My mother retired this year after 25 years at the same company. She also turned 70. To celebrate these major milestones, my wife and I thought we'd get her a new bicycle. We considered buying her a brand new one, but we knew a new bike would never really replace her beloved mid-sixties Peugeot mixte, the bike she has ridden for more than forty years. Unfortunately, the Peugeot is now in poor shape, though mom remains devoted to it, and who can blame her? It's a true classic. Few parts are available for it though, so rather than rebuild the Peugeot, I purchased instead a late seventies/early eighties Univega mixte from Craigslist, for about $150 (see first picture), and proceeded to recreate for mom her classic mixte, with modern updates.

Rick at D and D Cycles in San Lorenzo, California, repainted the frame and Blackburn touring rack a British racing green, a color chosen by my wife. We liked Rick's suggestion of painting the head tube a creamy white and outlining its lugs in gold, so we went with that, and when we had the local sign shop make name decals for the down tube we had them match that cream and gold color combination.

Over several months, I rebuilt the bike with mostly new parts from various suppliers. From Harris Cyclery I got new 27 inches wheels with Pasela Tourgaurds.Ê Rivendell Bicycle Works supplied the Nitto Periscopa, Albatross bars, Silver Shifters, Shimano reverse derailleur, cork grips, Japanese bell, Sigg aluminum waterbottle, and Pletscher kickstand. Velo Orange furnished the Brooks Flyer, Spanninga RetroLED, waterbottle cage, and blinky. Loose Screws provided the MKS touring pedals, Sugino chainrings, and lots of other small parts. Finally, Woody's Custom Cycling Fenders contributed a nice set of Walnut with Lacewood and Wenge striped fenders. I kept the original Dia-Compe center-pull brakes, brake levers, and Suntour front derailleur. The cranks I recycled from a mid-eighties Bridgestone. I owe particular thanks to Wimmer's Ultimate Bicycles in Logan, Utah, which provided some much needed help with the installation of the new headset.

The little guy in the last picture is "Racer," a four year old Italian Greyhound my wife and I adopted last summer from Italian Greyhound Rescue of Northern California. Not much of a poser Ð here he is eyeing the neighbor's cat, and ignoring me.

I'm happy with the results of my "mixte redux." The bike's got classic mixte good looks, updated with many fine accessories, and it rides very smoothly. Its going to look great next to the Christmas tree and, most importantly, I hope my mom gets many years of joy riding it.

Thanks for the great site and all the inspiration.

Kevin Muller

Logan, Utah