mountain bike end.  Sigh..... off to the bike shop.

Dang, I forgot I can't go to the shop a mile away, it closed!  (sad trombone) I liked that place and the owner so I'm sorry they didn't last.  I ended up going to Bike Works and got the cable for $2.00, probably would have been cheaper on Amazon but I wanted it NOW and I like supporting Bike Works.

And so the Mixte is done.  It wasn't a complete tear down rehab, I didn't touch the bearings,  and the price and description will reflect that, but it is a functional bike.  And yes I know that a brown saddle and black grips is a fashion disaster but I don't care! I want it gone!!!

I ended up doing the following:

• Wipe down frame and fork with armor all wipes
• Sanded brake shoes
• New grips
• Newish tires and tubes (under 25 miles)
• New saddle
• New brake cables and housing
• New RD cable and housing
• Adjusted shifting 
• Adjusted brakes
• Gave the chain and FW a WD 40 spray and wipe down and lubed the chain.
• Greased seat post and stem

It would be on CL right now except that I am heading out of town in the morning and I don't want to be the guy who lists something and then isn't around to show it.  My trip out of town is somewhat impulsive and involves a bike...(cue maniacal laughter).  More to come.

EDIT (3/38/18) after languishing on CL with the brown saddle for a few weeks I broke down and swapped to a sprung black one I had in the parts bin.  Will see if that and lowering the price from its already reasonable amount will shift it.

Bike sale score 1980 Raleigh Rapide Ladies (Mixte)

I don't know about you but I have a tough time walking away from a used bike sale and bike works is a cool non profit I love to support, many of the bikes that grace these pages originated there, so of course I had to go.  I failed to get a picture of the selection but there were probably about 100 bikes out for sale, mostly old 10 speeds but some mountain bikes and maybe 30 frame only options.  I immediately gravitated to the 10 speed rack and I looked over a couple Peugeots but surface rust or lack or parts turned me away, I almost picked up a Peugeot just for the non standard but very nice Sun Tour power ratchet bar end shifters it sported but decided to move on.  I had also noticed that many of the bikes had 25-50% off tags on them and they were already fairly reasonably priced -a least by Craigslist standards.

my prize the Raleigh Rapide Mixte

After making a few rounds I zero'd on on a Raleigh Rapide Mixte as my top prospect.  Why among lots of bikes did I pick this one you ask?  Well let my take you through my thought process;

• Sporting a 50% off tag Check - so this $65 bike was $32.50
• Paint and decals in very good condition Check- the paint actually sparkled
• No obvious issues Check - frame and fork appeared straight, it had all its parts, no surface rust
• Extras? Fenders, Rack and Kickstand Check - nice for a city bike
• Classic split tube mixte and not a single down-tube? Check

In addition to checking all the boxes above all the things I did not like about the bike are easy to change.  The bell is trashed - pretty sure I have a brass bell in the parts bin.

how do bells get this trashed!?

Saddle is faded and torn no worries I have a new WTB saddle in my parts bin I have been meaning to use on a project.

straight to the garbage with you

The foam grips are all dried out and I have never like that style, problem solved by the faux leather grips they were selling at check out for $1

out with the old

In with the new

The thing that bothered me most about this bike, and perhaps why no one else snatched it up, are the high rise bars.  I am sure they were much more functional than the original drops for the previous owner but to me they just don't look right, maybe its the deer antler quality but I know the bars are going.

that ain't right 

Fortunately I have done two previous mixte road drop bar to city bar conversions and I know exactly the bar I want.  It's cheap, made in the USA and is more in the "north road" style of the Raleigh 3-speed.

Wald 2.5 inch rise bar

I am not sure what it is about me and used bike swaps and semi-obscure Raleigh's.  When I went to the University of Washington's year end clear out two years ago I came away with a Raleigh Reliant for $5.  And todays it's a Raleigh Rapide, I did a little digging and found out it was the entry level 10 speed in their line up in 1980, nothing special but solids parts.

1980 Rapide Mixte Catalog shot

As I looked closer after deciding this bike was the one I noticed the nice mix  of Sun Tour drive train parts.

Power ratchet Stem shifters

Raleigh Branded rear derailleur

And even the fenders and rack were a cut above, the rack was Pletchser and even though the frame is made in Taiwan the fenders come from England.

This project won't be a frame up rehab and it also won't be a pump up the tires and wipe down the frame flip but something in-between.  I have been posting like a crazy man of late, hopefully my next post will actually be some bike work getting done.  

