This tiny 1980’s step through mixtie frame is quite special. It was custom made for a woman (the only owner) using Columbus EL Extra-leggera 7/4/7 ultralight tubing and racing geometries. It is based on the flagship Gap model, and features the recognizable delta shaped seatstay bridge, hourglass chainstay bridge, sloping fork crown with the “B” pantographed on top, and their curvy trademark lugs. It’s a true mixtie with twin ultra-thin top tubes that flow continuously into the seat stays and attach to the dropouts. The top tubes are braced with three cross members to prevent torsional flexing, and the cable housing runs through the middle of them. The fully chromed fork and mostly chromed chainstays are an indication of a high level Italian frame.
The original paint is a lovely soft pink, with Basso’s usual yellow decals and World Championship rainbow stripes. It’s simply stunning. If this frame were larger, I would be riding it myself <3
Size
Sizing on mixties is a little tricky, and I don’t know exactly how it correlates to traditional double triangle frame sizing. I can tell you that this frame is very small. The original owner also sold me her Innerlight frame that was also custom made for her, and it’s dimensions were: ST: 49.5cm, ETT: 50cm, HT: 136mm. This mixtie is likely to fit fairly similarly to those numbers.
- Seat tube: 47cm to very top of seat tube
- Effective top tube: 52.5cm (I understand this the measurement that doesn’t correlate as accurately)
- Head tube: 140mm
- Chainstays: ~404mm
- Head angle: ~72.5 degree (measured relative to a 115 year old not level basement floor)
- Seat angle: ~74 degree
Details
- Frame number: 406062 (in 6 digit Basso frame numbers, the 1st number is the year in the 1980’s
- Seatpost diameter: 27.2mm
- BB shell: Italian
- Headset: Tange Levin, black
