Hi all -
Thanks to those of you who responded to my message on Viking - these were a delight to me - not least because I worked for Viking myself - and rode a Severn Valley, incidentally - between 1959 and 1966.
It was good to know that the marque has so many fans, Stateside. The pictures you sent were great (very nostalgic!) .... so to everyone who collects/restores Vikings - thanks a lot, you are doing the world a favour - preserving some end-game examples of British engineering excellence.
I think I've replied to everyone who wrote me - but thought more of you might like to know of a UK web address giving lots more detail on Viking -
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/
Also, at the end of this email I've also added an article which underlines the seminal nature of Viking's contribution to post-war cycle sport (no point in being modest, is there?)
By way of an update note - the main drivers for our success in those long-ago days (days of British manufacturing excellence which I suspect will never return) were Bob Thom (Sales & Team Manager) and Reg ('Vic') Davies (Managing Director - my father). It was a great partnership.... they were true friends, as well as being complementary personalities. Coincidentally both men died aged 87: Reg in 1994, and Bob in 2005.
Cheers
Vic Davies
See ARTICLE below....
THE BIRTH and GROWTH OF SPONSORED CYCLE SPORT IN BRITAIN
BEWARE OF THE VIKINGS !
The first trade sponsored cycle racing teams in Britain appeared in 1947, when the News of the World newspaper backed the Brighton to Glasgow 6-Day stage race, promoted by the British League of Racing Cyclists (B.L.R.C.). But team sponsorship, as such, only really got going in the following year, 1948, when the Wolverhampton cycle manufacturers, Viking Cycles, founded in 1908, sponsored a team of Independent category riders (semi-professional), as they were then.
The team was Bob Thom, Harold Johnson, Bill Allan and Ben Whitmore, Success was not long coming, when Johnson won the Independent R. R. Championship that year, and Thom won it the following year. This was the start of one of the longest periods of cycle racing team sponsorship and domination by a cycle maker in Britain.
The line up for the 1951 season was team captain Bob Thom, Ted Jones, Johnny Welch and Fred Nichols, but with the first Daily Express Tour of Britain being promoted later in the year, the team was specifically strengthened for the Tour. The 22 year old Scottish R.R. Champion, Ian Steel, and Geordie, Stan Blair, who in June that year had won the Butlins Camps 7-Day stage race, were both drafted in, with Bob Thom becoming the team manager. The result was a Viking triumph, with Ian Steel a well deserved winner.
It was also the start of Bob Thoms long and successful career as a team manager, for the Viking Cycles squad, and Great Britain International teams. This Tour victory gave the firm considerable advertising material, which they exploited to the full. Their leading road models were now the Tour of Britain, and the Severn Valley - Bob Thom and Ted Jones having both won the well established Severn Valley G.P. When Bob Thom joined the firm in 1948, it was as both rider and a product supervisor in the factory. He later became a salesman, and went on to become the companys Sales Manager.
In 1952 Ian Steel carried off his historic victory in the Warsaw- Berlin-Prague stage race. That year Steel also won two West Country classics, the Tour of the Mendips and the Weston-super-Mare G.P. Another Scot, Joe Chnstison was signed, and took fourth place in the last of the Daily Express Tours of Britain in 1954. Other outstanding riders to wear the now famous purple and gold jerseys in the 1950s, were Bevis Wood, Ken Jowett, Les Gill, Dick Bartrop, and Brian Haskell. In the early 196Os, Merseysiders John Geddes, George OBrien and Stan Brittain, plus other top names like Albert Hitchen, Bernard Burns, Dave Bedwell and Harry Reynolds were in the team at various times. There was no team in 1964, but in 1965, Viking returned with a co-sponsor, Trumans Steel for two years, and many victories were added by the team of Wes Mason, Peter Gordon, Dick Goodman and George Halls, plus Ron Coe in 1966.
There is no doubt that Viking Cycles, appropriately based where road racing began in Britain, built up their trade and reputation, primarily from the victories gained by the racing team, which during these times, included so many of the countrys leading roadmen. In the 1970s, a process of rationalisation occurred in the U.K. cycle manufacturing industry, with only a few well known names surviving, and these under new ownership. This applied to the Viking name, which briefly returned again, but this time in red and white colours, with Sid Barras, Keith Lambert and Paul Carbutt in the team, but eventually the famous marque disappeared.
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