THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!

VIKING SUPERSTAR

Viking Superstar II 10 Speed

I remember these in the early 80s. The competition to my beloved Raleigh. These were made in Derry, Northern Ireland from what I can gather. This one came up on on an adverts site and the asking price was a bargain. What other slice of vintage 80s steel frame bike nostalgia that still runs very well can you get for five clicks under a hundred euro? Not a lot!

As soon as I got it home I stripped it down completely and found zero wear on the headstock and bottom bracket bearings. I cleaned them up and caked them in copper grease!

Superstar it is certainly not but it's fun to ride and you would find it hard to come across an example in this condition. The frame is 23" and ideal for my height. There is slight rust blemishes under the paint but it's nothing really on a bike of this age.

The headstock badge, the holiest of holies on any vintage cycle. If that is missing you are in trouble.  This one is nice if only a sticker and not a brass plate but it's in good nick and not bad for over thirty!

This Huret derailleur, while not the coolest, in fact I think they are not too great at all, shifts away without any problems at all. The chain spoke guard brings back memories! 

Silstar cotterless cranks. Again nothing special but crisp and clean with steady even action. The pedals are steel and were made by Union in West Germany! Huret front changer, steel run of the mill and found on most bikes from this class back then!

Custom SR stem and Sakae alloy handlebar with original cotton bartape I reckon. The brake extentions are horrible and reduce the efficiency of the callipers, so they had to go! Anyway they do not look cool do they?

Huret cast metal gear levers and unbranded callipers but no doubt they are weinmann

along with the levers which are also unbranded. I also removed the lamp bracket as I have hurt my knee off these many a time back in the day!  

Steel Hubs are cool until you see alloy hubs! The wheels are the weak part of the bike, even though they are running pretty true they are noise when breaking due to the serrated rims that seem to chew brake blocks. A nice set of alloys would make this bike a lot better.

New cork bartape and levers would make this machine simply cooler!

Verdict!

I'm sure if you were fifteen and it was 1982 then you would feel like a superstar on this cool 10 speed, but today I am no longer that age but over three times it and the times have changed, a lot in bikeland. Still, it's fun to ride, I gave it severe welly on the flat and it goes like shit off a shovel, handles well and never jolts or jitters. Up steep inclines it's heavy but even standing on the pedals pushing hard it just goes on like an old mule. A nice new set of 27" alloy rims with nice new gumwalls and you'd have a great runaround that looks vintage but runs like new. The 5 speed freewheel has little wear and I'm thinking that this bike was never really used at all but kept in a garage and thankfully out of the rain. Go on, pull the trigger on one if you get the chance, every collection needs a good old Viking for that retro casual ride!

The vest bike is a Viking!!!