Red and Blue, Old and New: Fun with Bike Comparisons

A couple of days ago I visited "Cycler" from Biking in Heels, asking her to test ride the Pilen I am reviewing and tell me what she thinks. While we were at it, we also compared the geometry of the Pilen to that of her modified vintage Raleigh Lady's Sports - the charming bicycle described here.

Unlike the traditional English roadster (which is similar to a Dutch bike), the Sports model is a zippier bicycle with somewhat more aggressive angles and a more leaned-forward posture. It made sense to compare it to the Pilen, which is also somewhat more aggressive than Dutch bikes.

Placing the two bicycles side by side, we did notice some similarities. The seat tube angles, front end geometry and bottom bracket heights were fairly close - at least in comparison to those of Dutch bikes and English Roadsters. The Pilen has a slightly more relaxed seat tube and a higher bottom bracket - but the extent of this is minor when compared to the more relaxed Dutch bikes and Roadsters with their high bottom brackets. The Pilen however, has a longer wheelbase than the Raleigh Sports - not to mention that it is dramatically larger.

When looking at this picture, consider that the saddles of the two bicycles are set to roughly the same height. Now notice the amount of seatpost showing on the 21" (53cm) Raleigh Sports compared to the 22" (56cm) Pilen Lyx (see here for a close-up of the Pilen's seatpost). Despite the 3cm difference in their frames, the actual size difference between the two bicycles is considerably greater. This is because the Raleigh has 26" wheels with 35mm tires, whereas the Pilen has 700C wheels with 50mm tires - raising the Pilen's frame higher off the ground. Wheel and tire size are definitely something to be aware of when determining the actual size of a complete bicycle. The frame size alone is fairly limited information.

Cycler and I are similar in height (she perhaps 1/2" shorter), and we prefer similar bicycles for transportation - both of us especially in love with the ride quality of the classic Raleigh DL-1. It was therefore informative to learn that she had a similar reaction to the Pilen as I did. On the other hand, two other (taller) persons who also tried the bike had very different reactions. I will write about that in more detail at a later stage, but suffice to say that there is a bike out there for everyone. It is amazing to me how many variations exist of the traditional upright step-through design; I never tire of learning about the similarities and differences between them.