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Post by franco on Nov 16, 2020 22:21:53 GMT
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Post by wheelson on Nov 16, 2020 23:13:55 GMT
I will preface this by saying that Mrs.W is a quite petite 5’ 1” and is one who has always insisted on a “men’s” bike frame. This makes it exceptionally hard for me to fit her on standard vintage / classic bike frame. She’s also a critical care registered nurse so that reference in the article goes out the window. As far as baskets, after doing several over-the-bar incidents, I prefer not to have a metal lobster trap sized implement of self-destruction staring me in the face. Bells, mudguards, spoke and chain guards I’ve used for years, at least on my touring bikes. As I many times ride alone, I prefer not to be disabled by the environment or oblivious trail pedestrians. Mixties do not sell well here in Western Pennsylvania USA. We had a nice one in the shop for two years before it sold. Modern step-thru bikes and sloping top tube bikes do much better with women and older or physically challenged men. Best, John “wheelson” |
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Post by franco on Nov 16, 2020 23:41:05 GMT
As far as baskets, after doing several over-the-bar incidents, I prefer not to have a metal lobster trap sized implement of self-destruction staring me in the face. Best, John “wheelson” Haha, fair point John  |
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Post by wheelson on Nov 17, 2020 0:52:40 GMT
As far as baskets, after doing several over-the-bar incidents, I prefer not to have a metal lobster trap sized implement of self-destruction staring me in the face. Best, John “wheelson” Haha, fair point John [br Overall, though, I’m intrigued by mixties and briefly owned a really nice Austro Daimler a few years back. It didn’t fit our needs at the time and I passed it on. Really small frame mixties are pretty rare. Most also have rather long effective top tubes, which sort of shoots down the idea that they are just a woman’s bike. Best, John “wheelson” |
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Nov 17, 2020 1:00:59 GMT
People tend to see what they are looking for; I do see some of his logic. Nevertheless, I have always thought that step through frames were designed to allow a lady wearing a dress to ride a bike. They also work well with a kilt or thobe. Many of the very macho Hispanic men in this area prefer a step through frame as certain male parts are less likely to be damaged. As for baskets, every paper boy (or girl) had one. Timmy (Lassie TV show) had a basket.  Lassie and Timmy working on his bike by Jim_Gude, on Flickr Of course I have never been accused of being politically correct and (due to ignorance of the multitude of things that seem to offend) would fail if I tried. |
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Post by brianbutler on Nov 17, 2020 3:46:00 GMT
I like Timmy's pseudo-porthole chain ring.
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Post by oldroadietehachapi on Nov 17, 2020 5:25:45 GMT
Timmy's bike was a Schwinn American; I had one like it! Maybe that is why I like port hole cranksets?
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Post by wheelson on Nov 17, 2020 11:55:45 GMT
Timmy's bike was a Schwinn American; I had one like it! Maybe that is why I like port hole cranksets? Ah, the good old days, when owning a Schwinn was really something. Remember the “no time limit” guarantee when you could retrieve a broken Schwinn frame from a dumpster (tip?), take it to a Schwinn dealer and get a shiny new one, no questions asked? I saw a lot of “Timmy’s bike” in my 1960’s Schwinn shop job, still see a few in my 2000’s gig. In fact I just did a sympathetic restoration of one for a customer who was passing it down to the grandchildren. Old Schwinns never die! Best, John “wheelson” but no sympathy for modern Schwinns Western Pennsylvania USA |
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Post by brianbutler on Nov 17, 2020 14:12:02 GMT
On the dual topic of Schwinn's and mixtes, a few years ago I used this 1974 Schwinn Le Tour mixte as my main bike for a while. It was a good looking bike but I always thought there was too much flex in the frame, probably because of the single top tube and lack of continuity through the seat tube. Mixtes with double top tubes are probably more stable but I have not tried one. I took a weird crash on a rail trail using this bike, maybe because of a tree limb hidden in fallen leaves. Never did figure out the cause and it further damped my enthusiasm for this bike, so I stripped it for parts and threw away the frame.
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