Video: Vintage lugged steel mixte restoration

[Eric Marth]

Last fall my partner inherited an old bike. It's an SR frame that her dad purchased for her mom brand new in San Diego in 1987. It was over-geared, set up with narrow tires on 27" wheels and needed a few more changes to make it more comfortable and practical. I set out for nice wide gearing, bars with more sweep back and maxing out the clearance for plump 38mm tires. 

The build video is up here, detailing all of the changes along the way. 

Cheers!

[st nick]

Eric,

The SR mixture turned out really nice!

Well done!

Your shop is also terrific.

I do my own wrenching but only dream of a well organized nice shop like yours. 

I need to be inspired and get some organization going so I don't have to hunt for tools when I need them.

I have a too tall 25" SR  road frame hanging in my garage. 

It looks well constructed. 

Last week I picked up, best I can tell,  a 1973 Nishiki Competition step thru bike

with a swoopy style top tube.

I'm in process of making some changes such as the road bars to swept back bars, changing shifters, levers, and a few other things.

It's a 22" frame so I can ride it fine with the seatpost up enough for my saddle height.

I haven't seen many step thru style frames in a 22" but plenty of 19" ones.

It has a 21.1 stem.

I'm trying to come up with a way to get the bars up higher. 

There are clunky looking bmx stems that would work but I'd prefer not to use one.

I've sanded down stems from 22.2 to 22 to work on older French bikes without too much trouble but it would take a lot of sanding to get one to 21.1.

Thanks for sharing the bike build video.

I would guess she loves the bike.

I like seeing vintage bikes built up Riv like and back on the road.

Enjoy and safe riding,

Paul in Dallas 

Enjoyed a 40 mile ride today on my Sam Hillbourne. 

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[st nick]

Of course I meant SR mixte. 

Darn auto correct changed it.

Paul in Dallas 

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[J J]

That was such a great, calming video, fantastic build, beautiful bike. Thanks Eric. 

[Eric Marth]

Thanks, Paul! I do enjoy having a bit of organization going on, it works in my favor. I am getting to the point where I need to think about some further infrastructure and potentially building out some more wall space for shelving and storage. 

Your Nishiki sounds fun. I'm glad I didn't run into any sizing problems with this project, there were enough problems of other kinds to contend with. 

Mel does enjoy the bike, it's a nice change from the Trek Pure 3-speed she had before which was just fine but a little hefty, a little difficult to push up hills and maneuver in general. 

Jim — I appreciate it! Thanks for watchin' 

[David Person]

Nice build (and video), Eric.

[Hans Erickson]

Love the custom badge.

-Hans in Albuquerque

[Patrick Moore]

That's as lovely as the fall scenery in your other post.

I was reading Classics Rendezvous post earlier this afternoon on resto-modding old ubikes to give them new leases for everyday, urban riding; not the usual classic period racing bikes the site is devoted to. Someone posted a photo of a lovely Dawes mixte, toute 531 IIRC, and very nicely built up, and I sighed and thought how nice it would be to have a nice-riding mixte frame built up with good parts and decent tires!!!* as an upright addition to my small stable. Nice riding mixte with RH tires and an obscure Sa 3-speed hub -- lovely.

Your SR is a worthy peer.

** I've owned and refurbished at least 1 mixte (Nishiki; and very many other roadsters, Raleigh and Schwinn and clones) and while it turned out well, it just wasn't a joy to ride, so I sold it on. I daresay that the pedestrian tires were largely the culprit.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[JohnS]

Hello Eric,

Very impressed with your SR build and your shop! Looks like everything has a place and everything is in it's place. I 'm going to have to work a little harder to bring my builds up to the level of yours, the homemade badge puts it over the top.

