In addition to Pilen Lyx we are proud to present the Pilen Special with a selection of new paint options and select parts. Due to high spring-time demand for the Pilen Lyx, we will introduce the Pilen Special slowly at first with more options to come. Read more about Pilen Special.
These selections are available from 2011-05-24. More select parts and colours to be announced. A clear-coated steel edition for instance.
Despite my background as a road and time trial cyclist I have become increasingly interested in town cycling especially since having children. I am convinced that town and city bikes are the way forward for everyday transport for everyone, including off duty bike racers. My new bicycle shop “There” will make this the focus of its offer.
I found the Pilens when I was researching the business and was attracted at first by their simple business philosophy. They are also some of the nicest people I have worked with and these two factors encouraged me to import their bikes.
Since our last visit, we have longed to Käringön! The Avander family and Magnus Tamelander arrived at the port of Hällevikstrand and is picked up by the Swedish Sea Search and Rescue. We make an appointment with Anders and Matthias to have our 11 o'clock coffee on the rescue ship Broström the next day. The hotel is situated just near the shore and we stow our bags away and then go crab fishing in the warm winds and the salty fragrance from the sea.
On August first and second, and for the seventy-first time in a row, Målilla launched its popular exhibition Motor's Day – a paradise for all persons interested in motors and engines.
The exhibition have the largest number of engines running in Sweden and boasted about five hundred exhibitors with all possible machines with an emphasis on the old. Visitors numbered in the thousands during the two days.
The filmmaker and photografer Magnus cooked up a small night cycle film when spring stood luscious and blackbirds were singing. It shows you that Pilen is an excellent bike even at night and you can feel safe riding your Pilen on both pitch dark roads and in evening traffic. A Pilen is comfortable in any environment. So crank up the volume and enjoy the song from birds and well-oiled hubs.
Today we are happy and proud in a way that you seldom allows yourself to be! We, of all companies in Hultsfred Municipality, has been designated Business of the Year Businesses Association ! It feels like, well maybe not a confirmation, but ... it fuels our spritits! It shows that we are doing something that is appreciated.
After a fantastic Mediterranean menu and a long ceremony, it was time for us to get up on stage and receive flowers and a diploma! It felt great! Many thanks to Hultsfreds municipalities and companies for this honor and award!
Martin the Engineer sleeps poorly, has deep wrinkles on his forehead and works to late in the evening. Strange sounds can be heard from the workshop. Something big is in the air here at Pilen Cykel, something that has not happened in many years.
Now approaching Christmas by leaps and here at the bicycle factory, we have got a good taste of Christmas through our 10-year anniversary which we celebrated with a retailer party. We ate a genuine Småländskt smorgasbord where, besides the more traditional dishes, we served both potato dumplings, Swedish turnip pudding and cabbage pudding.
Our photographer and slightly mad amateur filmmaker Magnus documented when Janne – Uppsala's most notorious pike fisher and a Pilen bicycle owner for several years – went autumn fishing. He then packs his bag full of hefty sandwiches with liver past and takes his Pilen down to Ekoln and the Gorran Bay south of Uppsala. he film is called Heavy Tackles, but is also called Pike the Movie among its fans.
One cold day in April, I left Målilla to visit a Milan in the full bloom of spring. I was picked up by our dealer and good friend Simone. We travelled to his home where his family waited and the best risotto I have ever tasted!
A new site with some modern solutions has been our top priority for some time now. The new site is different from the old mainly in that it is bilingual. The vast majority of the pages are both in Swedish and English. The reason is that the reputation of Pilen has reached far outside good old Sweden, and we would like to inform about our beloved bike to both Charles, Isabelle and Domhildur.
Half-way between Hultsfred and Målilla lives a very clever man with an even more clever son. They are the kind of people who live by the motto: If it aint broken – fix it anyway. That is: the construction and the fiddling is an end in itself and a great joy in life.
The Pilen cykel company has re-organised its factory and hired several new employees. As usual, we have focused our attention on the beauty of people, materials, machinery, tools and bicycle components.
We have re-organised the factory and streamlined the production. Among other things, we have invested in a number of absolutely amazing ergonomically designed mounting tools - screwdriver, impact wrenches and striking impact wrenches - from Atlas Copco. They are both lightweight and comfortable to hold and applies exactly the right torque. We have thus been able to reduce noise and vibration in the environment.
Four middle-aged men with very different physical conditions – albeit on identical Pilen bicycles – began the prologue from Visby on Gotland's southernmost tip Ljugarn, a trip of about 100 kilometers. The fifth cyclist joins in Målilla on Monday. Now, we would soon have an answer to whether Brooks saddlery could make saddles which also fits old Gotland fellow's behinds, if German gear hubs works for us amateurs and if Pilen bicycles are so fantastic, balanced and user-friendly as promised?
The 25-28 January, we exhibited on Tvåhjulsmässan (Two Wheels Expo) in Älvsjö. We did not really know what that would await us, but we have to say that we went happy and strengthened back to Småland. It was great fun that so many of our dealers came and visited us and it was as fun to meet new prospective traders.
We also met many consumers, which could ask their questions and test-drive different models. It felt good to share some of their enthusiasm and joy. The youngest Pilen cyclist was 11 and the oldest was 81 years!
On 17 July, we visited our precious dealers in Denmark at Saxil Cykler in Copenhagen. The shop was warm and genuine, exactly like a real cycle shop should be. No gewgaws but only honest atmosphere and craftsmanship.
Then they entertained us to barbecue dinner and drinks in a pleasant courtyard in Copenhagen. We talked about life and bicycles, more bikes and then more bikes. It was a magical evening. Thank you, dear friends!
The Pilen dealers from Cykelsmedjan in Eksjö came to visit and inspected our factory. They also test drove our bicycles. We are happy for all visits and the opportunity to talk to our wonderful dealers.