# Viking bikes...any good



## Maz (12 Apr 2011)

My nephew was after a road bike 2nd-hand. He asked me if *Viking* bikes were any good but I've never heard of them  . Any opinions on them?


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## tyred (12 Apr 2011)

When was it made? Viking has been through many different guises over the years.


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## Maz (12 Apr 2011)

tyred said:


> When was it made? Viking has been through many different guises over the years.


Viking Giro D'Italia
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/30786/Viking-Giro-D-Italia-2010---Road-Bike-.html


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## tyred (12 Apr 2011)

I can't comment. It's too modern for me. They made some nice old steel frames years ago and I have special interest in their 1980s products as they were built very close to where I live. I don't know what happened after that.


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## Maz (12 Apr 2011)

Fair enough. 

i notice on the spec it has downtube shifters...don't know if he'll be a fan of them or not so i'll ask him.


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## Norm (12 Apr 2011)

tyred said:


> I can't comment. It's too modern for me. They made some nice old steel frames years ago and I have special interest in their 1980s products as they were built very close to where I live. I don't know what happened after that.


Really? You might like this wee beastie, which has been sitting in my garage or under my arse since I bought it in about 1979.


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## bennydorano (12 Apr 2011)

I have a mate who I cycle with regularly who bought one last year for near £500, I have a dearer bike yet I marvel at his yoke regularly, on his wheel just Friday night past I watched him shifting up through the gears - smooth as... and silent. He can squeeze a tune out of it too. From my, admittedly hands-off, experience I would recommend it. I often thought he paid more for it than £500 thou he swears he didn't.


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## tyred (13 Apr 2011)

Norm said:


> Really? You might like this wee beastie, which has been sitting in my garage or under my arse since I bought it in about 1979.



Lovely machine Norm. Not mad on the colour but a minor detail. Are those Michelin World Tours?


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## Hilldodger (13 Apr 2011)

We sell Viking bikes. Nothing special but decent bikes all the same.


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## Norm (13 Apr 2011)

tyred said:


> Lovely machine Norm. Not mad on the colour but a minor detail.


 It was the '70s, I was 15, what can I tell you. 



tyred said:


> Are those Michelin World Tours?


 They are certainly Michelin but I don't remember the specifics. The front one must be 15 years old, I was chuffed to heck last year that I was able to source another exactly the same for the rear.


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## Kestevan (13 Apr 2011)

My first racing bike was a Viking Warlord.

Bike names were definately much cooler in the '70s..........


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## Fab Foodie (13 Apr 2011)

Modern Viking bikes are cheap, cheerful and workable. A pal has one and it's fine, he rides 100 milers without issue on it and it's been mechanically sound.


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## Maz (13 Apr 2011)

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It was the modern Vikings my nephew was more interested in.


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## fatblokish (22 Apr 2012)

Stumbled upon...
My first "proper" bike was a Viking Warlord, it had Shimano downtube shifters with little rubber bits in the void, and Mafac drilled out brake levers.

Bought it in 1980 and did Lejog on it with a bunch of friends two years later.

Then it was nicked from college two years after that. 

Happiest bike evah!


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## biggs682 (22 Apr 2012)

original Vikings are well sort after , unsure re modern day bike


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## BalkanExpress (23 Apr 2012)

+1 for a Viking warlord as first bike.  I guess the name has been used for various models: I was about 10 so I thinks it had 26" wheels, 5 gears and a moulded plastic saddle, all from Pearson Cycles in Sutton.

Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread. 

There was a review of the Viking in one of the monthlies (cycling active?) a few months ago along with a Raleigh, a Claude Butler and a something else, I have a feeling it did not fare too well


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