Seasonal changes

Each of the past couple years, I make a serious change when daylight savings ends and begins.  I suppose most cyclists just put the bikes away and wait for spring.  I change my city bike from the Raleigh Mixte I have been riding to a Jamis Commuter.  The Commuter is a stout, aluminum framed town bike which will withstand the mud, slush, salt and chemicals we deal with in Michigan.  While I prefer an elegant lugged steel bike, like the Raleigh

it makes more sense to swap the wheels and Shimano Nexus drivetrain back to the Commuter for the winter.
    I like the mixte frame design, with it's downsloped top tubes, so much I decided to buy a new one this year with some "extra" money I had.  There are 3 companies making them in larger sizes which will better fit men now: Rivendell, Velo Orange and Soma.   The Rivendell is the most expensive and best looking, but the size that fits me (57-59 cm) is spec'd for 650B wheels, since I had wheels in 700c I intended to use I looked at the VO and Soma.  I didn't care much for the color of the VO frame and they sold out of the 57 cm model so I ordered the Soma Buena Vista frame in Metallic Grey.

 There were a lot of parts I used on the Raleigh that I liked, so, since it was a blustery, rainy day and I had nowhere to go, I spent a little time raiding the Raleigh for parts I intend to use in the spring.

After removing and cleaning what I needed I simply dropped them into the bottom of the Soma box for storage until spring.

Now with that tucked away for the winter, I hung the remaining frame up in the garage where it will wait for somebody a little smaller who will fit it more comfortably.

I'll have another more detailed post about the mixte in the future.  It's a design that goes back to France during the Nazi occupation and is enjoying a renewed use as a city/touring design.  A lot of men shy away from the design since it resembles a "woman's" frame but I think it's great and riding one hasn't affected my hormone levels a bit.