ryansu

Nice Build Meg! I especially like the rack and the grips, I have fun building mixtes when I have someone to build them for. So far; a sister-in-law, niece, and my daughter and I built a step thru ladies 1980s MTB for the ex-wife that is kind of Mixte adjacent.

my niece bike build -basket was spec'd by her for Grad School


Raleigh record mixte finished by Ryan Surface, on Flickr

MegMC

MegMC

michael k

Very nice MegMC!
In your first photo the grips looked similar to those shellacked cork grips that were popular on the forum a few yrs. back. I thinking with Gumwalls and matching color seat it ties everything together. Any plans for a rear rack?
Btw, they do make *Shorty fenders but would probably look odd on your Mixte. They are more Form then function I believe.

canklecat

Yup, I'm using the cheap SunRace SML10 thumb friction shifters right now on my Univega Via Carisma. They work fine.

The original Shimano STI index thumb shifters finally got too glitchy to mess with. The front derailleur shifter started jumping over the middle chain ring a year or so and I couldn't fix it, so I switched to a single SunRace SLM10 for the front derailleur.

Then the right side Shimano STI for the rear derailleur failed this weekend, just as I was installing a Nitto albatross bar to replace the flat and riser bars I'd been using.

I didn't have anything else in the junk bin so I used the pair of SunRace SLM10 shifters. They look cheap but work fine. I'll use 'em for now while I'm pondering whether to keep the albatross bar. If I keep it I'll probably go with bar end shifters.

For now the SunRace thumbies on mounted on the middle of the albatross bar, next to the stem. It was impossible to work around the existing Shimano brake levers because they have the metal plates for mounting the STI shifters. There was no good place to set up the thumbies within convenient thumb range of the brakes, so I just moved 'em completely to the middle of the bar. I remembered my 1976 Motobecane Mirage had stem mounted shifters and it wasn't bad, although eventually I switched to downtube shifters.

I set the B screw to the slackest setting for smoother shifting. It's a bit slower but with friction shifting it doesn't matter. The cheap SunRace thumbies are a bit imprecise feeling anyway, and the mounting position near the stem makes shifting a bit twitchy. So more slop is better in this case. I may change it all up if I switch to bar end shifters.

Meanwhile I'm trying to decide between the SunRace bar end shifters, Dia Compe bar ends or other. And I'll need to replace the brake levers since the old levers look ungainly with the useless mounting plates.

Ideally I'd like to declutter the cockpit so I can wrap padded bar tape around the albatross bar ahead of the brake levers. That'll give me another hand position that's also more aero for windy days. Maybe some cork grips, I haven't decided yet. I have a couple of sets of low priced rubber grips to try for now.

And I need to switch the Univega from the stem mounted cantilever brake cable hanger for the front, to a separate cable hanger a little lower on the stem or head tube. Right now the front brake cable/housing loops above the bar and looks awkward.

I saw on another thread a fellow had used some of Jagwire's colored cable housing. I like that and may try some blue on my Univega's blue/black splattertastic paint.

I haven't decided yet whether to keep the original cantilever brakes or switch to linear pull for reduced finger effort. I joke around that the old style Shimano canti brakes are "can't deliver brakes" -- effective braking demands a lot of effort. On the plus side, there's little risk of locking up a wheel. I'm redoing the brakes now, after noticing the spring tension was set to the highest tension -- the middle position seems to be a good compromise between braking effort and snappy return.

MegMC