Franken-bike Part 1

A few months ago, I told Steve that I wanted to to the triathlon on a mixte bike.  (Mixte is what many people remember as a ladies bike.  To there's no top bar on the frame, instead both bars go lower.)  The last bike I really loved was a mixte.  I want another one and I want to ride it in my triathlon.

There are certainly no modern racing mixtes. Steve told me he'd research to see if there were any vintage mixte racing frames.  It turns out, that there were a very, very few built and they are generally expensive if you can find one.  I'm 5'8" with long legs, so I'd need an uncommon frame size which would make finding one even more of a challenge.  Plus, he'd have to find suitable parts all on the vintage market since modern parts might not fit  Steve said, it would be some sort of Franken-bike, but he'd try.

Once I knew the bike had ever existed on the planet, I knew Steve would find it.

He put together a list of specs that I don't understand.  Things like Reynolds 531 tubing and blahblahblah.   Steve has been searching the internet and visiting bike shops.  Finally we stopped into Velocult the vintage bike shop by our house.  And behold - a perfectly sized mixte frame and fork.  The shop owner just had it repainted and the original chrome fork is in perfect condition.

We snapped up my beautiful hot red Jeunet mixte.  Now that we had the frame and fork, we could start the search for parts.