Who designed the classic Raleigh Ladies frame shape?

[S1m0nR]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been covered before - I did a search and couldn't find reference to it anywhere. Givemebackmygoogle also wasn't a whole lot of help.

I'm wondering if anyone know anything about the origins and dates of twin top-tube ladies frame shape that Raleigh seemed to use throughout the '80s.

This one:

As an aside, until I was told that it was to allow the rider to wear a skirt while riding, I thought that the world had got ladies and mens frames the wrong way round - afterall men have more to lose when it comes to banging their voulnerable anatomy on a cross-bar!!!

 

[Anonymous]

This is a good,common sense topic.Very helpful to one who is just finding the resouces about this part.It will certainly help educate me.



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[Jonny69]

I'm interested in the design too. What's the advantage of running a pair of thin tubes all the way from the back to just using the single lower top-tube ala most other women's bike frames? I have to say my girlfriend's one in 531 is very light, but surely it would be lighter with a single top-tube?

Also, why is it called a mixte?

 

[hamster]

Jonny - you are absolutely right, a single tube would be much better (otherwise all bikes would be made with double tubes for everything!)

Tony Oliver in his framebuilding book really criticises such frames - they are less rigid from the dropped top tube, and even worse because of the noodly twin lat tubes.

However they look delicate and ladylike...

 

[GasPipeWarrior]

Also, why is it called a mixte?

Wikipedia entry.

One particular type of step-through frame is called a mixte. In a mixte frame, the top tube of the traditional diamond frame is replaced with a pair of smaller tubes (lateral tubes, or lats) running from the top of the head tube all the way back to the rear axle, connecting at the seat tube on the way. The normal seat stays and chain stays are retained. This provides the lower standover height of a step-through frame bicycle while avoiding some of the additional stresses the step-through frame bicycle places on the seat tube.

"Mixte" (pronounced [mikst]) is a direct appropriation of the French word meaning "mixed" or "unisex". The usual North American bicycle industry pronunciation of this loan word is /ˈmɪkstiː/.

 

[Piperdave]

I think these are lovely frames.

There is an interesting frame, with similar properties in the MTB section....

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194313

Dave

 

[Midlife]

We sold them in the 70's.... universally called "Twin-lats" at the time but now called Mixte. Kept the frame stiff and looked novel so was a good selling point

Raleigh Misty I think was our best seller but that's from memory without google to help.

Raleigh were not the first though

Shaun

 

[S1m0nR]

Cheers for the replies, folks!

We sold them in the 70's.... universally called "Twin-lats" at the time but now called Mixte. Kept the frame stiff and looked novel so was a good selling point

Raleigh were not the first though

So - older than I thought then. I seem to remember reading somewhere in the web that the frame was designed by someone famous in the world of bike frames especially for Raleigh but that could be wrong. Certainly the fact that other manufacturers used that shape would suggest so.

I did wonder if it was designed by one of the people from the SBDU or at Carlton but that's just me putting 2 and 2 together and getting 6.

 

[Piperdave]

Google is your frind...

http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra...A Little History of the Crossframe Mixte.html



Dave

 

[ata]

I have a Reynolds 531 Gazelle Champion Mondial semi-race from the late 70s that takes the mixte look but uses a single, lowered, top tube with extra stays brazed to it. Gazelle called it a kruisframe (cross- or rather, cruciform frame). They also offered a similar model with a lowered toptube with a bend in it, called a wiegframe (cradle frame). you can view them in the 1978 catalogue here http://jvs.webklik.nl/page/gazelle.

Maybe Gazelle used their Dutch pragmatism and decided the mixte form wouldn´t stand up to the rough cobbled roads then still prevalent in the Netherlands. Although I´ve seen non-Champion Mondial Gazelle Mixtes and Mixte Batavus and koga Miyata bikes, so who knows.