Well Vic
Lets see if anyone has a hosteller, does Tim Tarrant still have his?
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
I do 9 to work and 9 home with the additional journeys making up the extra 10 miles in the evenings and weekends. I worry I'm turning into a cycling machine. It makes me laugh, I can spot how long someone's been cycling, I get people at the start of their journey trying to pace past but I just keep spinning and soon enough take them in the stride. I ride an 81" gear and average at 17mph up and down hill from north London, anyone who's on the list who sees me on the road on a blue Viking beep your horn/bell and say hi.
Cycling with a smile
Julius, London UK
On 19 Jan 2007, at 23:14, Vic Davies wrote:
> Hi Julius -
>
> I should be ashamed, but I have to admit I can't quite remember
> when our last win was - so I don't know if we added decals after
> the '59 win - sorry.
> As I said in my last, I don't know of ANY surviving Hostellers - I
> guess there must be some. Why not post an enquiry on Classic
> Rendezvous?
>
> I'm impressed by that 100 mpw - is that through using it to commute
> - and do you go touring too?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Julius Naim <julius.naim@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Vic
>
> Thanks for the feedback, I've been really enjoying the bike. As I
> used a bike 2 inches larger for many years the frame feels light as a
> feather (well for a steel) to me so hadn't noticed it was heavier
> that the 531 tubing, happy the VCL tubing is stronger as I'm quite
> hard on bikes and at about 100 miles a week it probably needs to be.
>
> I really wouldn't know what the market rate would be for the frame, I
> got it for £85 but really wanted it as had been looking for a few
> months while I was using a loan bike.
>
> Do you know anything about the decals? The seat tube has the 1st
> decal with 4 dates last being 1959, was this the last one or did
> Viking win again and produce a latter decal?
>
> Are there any Hostellers out there that are all period, I'd love to
> know how VIking would have originally built it up.
>
> All the best
>
> Julius
>
>
> On 17 Jan 2007, at 09:38, Vic Davies wrote:
>
> > Hi Julius -
> >
> > I accessed the URL - nice pics, nice bike.
> >
> > The Hosteller, as the name implies, was built and marketed as a
> > touring frame - it was less expensive than our racing frames -
> > mainly because it was aimed at a market where price was a bigger
> > issue.
> >
> > That didn't mean, however, that it was in any sense a cheap
> > substitute. We never made cheap bikes! As the saying goes - "price
> > is a policy".
> >
> > VCL (Viking Cycles Limited) Super Steel was a name we gave to
> > tubing made from an alloy we specified, made by Tube Products
> > Limited, Oldbury - which was similar to Reynolds 531 (actually
> > stronger, but a wee bit heavier - and cost less.)
> >
> > You may like to know that I haven't heard of any other surviving
> > Hostellers recently. Maybe that's because Hostellers haven't
> > carried a 'collectible name' - probably also because their more
> > utilitarian function meant they came in for rougher treatment than
> > did racing bikes, so they may have been scrapped in greater numbers.
> >
> > It's possible your Hosteller has a rarity value which exceeds that
> > of our (currently more available) Viking racing frames such as the
> > Severn Valley. Who knows? The market may wake up to that fact one
> day.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Vic
> >
> > Now you can scan emails quickly with a reading pane. Get the new
> > Yahoo! Mail.
>
>
>
>
> Vic Davies
> 16 Holly Grove
> Penn
> Wolverhampton
> WV3 7DX
> tel. 01902-650905
> mobile 07802-973072
>
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