Originally Posted by base2

Soma Bona by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

19 pounds 14 ounces as pictured. That's with pedals, bottle cages & stainless steel bolts. I spent a good portion of today mating the Shimano brakes to TRP levers & doing a proper brake bleed with questionable supplies & incomplete resourses. I am proud to claim success. Holy moly does this bike stop good!

Merry Sales supplied the touch-up paint in 2 ounce bottles for the fork. I had no idea how much I would need, what paint it was, or how it would behave shot out of a proper HVLP paint gun. I got 6 bottles so that there would be plenty to experiment & learn with. The good guys at R&E Cycles were happy to do the work. To get a perfect match they ran several test samples. Apparently the proper combination of witchcraft is: White primer, paint mixed with reducer(?), clear coat. They should be commended for both the turn around time and the high quality execution. The results are indistinguishable from OEM. I have enough paint left over that I may commission them to do a matching pair of fenders.

After an email (that was not returned) to AX-Lightness, Ax-Lightness did finally let me add the 4200 Ergo handlebars in 420mm width to the online shopping cart for purchase after many weeks of fruitless 2x daily checks to their website. I understand that managing a retail website can be complicated and sometimes customers do indeed bring issues to the forefront that were unknown. I harbor no animosity over the (probably unnecessary) delay. I'm just glad that whatever issue happened on the backend is now sorted & to their credit the handlebars my hands prefer arrived in under 96 hours from the other side of the planet.

I did (at Kontact) swap the worthless Enve seatpost and Fizik Antares saddle from the test ride several posts up back to my Cervelo in favor of the Darimo seatpost & Ax-Lightness Leaf Plus 3k saddle. My backside prefers the Leaf Plus & the Cervelo is back to being a unified brand machine that continues to see little use these days. (I promise to think on this while I amble along the sidewalk. )

A shorter -18 degree Extralite 80mm stem & a half wrap of the handlebar with yellow/gold tacky Arundel Bar tape rounds out the build.

For anyone like me, you know the build never really stops. It just gets delayed until you find the next cool thing. All I can think of at the moment that I would consider is a Ti bolt upgrade, a single Carbon Works bottle cage & fantasize about how a THM Clavicula SE crankset with Extralite Octaramp MC chainrings would look quite dapper. I think it'll be quite some time on that front though for any of those thing to find their way towards my direction. I can be satisfied & still dream, can't I? I fantasize about that stuff for all my bikes!

Thanks all for following me on this journey.
I'll upload some photos from a good sunny day ride soon.

Base2

Originally Posted by Fredo76

Odds are this was somebody's Grandmothers mixte.


55 cm Raleigh Super Record mixte

It will be as high-performance as I can stand.

Thanks for the idea.

Originally Posted by SkinGriz

In case I missed it.
How tall are you?
Is 58cm the actual effective top tube length?

Thank you.

Originally Posted by base2

It's been a while since I promised action shots of this bike in the wild, as promised. Thanks for bubbling the thread back to the top of the feed.

Soma Buena Vista by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

Artist Point Mount Baker by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

So with that out of the way...
I measured the imaginary horizontal line from the center of the head tube to the the center of the seat post. By my clumsy hands it measures 57cm. I don't think that tells the whole story though with regards to Somas published specs, stack, reach, etc...Using the trusty level app on my iPhone the seat tube angle is a very definitive 75 degrees. This explains why I had to get the 25mm setback seat post and 80mm -18 degree stem now pictured.

While I was at it, I took the liberty of measuring the head tube angle. 73 degrees on the nose. I ran the numbers through yojimg and with the 700x38 tires it spit out a trail of 59mm (56mm mechanical trail, whatever that means.) What I do know is that this bike rides very nimble with a light, effortless responsive touch. Quite similar in manner to my Cervelo R5, if I'm honest.

I am 5 foot 11&1/2 inches tall with a normal torso, longish arms & shortish legs.

Originally Posted by base2

Soma Bona by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

19 pounds 14 ounces as pictured.

Originally Posted by smd4

I’m thinking you might want to recalibrate your scale. I don’t believe that weight for one minute.

Originally Posted by base2

Ok. Putting aside snark about how reality doesn’t care what you believe, Here are some pictures of the filthy bike detailing the build up close. The weights are all verifiable from the parts manufacturers if you so desire to investigate further.

The weight:
IMG_1495 by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr
It's actually dropped a bit from earlier in the thread because I pulled an EDCO 11 speed 11-28 cassette and Ultegra 6800 derailleur from the parts bin because I decided they suited my strength and terrain better.

