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| Lyx in red and in black. Courtesy: Pilen |
Pilen Cycles, founded in 1999, develop and assemble their bikes in a family-run factory in Sweden. According to their website, "a Pilen is a bike for those who need a reliable friend in life that you can always trust. If you cycle to work, to a picnic with your children, or enjoy touring, then we believe Pilen is the best choice for you."
Lyx has become one of Pilen's most popular models. There have been plenty of reviews to check out:
Portlandize
Velocouture
Lovely Bike
LGRAB
Here are the full specs:
| Colors | You can choose between 4 colours. Black, red, green and blue. |
| Frame | Height: 56 cm. Chrome molybdenum steel. Powder coated. |
| Fork | Chrome molybdenum steel with cast crown. |
| Mudguards | Stainless Steel. Black powder coated. |
| Bearing and Chain Wheel | The bearings come from Kinex and require no maintenance. Aluminium crankshafts. |
| Chain and chain guard | 108 links. Anti rust processed chain. The chain guard has a layer of Zink before powder coating. |
| Rear hub | |
| Transmission | 44:20 |
| Rear hub alt. 1 | Shimano zero-gear. Coaster brake. |
| Rear hub alt. 2 | SRAM Automatix 2. Coaster brake. Automatic Shift. |
| Rear hub alt. 3 | SRAM T3. Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 4 | SRAM P5. Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 5 | SRAM S7. Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 6 | Shimano Nexus Inter 3.Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 7 | Shimano Nexus Inter 7. Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 8 | Shimano Nexus Inter 8. Rollerbrake or Coaster brake. Handlebar Gripshift. |
| Rear hub alt. 9 | Shimano Nexus Inter 8 with rollerbrakes. Handlebar Gripshift. Front and rear brakes on handlebar. |
| Front hub | Shimano DH-2R35-E-with rollerbrake and hub generator. |
| Gear shifter | Handlebars Grip shift (except Duomatic 2). |
| Tires | Schwalbe Citizen 47-622 with Puncture Protection. For heavy persons (+85) kg, we recommend Schwalbe Big Apple. |
| Wheel | 28 inches (47-622) double bottomed aluminium rims, targeted spoke holes, eyelets and strong spokes in stainless steel. The rear wheel have reduced spokes. |
| Spokes | Stainless steel 2,36mm. Reduced in the rear wheel. |
| Carrier | Stable carrier made of steel tubing with stainless steel clamps. Painted black. |
| Lock | ABUS high security lock (class 8). |
| Brakes | Coaster brakes or rollerbrake (rear rollerbrakes only on Shimano Nexus Inter-8). |
| Sadel | Brooks B66 leather with springs. Available in colors: Black, Brown and Honey. |
| Front lamp | Busch & Müller with 2.4 watts H3-lamp. Excellent light for even the darkest road. |
| Rear lamp | LED. Automatic light activated by low light and movement. From Spanninga. |
| Reflexes | Reflex sides on the tires, in the rear and front lamp and on the basket (ladies model). |
| Bell | Stainless steel. |
9 comments:
I recently test-rode one of these bikes. I really wanted it to be The One. But it's a big bike. I could manage it if I slammed the seatpost almost all the way down. But I still felt like a kid on mom's bike.
I'm a bit over 5'3", so I'm not that big. I'm sure it works well for someone a bit taller.
I am over 5'6" and still found it to be a big bike!
I hope they offer more frame size choices in 2013!
I like the bike and do wish they offered more sizes.
I would like to point out that this frame and fork is made in Taiwan [which is not a bad thing], but it bugs me to be written as 'Produced in Sweden". I am pretty sure on the home site, they say that they frames sets are built in Taiwan and they powder coat the frames and assemble them at their shop.
The more I look into it, I am finding that many Dutch companies claim that they make their own bikes, but are actually built in Asia. They just paint and bolt on the seat stays, assemble etc...
Again, not bad to have your bikes made for you in Asia. This is why many bikes like this one and many other Northern European bikes are priced so low.
antbikemike - You make a good point and you may well be right about Pilen framesets being made in Taiwan. Unfortunately, I found no mention about Taiwan or Asia on Pilen's website. If you click on "The Company" you will find the following statement: "Pilen is developed and assembled entirely in Sweden." As you say, the frameset and components may come from Asia, and it may all be assembled in Sweden. I think some acknowledgment of that fact should be on Pilen's website.
I spent some time on the Pilen website yesterday and I think they removed all the original info about the frame and fork being made in Taiwan. The original pitch was "Whats the difference between made be Sven or Chen?". Again I have nothing against bikes being made where ever, just proudly say so.
*The Lovely Bicycle review also says that the frame sets are made in Taiwan.
Based on Mike's comments, I've changed "produced in Sweden" in the original post to "developed and assembled in Sweden."
Freewwheel,
Thanks :)
Again, I have to say that I really like this bike and wish I could make or have made something similar to this [and it's price too]
PS Keep up the good work. I like this blog and keep up with it.
antbikemike - I appreciate the compliment! We are big fans of A.N.T. - the craftmanship of your bikes puts them in a league of their own.
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