Are Viking bikes good?

I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

http://corporate.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/
DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=101713&c=400012 26&i=64350776

Model Type :Alloy Road
Frame Construction :6061 Aluminium mainframe with replaceable gear
hanger
Forks :Steel steerer Carbon Blades
Frame Size :56cm (22").
Wheel Size :700 with 23c Kenda Tyres
Gear System : 21 speed Shimano gears STI button shifters. With a
52/42/32 tooth Pro-wheel Chainset combined with a 13/26 cassette.
Shimano Sora front & rear derailleurs.
Wheel Specification :Weinmann XR18 deep section alloy rims & Quando
cassette hubs with quick release levers
Brakes :Shimano STI levers with Tektro R556 Alloy Dual Pivot Side
Brakes.
Handlebar and Stem :11cm Aheadset Stem & 42cm Anatomic drop bars
Additional :Alloy Micro adjust seatpost, Viking Racing saddle , Alloy
Cranks with cartridge bottom bracket system, Integrated Cartridge
aheadset system.
Frame Colour :Gloss Black
Fork Colour :Carbon
Cycle Condition :Brand New sealed in Box. This Bike comes 90% Built,
Fitting of pedals, stem/bars, front wheel, front brake cable & seat.
Gears & brakes also require some adjustment.
-----------------------------------------------

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B2090.html?id=hvcgDKy5

Key features include:


Carbon fibre aero forks
Ritchey alloy handlebar & stem

Aero profile 6061 alloy frame with semi-integrated headtube

Shimano Sora chainset, 16 speed STI gears & Octalink B/B

Tektro dual pivot Q/R brakes
Selle San Marco Ponza saddle

Rigida Nova rims, Shimano Sora Q/R hubs & Kenda tyres

Thanks in advance for any advice

blackhead writtificated

I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

Don't touch the Viking - overpriced crap. That it is cheap and /still/
overpriced lets you know how crap it is.

The Claud Butler looks like it might be okay, but the 'carbon' forks make
me suspicious.

Go here www.edinburghbicycle.com and have a looksie at the Revolution
Continental 08 [1]. It's a good, no nonsense bike with a lifetime warranty
on the frame and EBC has excellent customer service. Space for proper
mudguards if you want 'em too. No carbon forks, but it's alloy ones are
lighter than the heavy lump of poo on the Viking - no carbon fork has ever
listed a hi-ten steel steerer as a selling point.[2]

I'd recommend good 10 minute test ride before you slap hundreds of pounds
down on a bike.



[1] This might take you straight to it:
www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f%5FProductID=9447&f

[2] Cheap, light, strong. Pick any two. Unless it's hi-ten steel. That's
just cheap. And flexible. And heavy. And utterly out of place on a
'carbon' fork. Which is probably just a normal heavy fork with a carbon
wrap.

blackhead said the following on 28/03/2008 13:13:
I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

http://corporate.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/
DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=101713&c=400012 26&i=64350776

Frankly, based purely on the spec I would say the Viking bike is
horrendously overpriced.


Model Type :Alloy Road
Frame Construction :6061 Aluminium mainframe with replaceable gear
hanger
Forks :Steel steerer Carbon Blades
Frame Size :56cm (22").
Wheel Size :700 with 23c Kenda Tyres
Gear System : 21 speed Shimano gears STI button shifters. With a
52/42/32 tooth Pro-wheel Chainset combined with a 13/26 cassette.
Shimano Sora front & rear derailleurs.
Wheel Specification :Weinmann XR18 deep section alloy rims & Quando
cassette hubs with quick release levers
Brakes :Shimano STI levers with Tektro R556 Alloy Dual Pivot Side
Brakes.
Handlebar and Stem :11cm Aheadset Stem & 42cm Anatomic drop bars
Additional :Alloy Micro adjust seatpost, Viking Racing saddle , Alloy
Cranks with cartridge bottom bracket system, Integrated Cartridge
aheadset system.
Frame Colour :Gloss Black
Fork Colour :Carbon
Cycle Condition :Brand New sealed in Box. This Bike comes 90% Built,
Fitting of pedals, stem/bars, front wheel, front brake cable & seat.
Gears & brakes also require some adjustment.


--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

On Mar 28, 1:13*pm, blackhead wrote:
I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

http://corporate.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/
DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=101713&c=400012 26&i=64350776

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B2090.html?id=hvcgDKy5


Of those two, Claud Butler every time. I have never heard of Viking.
CB has (or, at least, used to have: I've not heard anything to the
contrary) a good reputation.

