BATAVUS Cleanup

Today was a tear-down day for the Batavus. After stripping all the parts off I took it outside and gave it another bath. Then degreasing, removing tar and a wax & polish job. In the second picture I am using a small brush and dental tools to get into all the nooks & crannies. Next will be dry fitting the cleaned parts and the replacement parts. Then take it back apart and try to touch up the paint and transfers (decals). As you can see I had some help from a friend & neighbor cleaning small part.

BATAVUS

Closer inspection of the old Batavus after initial cleaning uncovered lots of cancer. It looks like it will take a lot of replacement parts to get this bike on the road. I ‘m glad I found donor bike for some of the parts. Is it worth it? Well sure…………….it’s a Batavus!

Gotta love an old Mixte: Part 5

Well it has happened again……..I turned around and was surprised by another Mixte! Someone donated a few bikes today at the Chain Reaction and one was this Mixte. It hasn’t been ridden for many years. It is so dirty that I couldn’t tell what color it was for sure. Lots of rust again, (bike cancer). I can make it rideable but it will never be the beautiful bike it once was. It is a Batavus (Holland) Mixte Racer. They made a Mixte racer and mixte Touring. The difference was the drop bar vs an upright bar. They also made two levels of Mixtes. The easiest way to tell the difference is that the higher end bike had chrome tipped forks amongst other thing. How do I know this? I sold Batavus bikes in the 70’s at my shop! Batavus is one of the few bike companies that still make there bike in their home country and import to the USA. Batavus has always been a trusted bike for commuting and touring. Years ago they sponsored their own world class racing team. They are sold around the world but are mostly unappreciated. I have to evaluate this find and maybe swap the CR shop this for one of my others

 I did get it washed when I got home.

My first derailleur type of bike was a white Batavus like the one in the last picture.

Raleigh Mixte Started

I started on the Raleigh Mixte today. I am a little disappointed in the condition of some of the parts. I have the frame tore down except for one last nut. The left side BB axle nut is rusted fast. I have it soaking in penetrating oil till I get back to it. The other side came off but is very corroded. I’m glad I picked up the Fuji parts bike.

Now it is time to pick a color to paint it. Red is out already have 5 red ones. Medium blue, pink, white, silver and black are also taken. I have an orange one but I love it and it is for sale so I could do orange. I have seen a neat Motobecane Mixte in a metallic pearl and also a Follis in metallic medium silver/gray. I was spoiled when I re-did my Follis 472 last summer. I had it media blasted before painting and it only cost $20.00 to get it done. Saves from having to do the worst part of the job by hand.

GREAT DAY!

Great day yesterday! Started off by volunteering at the Chain Reaction Bike Shop till noon. In the afternoon went to a Meeting with members of the Bicycle Friendly Task Force, The Bicycle Advisory Committee, members of the KCV Cycling club and various folks from City Government. Also there were members of the In. Dept. of Health and BicycleIndiana . They were there to officially let us know that we qualified for a grant to get started on initiating our work.  Then that evening Susie and I went to a party at Mad Anthony’s for the submitting of our Bicycle Friendly Application.  I want to thank everyone that has made this possible. It has been a huge amount of work by key people to get to this stage. BIKES, BIKES, BIKES..........................!

FINISHED!

This 1961 J.C. Higgins will be back at the Chain Reaction Bike Shop tomorrow. It is a classic Austrian made 3-spd. With lugged frame and fenders. I just finished a full repack / tune up / and clean up. It ended up being more work than I thought it would be, lots of rusted and frozen parts. I had to have a chain guard brace remade at the local welding shop. It didn’t turn out a nice as I would have liked. The paint is dead and will not hold a shine. If I was to keep it I would do a blast and repaint. It is worth it. This is a Classic!

Gotta love an old Mixte: Part 4

Will wonders ever cease? First I buy a mixte then Mel brings one over out of the past and then today I pick one up that was leftover from the Goshen College bike sale. I now have three to decide what to do with. The one I bought may be left alone for now. It is in good shape except a little cable work. The Pink Pinto may just get cleaned for now. And my latest Mixte will get most of my effort for a while. It is an inch taller and closer to my size. It is a 33 year old Raleigh. It needs the most work and the paint is beat up so I plan on painting it. Let’s see….a Nishiki, a Pinto, a Raleigh and Fuji for parts. That should do it for now. Unless I would happen to find a Batavus or Follis.................

Gotta love an old Mixte: Part 3

One day I’m looking for a mixte to rebuild and a couple days later I have not one but TWO! After posting about getting the Nishiki in Indy my niece emailed and offered another. Years ago I fixed up an old PINK Pinto mixte that she had ridden in a 120 mile lung association ride. She was hooked on cycling and has been riding ever since. The Pinto has been hanging in their shed for many years and is a little dirty but should clean up fine. We first thought of repainting but the decals are in good condition so it will have to stay PINK. The tires even hold air but wouldn’t be trustworthy so with new tires, tubes, cables, brake shoes and bar tape it should be ready to ride. It has center pull brakes, 3 piece crank, 1 1/8 inch tires and fully lugged steel frame. It is a great survivor.  AND IT IS MADE IN FRANCE my favorite bikes!
Thanks Mel!
Also if you look back to my post of Dec. 6th 2011 you can see two yellow mixtes with flate bars and one red on with dorp bars, both Batavus brand from Holland. The are in the far left side of picture. I sold lots of them. No one esle had them at that time.

Gotta love an old Mixte: Part 2

I bought my first Mixte in over 35 years this week. I have been searching Craigslist and other places for a while now. I found this Nishiki in Avon, IN. (Indy). It is in excellent condition and a size I think will work OK with some slight changes. I also bought what was supposed to be a mixte but wasn’t when I got to Peru and saw it. I went ahead and bought it because of its good components. It has alloy 27 X 1 1/8 inch rims & tires, a good crank, brakes and it was only $30. Can’t have too many good rims!

For now all I will be doing is a little cleaning of the frame and buffing the alloy parts. Then changing the brakes to center pulls and swapping the old style stem shifters to thumb shifters. I like center pull brakes and they look way cool on a Mixte! I also have some old style front and rear racks for those shopping trips this summer. And maybe some fenders for those rainy stretches. Yep! Definitely some fenders!

Gotta love an old Mixte: Part 1

Mixte

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. That makes a total of 6 stays that give extra strength. This provides the lower stand over height of a step-through frame bicycle while avoiding some of the additional stresses the step-through frame bicycle places on the seat tube. This also strengthens the frame and increases the carrying ability. A mixte can make an excellent commuter and a touring bike. You can load stuff on the top of your rear rack and not worry about how to get your leg over the load, because you can mount from the front of the seat.The design was developed for the French and Austrian military and was adopted for Postal delivery in many countries. Mixtes are used in Europe and Asia by men and women.
"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/.^[8]