2013 Viking Scirroco Yellow 56cm

y9y9

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and road cycling.

Wanted to get a cheap bike (this cost just under £200) to see how I liked cycling and so far I have been loving it! The idea was to use this bike for a few months and if I still enjoyed it I would upgrade. I've had this bike for just over a week now and have only ridden around 40 miles.

It's on the heavy side (just over 12kg I believe) but its been fine for me so far.

Like I said I'm new to road cycling altogether so if you spot anything set up incorrectly or have any suggestions for the bike please let me know.



Thanks

declan1

Nothing seriously wrong with these bikes. I used to have a Viking Giro D'Italia which is exactly the same frame as this. I had a few upgraded components but it was still a low end bike. Best upgrade I made was wheels - the standard wheels weigh close to 3KG a set so that should be the first thing you upgrade. Also get new tyre with the new wheels (even some £8 Vittoria Zaffiros are in a completely different league to the standard tyres). I came 2nd in a crit race (0.0005 seconds away from 1st) on my Viking!

y9y9

Thanks for the advice, and glad to hear your Viking served you well. Can you recommend any wheels that would fit this bike? I've looked on EvansCycles but am not sure which wheelset would fit the groupset etc on this.

And I've also been looking at getting Shwalbe Lugano tyres as a quick upgrade as they're only about £19 for a pair online!

napoleond

Hi mate, I would bother upgrading anything in this bike unless it has broken, especially as you've only done 40 miles. Enjoy it as it is. If you get the bug look at joining a club, it's a great way of finding new roads and routes.

Myersng

Nice looking bike I've only been road cycling for about a year so don't have vast knowledge but I was much more confidant on my bike when I changed the tyres. I have changed a few other things over the last year like pedals, chainset, forks and saddle but that was over the last 12 months and 2k miles

imposter2.0

Sounds like the bike is doing its job - which is all you can ask of any bike. The set-up looks good - certainly a lot better than some of the bikes on here costing several times more

Not sure, but it looks like your front QR may be on the wrong side. Usual position is on the left.

y9y9

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have already changed the pedals - it has some flats on there but I got these VP Resin one with straps until I decide to go clipless.

And thanks for the heads up about the QR, I will swap it over to the left. The only reason I had it on the right was because the computer sensor is on the left fork.

The only thing that annoys me about the bike is that there is only one set of bolts to put a bottle cage. Ive seen the ones that can clamp on but really would have preferred a matching set of cages.

declan1

NapoleonD wrote:

Hi mate, I would bother upgrading anything in this bike unless it has broken, especially as you've only done 40 miles. Enjoy it as it is. If you get the bug look at joining a club, it's a great way of finding new roads and routes.

I'm not trying to make him spend money or anything but the wheels and tyres are one seriously crap part of this bike. The wheels as I said weigh nearly 3kg for a pair and the tyres were getting on for 500g. The inside rim width is 13mm so normal 23mm tyres don't fit.

OP: some Shimano R500 wheels and Zaffiro/Lugano tyres will only set you back about £80 but you will feel an enormous difference!!!

y9y9

declan1 wrote:

I'm not trying to make him spend money or anything but the wheels and tyres are one seriously crap part of this bike. The wheels as I said weigh nearly 3kg for a pair and the tyres were getting on for 500g. The inside rim width is 13mm so normal 23mm tyres don't fit.

OP: some Shimano R500 wheels and Zaffiro/Lugano tyres will only set you back about £80 but you will feel an enormous difference!!!

Do you know if these are compatible? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-R500- ... 43be4d166e

Sorry to ask all these questions but my bike is 14 speed (7 High 7 Low gears), and those wheels are for 8/9/10 Speed Shimano.

If you could help that'd be great.

WindyG

I rode all last year and some of this on a Viking Roma, only things I changed were the pedals and saddle and other than routine servicing and one puncture the bike was great, yes it did feel heavy but it did me well to get me back into road cycling and I have just sold it to a mate who is loving it and has been out getting fit nearly every other day since he bought it. I didn't upgrade mine as I did feel no matter what I did spend it was never really going to be nothing more than a starter bike and I wanted to save the money and buy an off the shelf sub 10kg bike.

Just get out an enjoy what you have.

DannyJames

I have not much experience with road bikes but i recently put a 7 speed Cassette on a 9 speed hub on my mtb , The freewheel is longer but i bough a spacer to take up the slack worked fine and there pretty cheap too.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-cassette-alloy-spacer/

declan1

y9y9 wrote:

declan1 wrote:

I'm not trying to make him spend money or anything but the wheels and tyres are one seriously crap part of this bike. The wheels as I said weigh nearly 3kg for a pair and the tyres were getting on for 500g. The inside rim width is 13mm so normal 23mm tyres don't fit.

OP: some Shimano R500 wheels and Zaffiro/Lugano tyres will only set you back about £80 but you will feel an enormous difference!!!

Do you know if these are compatible? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-R500- ... 43be4d166e

Sorry to ask all these questions but my bike is 14 speed (7 High 7 Low gears), and those wheels are for 8/9/10 Speed Shimano.

If you could help that'd be great.

Yup, you'll need to get a spacer as shown above this post, then a 7 speed cassette (as the freewheel won't fit on the freehub).

y9y9

Thanks everyone for the advice. I've ordered the r500/501 wheelset and Schwalbe Lugano black and yellow tyres. Will post up here when they arrive.

Will eventually order the extra bits to get it all to fit.

y9y9

Been riding a lot more lately and thought I'd get some R501. They say R500 on the rim but they're the R501 model (says it only on the hub).

Also ordered a new chain, cassette, spacer, inner tubes and Schwalbe tyres!

Got everything new for a very good price, too

declan1

Nice! You will notice a HUGE difference - make sure you show us pics of them on!

DannyJames

Let us know what you think to them a wheel upgrade is on my to do list

Yossie

Vittoria Zaffiro slick tyres - £6.99 each: I've used them for 4 years in rain, snow, summer: the whole shebang.

Dirt cheap, last for ages, look cool and nice and grippy.

Wheels as above should be cool, get some clipless pedals (middle of the range Look Keo will offer decent pedals for the value of the bike), upgrade brakes to 105 in the sales.

Job jobbed.

Now enjoy in the sun - happy and safe riding.

James Q

Looks really nice, , make sure you put pics up of the new wheels fitted.

y9y9

Got the new wheels, tyres, cassette and chain fitted now. The bike feels a lot lighter overall. Haven't ridden on them yet, and the tyres are not yet fully pumped up but I will report back after a ride.






Got more stuff on the way so will update as I go along

declan1

That looks much better now - when you ride it next you should notice a lot of free speed!

rolf_f

y9y9 wrote:

And thanks for the heads up about the QR, I will swap it over to the left. The only reason I had it on the right was because the computer sensor is on the left fork.

Ahh well - that's the other thing. Better with the sensor on the right fork so it faces forward. Eliminates the very small chance that if the sensor gets knocked into the path of the spokes, it will just skitter off them rather than get sucked into the wheel causing all sorts of pain!

y9y9

A quick snap from Sunday just before I was heading out on a ride to try my new full carbon saddle (weighs around 90g).

I know the chain etc is facing away from the camera but I will probably upload a new photo soon.