Somehow the Viking looks misshapen at the front, too. It's just...
wrong, somehow.

PhilD

--

PhilD wrote:

I have never heard of Viking.

They are more famous for selling 99 quid bike shaped
objects.

I agree with everyone else that this looks very
overpriced fro what it is.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
The struggle of people against power is the struggle
of memory against forgetting - Milan Kundera

Mark T wrote:

blackhead writtificated

I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

Don't touch the Viking - overpriced crap. That it is cheap and /still/
overpriced lets you know how crap it is.

The Claud Butler looks like it might be okay, but the 'carbon' forks make
me suspicious.

You're right about Viking, wrong (in my opinion) about Claud Butler. I've
seen a number of these - they are good value for the price (although in my
opinion if you can afford it you'll get better value by spending a bit
more).

Go here www.edinburghbicycle.com and have a looksie at the Revolution
Continental 08 [1]. It's a good, no nonsense bike with a lifetime
warranty
on the frame and EBC has excellent customer service.

Agreed.

I'd recommend good 10 minute test ride before you slap hundreds of pounds
down on a bike.

Absolutely.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Windows 95:
You, you, you! You make a grown man cry...
M. Jagger/K. Richards

On 28 Mar, 14:10, Mark T
pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_ reply*.com.invalid
wrote:
blackhead writtificated

I'm thinking of buying either the Viking Vittoria for £359 or the
Claud Butler Melano for £389. But which is the best value for money?

Don't touch the Viking - overpriced crap. *That it is cheap and /still/
overpriced lets you know how crap it is.

The Claud Butler looks like it might be okay, but the 'carbon' forks make
me suspicious.

Go here www.edinburghbicycle.com and have a looksie at the Revolution
Continental 08 [1]. *It's a good, no nonsense bike with a lifetime warranty
on the frame and EBC has excellent customer service. *

Yes, went in there today and they do come across as a classy setup
with good, helpful staff.

Space for proper
mudguards if you want 'em too. *No carbon forks, but it's alloy ones are
lighter than the heavy lump of poo on the Viking - no carbon fork has ever
listed a hi-ten steel steerer as a selling point.[2]

I'd recommend good 10 minute test ride before you slap hundreds of pounds
down on a bike.

[1] This might take you straight to it:
www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f%5FProductID=9447&f

[2] Cheap, light, strong. *Pick any two. *Unless it's hi-ten steel. *That's
just cheap. *And flexible. *And heavy. *And utterly out of place on a
'carbon' fork. *Which is probably just a normal heavy fork with a carbon
wrap.

Colin MacDonald last week suggested :

"EBC own-brand stuff is generally reasonable value, but you get what
you pay for. The Continental, for example, has pretty low-spec
components but that's why it is £350. If you're happy with that,
Chain Reaction are doing last year's BeOne Briza 2.0 (no, I'm not on
commission) for £250 and it has a more or less identical spec. For
£350 the Storm 3.0 has Sora kit rather than 2200 as well as carbon
forks."

So I'm swayed in two directions by the BeOne Briza 2.0 or the Storm
3.0. Are carbon forks and Sora kit worth an extra £100 over alloy
forks and shimano 2200 for someone that wants an enjoyable 10 mile
bike ride over the weekend and the odd 5 miles during the week?

How much do carbon forks reduce vibration by compared to alloy forks?
Can you really feel the difference or is it just a placebo effect? lol

Thanks for your input, as usual.

Arthur Clune wrote:

PhilD wrote:

I have never heard of Viking.

They are more famous for selling 99 quid bike shaped
objects.

I agree with everyone else that this looks very
overpriced fro what it is.

Arthur

lots on ebay, when i was searching for a 2nd bike, allways had to sift
though a ton of them.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

blackhead wrote:

How much do carbon forks reduce vibration by compared to alloy forks?

Enough.

Can you really feel the difference or is it just a placebo effect? lol

Yes to the difference and no to the placebo, not a laughing matter on a
rough ride.


--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

"This seems like a case where we need to shoot the messenger."
(Charlie Kaufman on Cypherpunks list)

On 28 Mar, 20:13, (Roger Merriman) wrote:
Arthur Clune wrote:
PhilD wrote:

I have never heard ofViking.

They are more famous for selling 99 quid bike shaped
objects.

I agree with everyone else that this looks very
overpriced fro what it is.

Arthur

lots on ebay, when i was searching for a 2nd bike, allways had to sift
though a ton of them.

roger
--www.rogermerriman.com

No relation, then, to the well-respected Viking machines of the 60's?