April's New Bike: Linus Mixte

My sweetie April has been pining for a mixte for a long time. After her 1961 Raleigh Sports, her first serious adult bike (and one she still owns), her second bike was a mixte. A 70's mixte made by an obscure brand (Carabella) that felt like it was made out of lead pipe. Still, she loved this bike and she did her first forays into bike camping and touring with this bike.

But the mixte has been gone for a few years. After purchasing her Miyata 210 (and then her current touring  bike, the Novara Randonee), the Carabella mixte became superfluous. She gave it away to Nickey Robo, who used the frame for part of a tall bike. (Yes, how Portland.)

But she still loved that mixte and missed it. It had been a goal of hers to find a nice lightweight mixte frame from the 70's and 80's and then do a bunch of work (new wheels, internally geared hub, dynamo lighting, upright bars) to it to make it a city bike.

A few weeks ago Clever Cycles had a special coupon for 20% off any one item, including bikes. Clever sells Linus bikes, and April had been eyeing their mixte model for quite some time. The three speed model retailed for $650, so with the 20% off the price would be $520. While April still liked the idea of redoing a classic mixte, she realized that it would probably cost more than a new Linus to do all the things she wanted to do to it. So on the Sunday of Sunday Parkways last month, she bought a new bike.

The size of the Linus is 49cm. It came with a Shimano three speed hub, rear rack, fenders (mudguards) and a bell. Most of the frame is hi-tensile steel with a little cro-mo thrown in for good measure. Nothing fancy, but just right.

Last week she had Clever install dynamo lighting. She got a Shimano dynohub wheel (the same one that is on my Long Haul Trucker), a B+M Lyt Senso Plus headlight (the same type that used to be on my LHT), and a B+M 4D Lite Plus taillight.

She really loves this bike!

Here's to many adventures on the Linus mixte this summer.