Viking VK500 - anyone heard of it?

gazngaz

Hi all....

Newbie here who's looking for a first road bike.

I have seen one of these for sale but can't find anything about it on the net.

Can anyone help/does anyone know of this bike?

Gary

amaferanga

AIUI Viking make BSOs. Best avoided unless you're just after something very cheap.

Duffer65

Hello,

Is it new or second hand? Couldn't find much about that model. But looking at the Viking website I would be tempted to go for a bike from a recognised brand (Trek, Giant, Specialized etc) for my first road bike, as you know you are getting something reasonable. But, if it's what you are after and you just want to get something cheap to see if you'll like 'road cycling'...

gazngaz

Hi Amaferanga

Thanks for your posting but what is AIUI and Viking BSOs?

gazngaz

Hi Duffer65

It's a second hand bike, i have been to look at it and apart from needing a bit of a service it's in good condition with just a few cosmetic scratches.

I can get the Viking for £150 and as it's a first bike then i thought this was ok especially as I may possibly decide to not continue with it.

I have seen a Trek 1.2 racer for £280 and the reviews of these are really good but as a first bike i didn't want to spend that much (again just incase I don't keep up road biking)

Duffer65

BSO = Bike Shaped Object, a term for cheap bikes sold in supermarkets, online and some Halfords brands etc.

I'd definitely go for the Trek, as even if you decide you don't don't like road cycling (which I doubt) the bike will have a much better re-sale value than the Viking. If you decide to keep up the cycling it will be a decent enough bike to keep you going until you upgrade.

NITR8s

A year ago I was in the same situation as you, not sure how much I would enjoy cycling. I decided to go for cheap claud butler echelon for £380, as I couldnt justify spending £500+ for a trek, specialized, Scott etc. But now I wish I did, in order to upgrade my bike to the same spec as I would have got spending £500+, I would still need to spending well over the £200 difference when they were brandnew. Even after this I will sill be left with a heavy claud butler frame. Essentially I know for a fact that I will be upgrading to a new bike alot sooner than I would if I had not been so tight when I bought it.

Also I looked at the Viking range and thought that the claud butler range was slightly better.

If you can try and get the bike through the cyclescheme at work.

rolf_f

gazngaz wrote:

Hi Duffer65

It's a second hand bike, i have been to look at it and apart from needing a bit of a service it's in good condition with just a few cosmetic scratches.

I can get the Viking for £150 and as it's a first bike then i thought this was ok especially as I may possibly decide to not continue with it.

I have seen a Trek 1.2 racer for £280 and the reviews of these are really good but as a first bike i didn't want to spend that much (again just incase I don't keep up road biking)

Does the Trek need a service? What does the Viking need doing? If you aren't doing it yourself that could reduce the price gap by £40. Then, if you do decide you don't like road biking, the Trek might retain it's value better.

That said, I doubt that the Viking is that bad - it really depends on what the kit on it is.

mouth

There's a shop near me sells Vikings. And I have to say it actually weighs the same as a viking, specifically hagar the horrible. Trek every time because of the resale value if you don't like it. Chances are the Viking has crappy shifters in the centre of the bars as well. Most useless.

andrewjoseph

I've looked at cheap bikes to help family into riding. my view is that buying too cheap is more likely to put you off riding than getting something half decent in the first place.

A cheap bike will probably be heavy with poor spec components, limited gears and from looking and trying some, very poor brakes.

By all means, buy a cheap bike now to try, but maybe that £150 would be better spent going towards a £300 bike.

NITR8s

Dont get me started on the quality of the brakes that came with my claud bulter bike, they are dangerously poor. I dont even know how they can sell them with those brakes on, surely they have to be tested?