One of the club members has a Pik 20A and has done a study of them.
The 1st 18 built are the best wing profiles ,the designer and company
were glider pilots and built them as a pilot dreams of having a glider
built.
Totally uneconomic,they went broke.
The molds were sold and another company started making them.
The profit motive was paramount and profile trueness deteriated from thereon
Spars are massively over built therefor the high speed strength.
The profile is identical/very close to Ventus profile apart from the tip
area,
this lets them down and makes their weak thermal ability marginal, winglets
are supposed to wipe or negate this weakness.
Generally if you live /fly in a stronger lift area the Pik is an excellent
choice ,
if you are in a weak to medium strength area winglets are required.
In the 75-95 knot range you should run with a ventus if you have an earlier
production number degrade this off as the serial number gets higher.
gary



"Tim Mara" wrote in message
...
Libelle! hands down!!
The 135 looks wizzy for a Schweizer but is only a marginal performance
glider.it also is an easy glider to fly, but isn't a "groovy" glider to
fly...the 1-35 takes a lot of attaention to really thermal well.it likes
some flaps for thermalling and is light enough that the added flaps are
draggy enough that they just don't allow any pushing or pulling to take
advantage of the strong bumps in the thermal without slowing the glider so
you end up flying in more or less octagons rather than circles...it's just
not as fun as it should be....
The Libelle also needs attention since it doesn't groove like some later
and heavier gliders but it's still delightful...it just leaves you feeling
"good"
The Libelle is of course much prettier ) but assembles quick and easy,
just a well designed glider for the time...
Support for the Libelle remains very good with Hansjorg Streifeneder in
Germany keeping almost all parts readily available and since Sikorsky took
over Schweizer support for all Schweizer gliders today is nil.though this
might change as someone takes over at least some of the Schweizer parts...
But of the 2...no question.....Libelle! )
tim

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"Waduino" wrote in message
.. .
So you have a choice for a first glider. You're flying in northeastern
US, i.e. generally light conditions (when it's not snowing).
These 2 planes have roughly similar performance on paper and prices,
although they probably handle quite differently and I would guess the
1-35 penetrates better. Maybe the Libelle climbs better.
Both are in excellent condition. The Standard Libelle is the version (B)
with larger air brakes and foam core, not balsa.
Which would you pick and why?
Thanks.
Wad.