Linda’s Mixte City Bike
Linda was looking for a comfortable and practical bike for cruising the springwater trail, some light grocery shopping, and occasional picnics. She was planning to stay mainly on pavement, though she wanted something capable of handling a gravel or bark chip trail.
She had lots of experience riding, though she’d never had a bike that truly fit. Her favorite bike she described as a “10-speed from the 70s”. And her most recent bike was a very cheap single speed beach cruiser that weighed in over 36 lbs! Which she liked, except that it was so difficult to ride up hills!
I proposed a mixte city bike with metal fenders, custom front platform rack, dynamo lighting, a 1x11 drivetrain, swept bars, and matchy-matchy orange accents (she was already set on bright green and orange).
I love building city bikes. There are so many little problems to solve to pull the whole thing together into a functional and beautiful ride. And if you’re going to build a city bike, a mixte is a classic choice.
The original design proposal. The bike ended up looking very much like this.
The frame is made of a mix of tubing. The seat tube, down tube, and head tube are columbus. The chainstays are very old stock true temper 1" round tapered tubes. The seat stays and the long top stays are 1/2" straight gauge 4130 aircraft tubing. The seat stays are perfectly straight, but I bent the long top stays so they'd tuck in a little closer to the seatpost.
I bent the long top stays to tuck in close to the seat post.
The bike is built to be very stable, even at super low speeds, but also sprightly and fun to ride. The chainstays are long - 437 mm. The bottom bracket is low - 80 mm of drop. The headtube is a slack 70 degrees. And the custom fork gives 77 mm of trail.
To complement the geometry, the bike has components for comfortable city riding. PNW Grips on the Velo-Orange granola bar handlebars, with Velo-Orange Grand Cru brake levers. A Brooks Cambium saddle. Portland Design Works full metal fenders. And a 165 mm crankset with a 32 tooth chainring paired with a SRAM 11 speed 10-42 tooth cassette, for plenty of hill climbing range. The wheels are Astral Cycling Outbacks, in size 700c.
In addition to the frame, I built a custom high-rise stem, fork, and platform rack.
The custom fork. The brake tab and dropout are actually two separate pieces, but it’s hard to tell because they blend together smoothly.
Custom high-rise stem with built in bell mount, and a little f badge hiding on the back of the steer tube.
There is a single lug on the frame, at the top of the seat tube. The seat stays are capped in the classic style.
Taillight wiring runs through the frame.
Love this view!
Integrated rear brake post mounts.
I routed the shift and rear brake cables through the long top stays, for a very clean look.
The frame from the front. The badges match the orange bits from Wolf Tooth components.
Love the little details! This is hidden on the inside of the fork crown.
Then to top it all off, we added a custom front bag from Lords Luggage.
That patch really ties the room together.
More little details!
The bike is a dream to ride! It’s comfortable, moderately upright, but also surprisingly agile. Linda has been riding it all around town since taking delivery last summer.