Until next time, Ride.Smile and repeat.

Le Mixte Français Part Deux

Hello friends! after a long hiatus I am finally posting.  I got this PH18L Peugeot Mixte back in March because I had Mixtes on the brain (curse you Mixte Heaven) and it was a great price and I thought I could build it up as a nice ladies city bike.  I then recalled that my daughter had outgrown her bike and the grandparents had promised a bike as a birthday present (January).  Since this was a small size I asked the girl if she liked it, she did, and checked the size, it fit, and then checked to see if the grandparents had done anything about a new bike, they hadn't, and if they were interested in financing the bike and new parts if I supplied the labor, they were.  So with all that settled I ordered some parts and then promptly did nothing.

The bike had serviceable tires one it but they showed their age and had kind of a ugly mustard brown sidewall so I asked the girl what kind of tire she wanted showing her a variety of options, she chose the Schwable Delta cruiser white walls.  Very nice.

The cables were also serviceable but were a fraying mismash of blue housing that matched the bike color (probably original) and basic black so once again I showed the girl a variety of options and she went with the Jagwire gold braided.  She has style that girl and she will be my consultant on all future mixte builds.

The original saddle was also serviceable but tired and it had a tear in it so the girl picked out this basic Selle Royale city cruiser saddle.

As I said this bike sat for months for reasons I don't quite understand myself but it dawned on me that A) summer was slipping away, B) the grandparents were asking how the bike was coming along and C) I didn't have to do a complete tear down (gasp) I just needed to make it rideable for the summer.  So that is my dirty little secret on this bike, I am doing it backwards, I hung all the pretty new parts so it can be ridden now and when the dark, damp winter comes I will do the hidden work on bearings and the like.

Now even though I took a "short cut" to get this bike on the road while the sun is still high in the sky I did put in some work;

• Seat post removed and greased
• Stem removed and greased
• frame wiped down with armor all wipes
• checked headset for play
• hubs checked for smoothness, wheels checked for true
• crank checked for smoothness and pedals for spin
• new shift and brake cables and housing and adjustments
• checked chain for wear then cleaned and lubed it, checked freewheel for wear
• new saddle
• new tires and tubes

This winter I will rebuild all the main bearings, give it a 3 step wax job and rebuild the pedals and maybe put on a new freewheel and chain but it was great to see the smile on my girls face when she saw the finished product today and got to ride it it around.

it actually works!

In profile

Front view

rear view

I half jokingly told her that she is my rolling billboard and that if any ladies compliment her on the bike she can tell them that her dad can build them one.  Now I just need to ride my own bike and then I can go for a spin with my girl.  Then I can take my own advice and ride, smile and repeat.

Le Mixte Français

Lately I have been visiting Mixte Heaven on Facebook way too often and it has put Mixtes on my brain, especially the cool split tube european kind.  So there I was looking through Craigslist at Mixtes I didn't really need, and I came across a lovely blue Peugeot at a reasonable price.

Even at a good price it survived the weekend and I was able to pick it up during the week.  Turns out this bike is not just a Peugeot but a made for the french market one that came to Seattle with a French family who is going back to France and didn't want to lug a 30 lb. Mixte with them.

I haven't nailed down the exact model or year but its similar to the "all weather" UE-18 style bike.  Peugeot had different components for bikes in different markets.  This bike has 700c wheels rather than 27 inch and presta value tubes rather than schrader for instance.  Instead of center-pull brakes it has some entry level side pull brakes.  And I guess instead of north road handlebars these are Le Rue Nord.

I really like that this bike came standard with fenders and a cool integrated rear rack painted to match the frame,

unfortunately the bike didn't come with a front lamp although based on the bracket holes in the front fender it had one originally.  Another cool feature is the Peugeot branded bell which I understand are rare and expensive, I looked on ebay and one was for sale in the UK for $60, which is about what I paid for the entire bike.

The bike does have the standard 70s Peugeot drive-train, Simplex of course.

downtube Derlin simplex shifters

And now I really need to stop acquiring project bikes! although for this one I could probably do a "flip" if I really wanted to as its in nice shape to start.  I would like to give it the full treatment, however, and with spring coming and perhaps the addition of a basket I think it will fetch a good price.  On the other hand my daughter continues to sprout up and has outgrown her last bike and she likes the look of this one so maybe I will build it up for her.

Until next time ride, smile and repeat.