Frame Numbers were stamped on the Left Rear Dropout until about 1960/61 when Viking changed to 6-digit numbers stamped on the underside of the Bottom Bracket shell. The frame number was typically stamped on the fork steerer tube as well.
Until about 1954, the numbering system appears quite haphazard. It then changed to what looks like a reasonably consistent alpha-numeric system in which the number starts with the “Series” letter:- V = Severn Valley; M = Mileater; S = Ian Steel and others to be confirmed. The series designation letter is noted by the model name in some of Viking’s brochures (see Catalogue section). All Tour of Britain frames we know have pure numeric numbers.
Here are the frame numbers that we know about, but we really would like more. It is currently very difficult to discern a real pattern that will enable the prediction of model and year from a frame number. The situation is complicated by the fact that a lot of the date estimates are really way out and are unlikely to get sorted without photographs of the frames as a guide, and there is the risk that some owners do not want a different date ascribed to their frames. Please provide us with any additional information you can and, where possible, photographs that we can put in the gallery.
Also please help us to improve the register and add your Viking frame details here… http://classicvikingcycles.uk/add-to-frame-register/
In the above chart, where a name is indented it is the model name of a complete bicycle based on the frame model above the indentation. So, for example, you can see that at various times the Clubmaster bicycle was based on Master SS, Severn Valley and Tour of Britain frames.
Not much information seems to exist on Viking models prior to 1940. The earliest catalogue information that I have relates to the late 1940s. Trawling through the internet has not thrown light on anything other than the “Master Series SS” frames, designed for club riding and racing, with SS/T (track) and SS/L (ladies’) versions. The SS was available built up as a Clubmaster or as a Racemaster, the names being self-explanatory, and the SS/T was available built up as a Trackmaster. I don’t have information on the relative volumes of frame sales versus bike sales, but would imagine that more were sold as frames because of the punitive Purchase Tax that applied to complete bikes but not to components.
The photographs of circa 1950 cycle show stands show a range of bicycles, including children’s and more utilitarian models which I suspect were not built by Viking (the Co-op has been suggested as a source). Many cycle dealers would handle just one or two brands, so these bicycles enabled Viking dealers to offer a full range to meet all needs and earn a bit of extra cash in the process.
In 1950, the Severn Valley was introduced, marketed as more suitable for road racing. It had slightly more upright angles than the SS which continued alongside. The price lists show the Severn Valley as costing more than the SS, even though it did not have any chrome as standard whereas the SS had a 3/4 chrome front fork as standard. Additional chrome was available as an option on all models.
Viking sponsored a racing team in all this time, presumably riding Master SS until the Severn Valley came along, and this was presumably the frame on which Ian Steel won the 1951 Tour of Britain, unles of course the team rode special bikes, on which the Tour of Britain model, introduced in 1952, was based.
The Tour of Britain model was the flagship of the range for several years with its Nervex Professional lugs and reinforced pump pegs and rear brake bridge – arguably unnecessary features but sounding good for the catalogue description.
All the above models were constructed with Reynolds 531 butted tubesets, with Accles and Pollock Kromo stated as an alternative. However, the Mileater, introduced in 1951, used straight gauge rather than butted tubes as did the Ian Steel model, introduced maybe a year or two later. The Ian Steel model was an entry-level racer at a lower price point than the other models and clearly designed to capitalize on his racing success. This model had the front gear shift arrangement favoured by Ian Steel, whereby the cable from a handlebar control went via a stop on the top tube to a Sturmey-Archer type cable pulley just under the seat lug and then down to the Benelux front derailleur. This same arrangement has been seen on Tour of Britain frames, but is not mentioned in the catalogues as a feature of the ToB.
The Severn Valley appears to have dropped out of the catalogue for 1956 and the reappeared in 1957 replacing the Tour of Britain as the top model, at the same time as acquiring Nervex Professional lugs. The catalogues do not show the Tour of Britain as continuing beyond 1956, but there are owners who say that they have later Tour of Britain models. I hope to get to see some of these and check their features. The fact that they are not listed in the catalogue does not mean that they did not exist – anything is possible with Viking. From this distance, I do not know whether it was a strength or a weakness that Viking were prepared to make variations in specification to suit individual customers. It clearly increases the cost of production and would only have been good business if it gained customers or enabled them to charge profitably for these variations.