Leslie’s 650B mixte city bike

When Leslie described what she was looking for in a city bike, the list wasn’t too long. She wanted a step-through style frame and the fit had to be perfect. She also wanted to address the previous issue of numbness in her hands. This bike achieved those goals and more. Because of her negative experiences with her past bikes, we decided to start the design from a clean slate. Starting from square one isn’t a huge problem but it puts a little extra pressure on me to get the fit just right.

I had built a bike for her husband in the past and although he was present during the preliminary design discussions, he was very respectful and defaulted to Leslie on all the key decisions. The end result was very different from his bike and more of a traditional city bike. Originally it was not going to have a dynamo and lighting but that changed during the build process. Having integrated front and rear lights is highly recommended on a city bike especially this time of year when it gets dark so early. The Schmidt Edelux headlight illuminates automatically at dusk and also controls the vintage Miller taillight with LED stand light bulb. The taillight is mounted on the fender stay and is protected by the Velo-Orange rear rack.

The drivetrain is a 1×10 with a Shimano Ultegra rear derailleur and a wide range cassette. For the brakes, I was excited to use these low profile vintage Dia-Compe cantilevers. The rear brake cable is routed along the downtube for symmetry with the rear dérailleur cable. The wheels are 650b with 42mm Pacenti tires which make for a comfy ride. Also making for a comfy ride is the saddle. Leslie was able to test several saddles here at the shop before finally deciding on the Terry Gel Butterfly.

Aside from the short ride around the block when setting up the bike, the maiden voyage took place up in Nova Scotia! Not an ordinary shakedown ride by any means but I received a very positive ride report from Leslie letting me know that the bike surpassed her expectations.