GamblerGORD53

The whole point of a Mixte is a women's TRANSPORTATION bike. Not far from a roadster type. LOL. Pretty sure I've never been passed by one.

Ironfish653

Ah, I see the gatekeepers have arrived..

Too late, boys; OP already bought the bike.

Maybe he'll put 20mm tubs on it so it'll feel as fast as a "proper" bike.

Ironfish653

I like where you headed with this build;
I have a friend who's turned to cycling as a way to recover/maintain some fitness after a life-changing illness, and get some recreation too. She's got a Schwinn step-through hybrid (i think it came with the house, lol) and it's it's good for now, at her current strength and mobility level, (she's got a couple of old service injuries too, that have now come to collect as well) but she hates that it's an "Old Lady Bike"

A sporty, modern mixtie would be exactly what kind of bike i'd like to put her on. Thanks to this thread, i've got leads on some "ready to ride" options, that dont involve sourcing and upgrading vintage iron, or a over-her-budget custom build.

Sy Reene

I'll continue to be intrigued by notion of building up one of these Galibier framesets.. but I'll likely never get around to it:

smd4

”Gatekeepers?” Please.

Good luck on finding 20mm tires. The real gatekeepers have assured that you can’t get them.

Darth Lefty 

oh hey! The roadies are here to tell us about fashion

smd4

A classic road bike is the epitome of fashion.

ShannonM

And a well-sorted drop-bar mixte is a classic road bike... Done right, bikes don't come much prettier.

--Shannon

SkinGriz

I don’t agree with the Riv hate people post.

I don’t love the threaded forks with the steep price.

SkinGriz

Looking fwd to build updates.

Fredo76

I just checked the Soma Buena Vista mixte on the website. A 54 cm one could be added to the cart, which would indicate they are available (site says five 54 cm and six 58 cm frames are available, but smaller ones are out of stock.) Looks to be rim-brake, however, but that would be fine with me.

bboy314

Same here, I’ve long been curious about these frames!

dedhed

base2 

Delivered today.
The frame weighs 6 pounds. 2.9 ounces aka 2809 grams.
The fork weighs 2 pounds 12 ounces or about 1248 grams.
8 pounds, 14.9 ounces 4057 grams for the metric inclined. Holy cr4p that's heavy!

6 pounds is what my kid's Cannondale H300 aluminum frame weighs. I don't see how that's a big deal. Not light but not particularly heavy. It has potential is all I'm sayin'...

The fork on the other hand, Yowza! WTF? So, first thing's first is finding a suitable fork. The photo below is a random WoundUp I pulled out of the parts bin. At 624g, it literally weighs half that of the OEM. OEM spec of the bike is 45mm rake which makes for about 67mm of trail. The one pictured has a rake of 47mm which ought to help with the steering quickness by a little bit.

Well mannered, I should think. Not racy, but passable. I dunno about the forks color though. I really think it should match & I'm not altogether decided on the fork in the picture. I have some stock to look through.

Mocked up with a wheelset by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

More to follow.

Darth Lefty 

A classic butted DF tube set was about 2200 grams plus lugs and dropouts. The sliding drops and mixte layout add some more.

Super thick forks built for cargo and disk brakes seem to be a hidden downfall for Surly bikes and some other steelies. They do nothing on Jan Henie’s supplometer

Fredo76

Congratulations!

I think the fork should match too. Bonus points for curvature. So, disk brakes and multiple braze-ons add some weight to the stock one - just suck it up, with pride!

squirtdad

I don't understand that fork. it is not what soma pictures as part of the frameset, maybe contact soma and see if you can get the matching fork


https://www.somafab.com/archives/pro...disc-frame-set

https://www.somafab.com/parts/forks

base2 

I have the OEM fork. It came with the frame. The problem is the OEM fork weighs a metric eph-tonne. It's not just that it's heavy, it's egregiously so. Like Soma didn't even try...& that is the problem. There are so many other better options in the world, why cheap out with bargain basement, cost cutting, heavy, second rate components?

I found a Whiskey 7 fork that looks to be a good fit with all the right specs. 450 grams as is. Brought it home with me. Lucky that it's 47mm of rake. The reduced trail ought to compliment a road-ish drop bar build & saved 800 grams (1&3/4 pounds) in the process.

I ordered a spot of Soma touch up paint to find out what color/type it is. Then, the Whiskey fork is off to a painter.

squirtdad

Got it, was thinking what you showed was OEM.....
reading comprehension 101, and don't rush

still looking forward to final build

Trakhak

More likely that's what testing revealed was the minimum weight necessary for a traditional-looking slender steel fork to withstand disc brake forces.

squirtdad

I've talked with a custom builder and early adopter of disc and he has said that he has to build forks for disc brakes much heavier than fork so rim brakes. and that ride suffers to some degree with the heavier forks

base2 

On the shakedown ride now. The first thing that strikes me is how far the handlebar & hoods are from where I anticipated them to be. Not bad, but a different stem & my preferred bars would be a welcome addition.

Next is how light & svelte 20 pounds 2 ounces feels. This is not your Grandmothers mixte. My first 5 miles took 17 minutes. The next 16:45 & 16:30. I'm no rocket surgeon but after 2 weeks off any bike & now nursing a cold that keeps me starving for air while just standing in my kitchen, I'd say that is reasonably nice enough performance for me.

For now, it's time to get the preferred handlebar/stem combo to narrow things up a bit & bring them closer. Then to re-route the brake hoses to their permanent, (internally routed) homes.

Shakedown ride by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

Oh, & the word of the day is "sublime."
S-U-B-L-I-M-E

squirtdad

Will be fun to see the final build....but without the bar mitts they just don't add to the aesthetics

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.

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