Vintage Viking bike

[kcharles]

Hey guys,

Trying to get a budget old bike to give it some love and keep it going
Found this bike was wondering if it's too old to old to use modern parts for maintenance / and 700c conversion. Any thoughts??

 

[juvela]

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cycle's Huret Challenger rear gear mech launched 1974 so if taken to be original it provides one date bracketing marker

suspect wheels not original

machine a pretty low end model

the investment in parts/consumables to make a refurbishment could easily put it under water with respect fo value

suggest you might wish to wait for a better candidate for your labours

trivia - fork crown is Agrati model N. 005.8028 from the Agrati "ROMA" lug ensemble Nr. 000.8020/E/U (IT)


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[bikeworkshop]

Viking made some really nice bikes, but also pursued the mass market.
If it's usable as is, then it's great.

 

[kcharles]

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cycle's Huret Challenger rear gear mech launched 1974 so if taken to be original it provides one date bracketing marker

suspect wheels not original

machine a pretty low end model

the investment in parts/consumables to make a refurbishment could easily put it under water with respect fo value

suggest you might wish to wait for a better candidate for your labours

trivia - fork crown is Agrati model N. 005.8028 from the Agrati "ROMA" lug ensemble Nr. 000.8020/E/U (IT)


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Amazed how you know so much about this. thanks, appreciate it!

 

[juvela]

Amazed how you know so much about this. thanks, appreciate it!

Huret began date marking their products in 1978 with a four digit numerical mark

here is an example -



this indicates the item produced during the twenty-eighth week of the year nineteen eighty-four

so if the cycle's three Huret components lack this marking you know it was constructed no earlier than 1974 and no later than 1977


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[kcharles]

Huret began date marking their products in 1978 with a four digit numerical mark

here is an example -

View attachment 898415

this indicates the item produced during the twenty-eighth week of the year nineteen eighty-four

so if the cycle's three Huret components lack this marking you know it was constructed no earlier than 1974 and no later than 1977


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Great, Thank you so much. Could I ask you another question? I was wondering if I could change the BB and the crank set to a modern one. What should I check for compatibility? apologies if this is a rookie question,,

 

[sjcprojects]

Great, Thank you so much. Could I ask you another question? I was wondering if I could change the BB and the crank set to a modern one. What should I check for compatibility? apologies if this is a rookie question,,

Changing the BB and crankset to a more modern one is no problem, as long as it's a system that uses a threaded BB like Shimano Hollowtech, for example. Thankfully the thread on a BB is something that hasn't really changed over the years. The only thing would be that you do also need a specific tool to install the new BB. Depends how modern you want to go, partly - and why you want to change the parts. More modern parts will certainly be better and easy to maintain, but whether it's worth the effort involved compared to just buying a more modern used bike to begin with is debatable.

Essentially, before doing anything @juvela is spot on and so it's worth thinking about what you're going to use the bike for and what you really want to end up with before spending much money - this is a pretty low-end bike, as mentioned.

 

[juvela]

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forgot to mention above...

in case you have any interest in history of the marque there is some information here -

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/Transport/bicycles/Viking.htm


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