The Viking Cycle Company was an English
bicycle company. Founded in 1908 in
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
as a bicycle repair shop, it became a manufacturer and sponsored a racing team. The company closed in 1967; the business was purchased and reestablished as Viking Cycles, an assembler in
Derry,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The brand was later sold to
Avocet Sports of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, which imported
rebadged
In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...
bicycles into the UK under the Viking name. Following the acquisition of Avocet by the Indian company
Hero Cycles
Hero Cycles Limited, based in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, Punjab, is an Indian company that manufactures bicycles and bicycle related products. Pankaj M Munjal is the chairman and managing director of Hero Cycles.
History
Hero Cycles was estab ...
, the brand name has been used by its
Insync Bikes division.
History
Alfred Victor Davies went into bicycle repair in 1908 to supplement his wages as a railwayman, and continued with it full-time when ordered to stop because rules forbade second jobs. Around 1935, after twice moving and acquiring an additional building for the works, the company started manufacturing frames rather than simply assembling bicycles.
["The Viking Cycle Company"]
Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website, retrieved 17 November 2014. Alfred Davies was succeeded by his son, Reg Davies, who registered the company as Viking Cycles Limited in 1939.
[William Page and Laura M. Midgley, ed. M. W. Greenslade, ''Victoria History of the County of Stafford'', Volume 2 Oxford: Oxford University, 1967, ]
p. 152
During the Second World War, the company produced munitions.
After the war production rose from about 800 cycles a year in the late 1940s to more than 20,000 in 1963, making Viking the city's largest-ever bicycle manufacturer.[ The company diversified into lightweight racing bicycles and the began Viking road racers team in 1948, managed by former Wolverhampton Wheeler Bob Thom, who later also became sales manager.][ At its production peak in the mid-1960s, the company employed about 70 people.][
In the 1960s club cycling declined, but Davies designed a child's bicycle with telescopic rear stays and a telescopic ]seat tube
A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles: a main triangle ...
which could be adjusted as the child grew, rather than buying a series of new cycles. This model eventually accounted for three-quarters of the company's business.[
The company closed in 1967.][ It was bought by two Americans, who established Viking Cycles, a bicycle assembler in Derry. This encountered financial problems and in 1981 ]Merseyside County Council
Merseyside County Council (MCC) was, from 1974 to 1986, the upper-tier administrative body for Merseyside, a metropolitan county in North West England.
MCC existed for a total of twelve years. It was established on 1 April 1974 by the Local ...
considered buying the brand and opening a company to be headed by the bicycle racer and designer Frank Clements. In 2001 the Viking Cycles brand was bought by Avocet Sports, of Manchester; the trademark was registered to them in June 2002.
In August 2015, Hero Cycles, an Indian company owned by Pankaj M Munjal, bought a majority stake in Avocet. Hero have relaunched the Viking Cycles brand to be sold under their new British and European master brand Insync Bikes.[PTI]
"Hero Cycles unveils new Insync bike range for UK Market"
''Brand Equity'', ''The Economic Times'', 5 May 2018.
References
External links
Viking Cycles
Insync Bikes
{{British bicycle manufacturers
1908 establishments in England
1967 disestablishments in England
Defunct cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Manufacturing companies based in Wolverhampton