Viking Olympiad

krakow

As mentioned in this thread, a local bike shop has an old Viking frame that I quite like the look/idea of, with a mind to putting together a fixed-gear bike from it.

I went back today to get a second look and measure it up and though I didn't have my camera with me I got a few more little details off the frame, that I'm hoping might be enough information to help those perhaps more knowledgeable folks to advise me on whether it might be a reasonable investment or not or simply to give a bit more info about it. A figure of £60-75 was mentioned and it's a frame & fork only, though with a bottom bracket fitted.

Apart from the Viking badge on the front and name on the down tube, there's also a crest/coat of arms type decal on the seat tube, which says 'Olympiad' on it, hence my thinking that that's the model. On the top tube there's a signature style decal saying "Ian Steel", who I've now learned about from a brief google search. I see that Viking did apparently produce an Ian Steel model bike, but I can't find any mention of an Olympiad as yet, so I don't know if this frame is from that model or not. There's no stickers etc. to say what material the frame is made from, which apart from the age, is probably my main question.

On the bottom bracket under the frame there's a stamp of what I assume to be the frame number "103267" along with "Nervex" (which I see refers to the lugs) and then another longer number that I thought read "61°64°D222E38".

Any intelligence to be gleamed from my ramblings, particular on a possible age and material? Thanks.

meagain

IF it is wearing original paint and decals yet it does NOT have one stating the tubing used, then I would draw the conclusion that nothing even vaguely special. As far as I know, Viking made/badged frames of quite varying quality. Unless can determine that this one IS at least 531 then IMO it is not worth more than 30 quid.

But you've seen/felt the frame, so your call!

PS Be very sure that the reason it is still wearing a b/b isn't because the thing is stuck in there!

bagpusscp

Ask the shop what size seat post it takes .Most 531 are 27 or 27 .2 .This is always a good rule of thumb .

meagain

27 .5

Do you not mean 27.2, Paul?

bagpusscp

:oops: Edit mode......

krakow

Thanks for the tip and advice.

It occurred to me this afternoon that whatever the outcome the frame would probably be built for 27'' wheels rather than 700, right? I'd much prefer something suitable for 700's, for ease, so this, along with the fact that they probably want more for it than it's really worth, would put me off.

meagain

"probably be built for 27'' wheels rather than 700, right?"

Very probably, yes.

peejay78

you can run 700s instead of 27".

i'm guessing it has forward facing horizontal dropouts. if it looks nice and you like it, and it is £60 for frame, forks, BB, then it's not such a bad deal.

bear in mind though that you can get a variety of similar frames on the bay for less.

SamWise72

Also, straight gauge 531 (which this could easily be) might not be wearing such a big diameter post.

krakow

Would 700C wheels fit without any bother in an original 27'' spec'd frame, then? I suppose it depends on how much clearance there is. Are there standard figures for the clearance needed, so that I could measure it up if I went back (again! - these guys are definitely going to end up hating me) to check out the seat post measurement as well and quiz them about the condition of the BB and headset.

peejay78

27" wheels are bigger than 700s.

so yes.

in terms of clearance, there'll be plenty, it's not worth worrying about. you'll need a deep drop brake most likely. if it comes with weinemanns i'd throw them straight out, i hate aligning those fiddly things.

krakow

Aha. I had it the wrong way round in my head. Thanks. That makes that easy.

SamWise72

These:

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... _-_Caliper

Are long enough for just about anything - even a Raleigh 20 going from 451 to 406. If you can't find anything else to reach, they'll do it, and being dual pivot, should be pretty powerful. I've got a set here for my 20 build, if you want me to measure anything

meagain

"weinemanns i'd throw them straight out, i hate aligning those fiddly things."

I reckon properly set up (just a little patience!) Weinmann CPs with V-brake pads are very fair stoppers. A whole lot better than single-side- pull calipers.

peejay78

wienemann sidepulls suck ass.

SamWise72

CPs are better than single pivot side pulls, and comparable with dual pivot in my experience

meagain

SamWise72 wrote:

CPs are better than single pivot side pulls, and comparable with dual pivot in my experience

Seconded. Especially with modern levers.

krakow

Apparently the Viking is "plain gauge" tubing, according to the bloke at Common Wheel just down the road from the original bike shop (I'm assuming he's right as he seemed to know the frame when I mentioned it and isn't merely besmirching the opposition). I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I assume it's much less interesting/enticing than a Reynold 531 frame?

On a similar note, what's the practical differences between 501 and 531? Is it worth sticking to ones guns for a 531 frame? There seems to be more availability of 501 frames.

bagpusscp

Plain gauge ? could mean plain gauge 531 as aposed to butted 531 .

krakow

From the way he said it, I interpreted him to mean it as being derogatory about the quality & worth of the frame.

meagain

"what's the practical differences between 501 and 531"

About 1 - 1.5 lbs?

krakow

With my weedy legs I need all the help I can get.

meagain

"Is it worth sticking to ones guns for a 531 frame? There seems to be more availability of 501 frames."

While it may just be a reflection of not wishing to draw attention to "501", a quick ebay skim suggests that there are MANY more 531s about! Searching 531/Cycling completed listings throws up c.75 results. Framesets from 25-100 quid, complete bikes (usually the best value if want fixed) 90-180, with only a few rarities above the respective maxima.

Size has a bearing on cost and availabilty. For historical reasons 23" most common. Below 20 and above 24 not many, but tend to be cheap(er).

It really isn't all that difficult to find something suitable, altho' if you are in a remote/sparsely populated area more difficult simply because at the prices involved less folk prepared to post!

krakow

I'm wary of using eBay, rather than trying to find something local, because I don't really know my stuff, so find it hard to sort the wheat from the chaff as it were or to know what kind of money something is actually worth so as not to end up bidding over the odds for something that's not so great.

meagain

OK, but at those sort of prices you really just take a flyer!

Or you find something and ask on here!

peejay78

seriously, 531 frame on ebay, just ask the right questions...

i.e what sized are the rear drops? 120 or more?

120 is generally easier to convert.