Carbon-Ti 160mm rotor held on with Extralite titanium bolts mated to Shimano caliper affixed with titanium bolts to custom painted 450 gram Whiskey 7 fork and Extralite Skewer


Really long M5 & 20mm M8 titanium bolts from Ti-64, Carbon-Ti rotor, Shimano Caliper affixed with Extralite titanium bolts, Extralite Aliens 4 skewer. I really ought to swap out the IS mounting bolts for something Ti, but Hey! I'll get there someday.


Extralite UltraTop (and UltraBottom) Headset Extralite 80mm -18 stem with Garmin computer and GoPro mount and , 3d printed Extralite spacer. Yellow Arundel bar tape in background. Messy excessive anti-seize application prominent.


AX-Lightness ERGO 4200 Handlebar, UltraBottom lower headset, computer/GoPro mount (for headlight), weight-weenie style wrap of Arundel bar tape, TRP hydraulic brake levers saddle, seat post. Shimano A6xx pedals, yada-yada


Darimo T2 SB25 250mm 27.2 seat post, reinforced version manufactured for me by request, AX-Lightness Leaf Plus


1209 gram wheel set made from 28/24 Stans Grail CB7 rims laced with Berd spokes to White Industries XMR hubs upon which Panaracer Graveling 700x38 tires have been installed, in tubeless configuration with 100ml of Orange Seal installed in each.


Next up to swap out here in the build process is a $19 Euro titanium seat post binder bolt from Titanium Planet that’ll save me a whopping (& super important ) 6.5 grams, and waiting through the gawd-awful lead time on the THM Clavicula Crankset to mount the Octaramp RC2 round chainrings. I like the Quarq, but the Dub bottom brackets just don't last very long.

Originally Posted by SkinGriz

What would you guess it would weigh if you didn’t try to save weight?
Aluminum and steel parts, stock fork, etc.

26lb?

Originally Posted by Trakhak

An additional (and seldom recognized) advantage of vintage mixtes for older riders is that they generally have longer head tubes than diamond-frame bikes of the same nominal frame size.

Originally Posted by SkinGriz

Why would that be an advantage for older riders?

Originally Posted by Doug Fattic

As a rider gets older, it is common that they might gain weight and lose some flexibility and as a result need to raise their handlebars higher to compensate. A longer head tube allows for the stem to go higher without going past the limit line or look goofy sticking out so far if they are going to use a Nitto Technomic. In the classic era with level top tubes, it was expected that the rider have their handlebars lower than their seat. So a mixte frame has 2 advantages. It not only has a longer head tube than a diamond frame of the same size but a rider can ride a bigger one (with a longer head tube) since there aren't any straddle issues.

Originally Posted by SkinGriz

Is the stem length issue mostly because of the “7” style stems?

I think the 7 in aluminum with a pinch bolt is inferior compared to other stem designs.

Originally Posted by Trakhak

Yes, of course, on both counts. But mixtes were pretty much gone from the market by the time that threadless headsets and stems and sloping top tubes started to become dominant.

Originally Posted by Trakhak

Yes, of course, on both counts. But mixtes were pretty much gone from the market by the time that threadless headsets and stems and sloping top tubes started to become dominant.

Originally Posted by Doug Fattic

Before mountain bikes, aluminum seat posts were only made fairly short to fit frames with level top tubes. Nobody wanted any more length (and weight) than necessary. I built some custom frames for really tall riders in the 70's and early 80's and the seat tubes had to be really long (making a big frame) so the seat post could be inserted far enough to get below the limit line.

In the same way in that era, most aluminum stems couldn't be raised very high because they were designed to have a minimum amount inserted into the steerer (to save weight) . They were designed for a racer's position.

Originally Posted by Trsnrtr

I ride with a woman who once owned a mixte made by Waterford. She's since owned a few regular bikes. No idea what happened to the Waterford.

Originally Posted by mams99

I've been looking for a high quality mixte for YEARS. Was hers a two tubes or one (if you remember). (And yes, I know this is an old thread I'm replying too).

There is one for sale drivable distance from me that is a two tube Waterford mixte 21 speed in canary yellow - seems to be a size small. Do you know type of riding she did? Anything with hills?

I once bought a mixte from REI (probably an electra?) and I promptly returned it. I couldn't make it out of my neighborhood hills! My cargo electric bike is a mixte frame and.I LOVE it. I never have to worry about what I'm wearing, difficulty of mounting and dismounting with a load, etc.

I once asked Soma about the Buena Vista (when I was asking about riding Ragbrai) and they said that bike might be difficult for that type of riding, so I've been scared to invest money in it new.