how strong are mixte frames?

[winjim]

I want to pull mine out from 120 to 126 so I can actually find some alloy wheels to fit! But not sure if the mixte design would tolerate that sort of thing...

If it helps, the rim brake version of that Buena Vista frameset I posted has 132.5mm spacing, the idea being that you can fit either 130 or 135mm hubs. So they must be able to take some flex, although in this case it's only 2.5mm rather than a 6mm cold set.

 

[DCBassman]

If it helps, the rim brake version of that Buena Vista frameset I posted has 132.5mm spacing, the idea being that you can fit either 130 or 135mm hubs. So they must be able to take some flex, although in this case it's only 2.5mm rather than a 6mm cold set.

Yup, 2.5mm, I'd just go for it...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I want to pull mine out from 120 to 126 so I can actually find some alloy wheels to fit! But not sure if the mixte design would tolerate that sort of thing...

You'll probably be able to spring the stays open that much just by gripping them each side and having your thumbs jammed against the spokes as you force the axle into the dropouts. You've only got to get each side to deflect 1/8".

 

[carpenter]

............although I haven't done it because the amount it would get used probably doesn't justify the space an extra bike would take up.

You can stop that sort of talk right now

 

[RichardB]

They were made so women riding in skirts could get on and off in a dignified fashion. Women now dress the same as men when cycling so there is no market for them.

Also for men with mobility issues or disabilities that prevented them getting their leg over, as it were. Quite common frames BITD.

I just sold my wife's Dawes Lady Galaxy. She decided she would no longer ride it, so off it went. I found the ride a bit whippy, but otherwise fine. I'm sure a lighter person than myself would be fine with one. They are an excellent design. The lateral tubes give a bit of side-to-side triangulation which a standard men's frame doesn't have.

 

[Drago]

I like mixte frames, just a certain indefinable charm about them. On the continent they're regarded as unisex machines, hence the origin of the term "mixte", exactly as it sounds, and only in the UK are they strangely regards and ladies bikes.

 

[TheDoctor]

That Dawes ^^^ is properly nice.
*approves*

 

[matticus]

A step-through frame is certainly at an advantage when carrying anything on top of a rear rack.

Hmmm ... I wonder if hipster bike-packers might start to see that advantage ...

 

[rogerzilla]

The problem with those twin tubes is that they are pretty hopeless in resisting torsion between the bars and BB, which is the biggest cyclic stress a bike needs to cope with.

A Slingshot bike is mucb worse, though!

 

[RichardB]

That Dawes ^^^ is properly nice.
*approves*

Thank you. It was indeed a very nice little bike, and I was tempted to keep it, but it was a bit small for me. History, if it's of any interest: I bought a Dawes Galaxy in about 1985, and wanted to get my wife a 'matching' bike. Unfortunately, the dealer (County Cycles in Llanelli) didn't have/couldn't get a Lady Galaxy, but they did have an old-stock Lady Galaxy frame in the storeroom. I asked them to build it up with the same groupset as the gents' bike. I'm pretty sure from the frame graphics that the LG was a lot older than the gents' bike I got, but it looked nice and she was very happy with it. It went to France with us a few times and toured the Netherlands (probably the nicest holiday I can remember). It went to an enthusiast whose wife was taking up cycling seriously, so I'm happy it's gone to a good home.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I don't have any answers to your questions but here's a nice picture of a Claud Butler that I tarted up a few years ago.
View attachment 535438

Snap! This is an old barn find I rebuilt and sold on to a woman, I believe in her 60s or 70s, who used it on a London to Paris womens' ride.

She'd had her almost identical bike stolen a couple of weeks previously and loved it so much she trawled eBay and was willing to travel 160 miles to collect it.

I'd taken it on a few rides and was tempted to keep it but in the end the money was even more tempting.