Viking Clubmaster 2012 Review
If you are looking for a solid, high quality road bike that is built for racing, then look no further than the Viking Clubmaster road bike. The Viking brand has been building high quality bicycles since it was founded in Wolverhampton in 1908. This gives the Viking brand a rich heritage filled with quality and over 100 years of building road bikes of the highest quality. This is why for that long Viking Bicycles have been considered to be some of the best out there. Well known for having high quality, strong durability, and eye catching style, the Viking Clubmaster keeps this standard alive. Now in the 21 st Century, Viking is using all of the latest and greatest technical innovations in the world of modern bicycle building to create products that will keep their brand’s reputation intact for another 100 years.
A Lightweight Frame, Fast Rolling Tyres and High Quality Chain Set
The Viking Clubmaster road bike has a very lightweight frame that features hi-tensile tubing as well as straight blade forks. This makes the bike incredibly light which is very nice with the geometry frame the Viking Clubmaster features. The rims are double wall alloy rims that are quite strong thanks to having alloy 38 hole nutted hubs that help reinforce the overall strength of the rims. The tyres are Kenda K191 that roll quite fast and help you achieve great speeds. This is assisted by a high quality Shimano 14 speed gear set that also has a high quality Shimano FC-A050 53/39T chain set. These are features that you would typically find on higher end bikes, so you are getting a great treat here! The Clubmaster also has Promax alloy dual pivot side pull brakes which are known for their dependable performance that you can count on no matter what conditions you may be facing.
The saddle is a Monte Grappa Retro Leather Road Saddle, which will provide you with a lot of comfort on those rides that take hours and hours and the Viking 700c Silver Double Wall alloy rims will help absorb a lot of the shock you feel as you go over on the bumps. Since the suspension is quite rigid though, you will still feel them, but overall the Viking Clubmaster is rather forgiving. Weight-wise, this bike is about the middle of the road, weighing in at just around 13kg. It is not the heaviest bike in the world, but it is also not the lightest. Still, the pickup is quick when you decide to put the hammer down and it is very quick, but can still be quite challenging on inclines. In addition the seat post is an alloy micro-adjust which makes fitting it to the height you want is no problem at all.
The wheels are not quick release wheels, which can make transporting it in a car to a far off destination or track somewhat more challenging than it ought to be. However, the 14 gears and quick pickup when you are riding more than makes up for this slight inconvenience. Overall the Viking Clubmaster is a solid road bike that comes complete with high quality features making it ideal for mid-advanced riders.
Written by: Quatos