I built up a Shogun Cr-Mo 400 mixte for my wife almost 2 yrs ago. It looks very similar to the your SR, lugs, stays, accent paint, pin strips all look the same, the big difference is the Shogun's tubing is Tange Champion #5. Any who, high lights for the Shogun build include Mafac Racers with VO adjustable toe in brake pad holders, Coda brake levers, Deore XT shift levers, Ultegra FD, STX RD,  Shimano 7 speed freewheel, Sugino 165 cranks, 46/34 chain rings, 700C Wolber GTX rims with Suntour GPX hubs, RH Stampede Pass tires, EPI grips (from Rivendell), Specialized dirt drop stem an a no-name riser bar. All works very well together and my wife is very happy with it. 

Got to keep them vintage mixtes rolling!

JohnS

[Eric Marth]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments :) 

JohnS: Nice build! Yeah, your Shogun is quite similar to our SR. The SR is Champion tubing, too. 

[st nick]

I've got the 1973 Nishiki low step 22" frame going and it's a nice riding bike.

I have a tan saddle on the way and a few other changes planned.

Remarkable to think it will be 50 years old next year and going strong.

When I get too decrepit to straddle a diamond frame perhaps I can straddle this. 

Ha! 

Or acquire a low step Riv.

Paul in Dallas.
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[JohnS]

Nice looking mixte Paul. I see you have an Uno seat post as well. As I recall the Shogun had an odd size, not too many options to chose from.

JohnS

[Eric Marth]

That's a nice mixte, Paul, thanks for sharing. 

Is that a Suntour Compe-V high normal front derailer? I love the cage on those but don't think I'd be down for the high normal arrangement. 

That's something that hasn't come up in all our discussions of rapid rise, the few high-normal front mechs out there! 

[st nick]

Thanks John and Eric.

Apologies for the delay in answering your question regarding the front derailer.

Just got around to catching up on Riv list.

"Is that a Suntour Compe-V high normal front derailer?"

Yes, it is.

I wasn't aware they had those back in the 70's.

When I first got the back it threw me for a loop when shifting the front.It does work well enough when my brain is also 'in gear.

Oh, it does take a 26.8 seatpost.

Now an oddball seatpost replacement I had to find a few months ago was a 24.0 for a 1978 Peugeot. Had to order from Europe. 

Paul in Dallas 

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[Elizabeth McInerney]

Thanks for the video. The bike is absolutely gorgeous!

On Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 8:10:00 PM UTC-4 eric...@gmail.com wrote:

[Mike Young]

Great vid Eric! The field recordings are always a really nice touch. I agree with Paul definitely jealous of your workshop space and how organized it looks. If you do decide to expand your workshop, the process would make another great video!

-Mike, SF

[Eric Marth]

Thanks so much, Elizabeth and Mike! I really appreciate it. If only I could find a few nice, flat sheets of 3/4 plywood... for free!

[Bill Schairer]

I love all the mix and match you do to get EXACTLY the function you want.  One's ability to do that is one of the things that make bicycles such wonderful, versatile tools/toys.

Bill S

San Diego

[Eric Marth]

Thank you, Bill! I definitely put a lot of thought into converting the bike into something way more useful that it had been and tried my best to source some good-looking (but not too fancy) parts with a timeless feel to them. Still kinda wish I had a more plain-looking rear mech. Hard to beat a modern-ish XT, tho. 

[Jason Zakaras]

Eric, you continue to inspire me to tinker with my bikes.  Your creativity is so fun to watch, both in your builds and video production.  You're a real great contributor to the community, please keep up the solid efforts!

[Ryan]

Late to the party here...but Eric, I just love watching your bike-building videos; love the calm almost Zen-like vibe and attention to detail . I may have mentioned this before...but it bears repeating. Your partner looks like she's enjoying her freshly-built bike. As she should. Watching you build bikes reminds  me of my late partner's wrenching skills , although we didn't have a workshop like yours. 

Nice restoration!

Ryan

[Eric Marth]

Thanks, Jason I'm happy to share and glad if in anyway I've encouraged some wrenching. 

And thanks, Ryan, too! She digs the bike. And I think workshops, like bikes, are each a miracle. 

When I first decided to make a build video I was thinking of some other builds I enjoyed watching. I thought I'd give it a try. But I never expected the response to be so overwhelmingly positive. I really appreciate anyone who has made time to watch and send a nice note. It means a lot.