Lesli sent some photos of her VO Mixte and it's simply stunning. This frame was built by Johnny Coast. Lesli wrote:
More formal ride/commuting report to come but I can tell you right now that the frame fits perfectly and is a total pleasure to ride. I'm amazed at how light and sporty the bike feels. It's definitely a distant, sports car cousin to my old Raleigh 3-speed. I can promise you that I'll be taking this bike out on a late season 200k just to test its randonneuring credentials. Louis Orsini did amazing work to put the bike together. Lots of small build/adjustments to make those old parts fit together (drilling, filing, shimming, etc). One special detail: he built me up one of his "special" derailleurs: coupling the body of an old Campy rally derailleur to the short cage of a Campagnolo Super record.
The chainguard is a VO prototype and I like it so much I'm going to start bugging Taiwan to hurry up and put it into production. The bars are Bellari Porteurs drilled for NOS CLB inverse levers. There are more photos here. Thanks Leslie.
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22 comments:
A wonderful bike, lots of nice details. The brake levers got me thinking about a post last year where VO was going to start making inverse brake levers. Is that still in the works?
Proper is right! Perfect Lesli!
Very nice, ultra clean and crisp, nicely dressed. What more could you want ? Thanks for sharing.
Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA
Need some feedback/suggestions on appropriate bags for this bike. Wicker or wire basket in the front for town use? And what sort of saddlebag or seatbag?
Stunning! Really, really nice.
I vote tan or olive canvas bags. Wire baskets are IMHO classier.
Black bike-black bag. Wire basket.
Dang, I love a mixte!
Do those bars come drilled like that? That seems like asking for sudden catastrophic failure if the bars aren't designed with that in mind.
Bars were drilled to accommodate levers.
Extremely classy. Right on point. Hope it brings you joy for years to come.
Peace, Erik
for the comparison
http://cgi.ebay.fr/VELO-70s-MIXTE-GOLD-PEUGEOT-TOURING-BIKE-MAFAC-SIMPLEX_W0QQitemZ320251556858QQihZ011QQcategoryZ115204QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
the hyperlink doesn't work here, so type MAFAC on ebay.fr and you'll find this 70's Peugeot mixte...
Perfect in every way! (oh, except that it needs leather-wrapped handlebar ends).
Using only the starboard shifter, you now have a really nice key fob.
mb
Beautiful frame!
Only comments are that it could use a 'VO' cutout stainless steel head badge. So much nicer than a decal.
Also that Bike Planet tail light is atrocious - still think that some classic looking lights are top on my request list, as well as inverse levers.
I love that chain guard! It's so nice looking!
Very nice bike. Nicely outfitted too.
It seems like raw aluminum chainguards were common historically, but I would prefer to see them with a bit of shine on them, and/or painted, or better yet, some details added by stamping on the outward facing surface. I suppose one could order one painted body colored when getting a frame?
I'd like to see this one come down and back a little. Either it's too big for that chainring, or you need to adjust its position.
Chris,
FYI... Campagnolo made excellent single pivot side-pull bakes: Eddy approved.
Alors...
padTektro Brake Levers, R200A & R100A
Campagnolo has never made great brakes, but they make the very best, and most expensive, brake levers. So Tektro copied Campy's design to produce the very affordable R100A and R200A aero brake levers. They even have the push button quick release which is the best ever devised. The R100A is for people with smaller hands and the R200A is for those with larger.
Price is per pair.
R200pad$25.00padType:
Nice bike, nice touch with the rear brake cable on underside.
YUM.
Here's a mixte I spotted in France a few years back that strikes me as quite nice:
http://flickr.com/photos/archivalclothing/196707149/
Here's something very similar on ebay, ending very soon, ships worldwide...
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