Apollophiles - The Apollo Appreciation Thread

[Kermit TF]

Well, that is a 1981 and it would have had a head tube badge. I think Apollo moved to a transfer on the head tube in about 1983. The Apollo logo looks wrong and with that shiny paint it has probably been resprayed.

I dont think has been resprayed. Inside the head tube and BB match perfectly to that out side. And there is no way anyone who reprayed it would bother applying new decals and reattaching the head badge.

Nice, well bought. Its a mish-mash from whatever they had at the time..Ive seen Ap 3.5s higher specd than some Vs. Lot of weird things happened in 1981

[PatNZ]

I'm part way through my rebuild of my old Apollo Vitesse. All up I think it will end up about the $300-400 mark for the rebuild. In the process I'm upgrading to brifters instead of the old downtube shifters and replacing the old grouppo with more modern parts.

Nice to see. I'm using a slightly rusty Apollo Vittesse myself. It'd be nice to have a go at repainting one day. I'm interested in seeing the end result of your project.

Brifters would be nice. Many times i've thought about getting some 9 speed brifters. As my bike is at the moment I put a newer back wheel on it and a 8 speed cassette. Since 8 speed cassettes can work with 7 speed downtube shifters.

What do you think about the brake calipers on the front? I tried to put modern dual pivot brakes on mine and realized the clearance is different longer than normal modern calipers. Fresh pads and correct adjustment helped though.

Are you planning to put original style details back on?

I'll be putting some dual pivot ones on as I sold the (almost) complete group set since I was changing from 7 to 8 speed. I checked the length on the old ones and they were 47-57mm.
I've found these: http://www.this link is broken.au/dia-compe-brs1 ... er-brakes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or these http://www.this link is broken.au/miche-performa ... liper-set/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
that I'm tossing up between.

Nice to see the brake choices, i'm going to have to start ordering stuff off the internet in the near future it seems.

Did you weigh the fork and frame when you striped it. I'd be curious to find out since your bike looks to me as if its possibly the same year as mine or if not very close, so i'm thinking the steel may be similiur even though I suspect my frame maybe the next size up from yours.. It'd be nice to know where this frame lies in the weight category.

Are you keeping the Bio Pace Chain rings? Or is that part of what you sold?

Also interesting is whats happening with your fork. Forgive me for not knowing about this but I looks like you've modified the original fork to add a modern style headset. Whats involved in this process did it require wielding? Whats the main advantages to doing this?

[singlespeedscott]

Did a bit of reading and it looks like aero shifter mounts were found only on Apollo IVs or Vs. Can anyone confirm this?
Is it unusual not to have a headtube badge?

What's the seat post diametre?

27.2

That's very unusual for an Apollo. I think even the top spec VI only had a 27.0. Maybe it's not even an Apollo

[weldin_mike_27]

. 2 of a mm could be operator error....

[Lots of steel bikes]

. 2 of a mm could be operator error....

27.2 stamped on the seat post. I guess someone could have forced it in. Looks fine though. Can't find a serial number anywhere.

[weldin_mike_27]

Fair enough then. It's a hairs breadth though. Lol

[a-frame81]

Nice to see the brake choices, i'm going to have to start ordering stuff off the internet in the near future it seems.

Did you weigh the fork and frame when you striped it. I'd be curious to find out since your bike looks to me as if its possibly the same year as mine or if not very close, so i'm thinking the steel may be similiur even though I suspect my frame maybe the next size up from yours.. It'd be nice to know where this frame lies in the weight category.

Are you keeping the Bio Pace Chain rings? Or is that part of what you sold?

Also interesting is whats happening with your fork. Forgive me for not knowing about this but I looks like you've modified the original fork to add a modern style headset. Whats involved in this process did it require wielding? Whats the main advantages to doing this?

The biopace rings were part of what I sold. I'm going to a compact crankset as we have lots of hills around the ACT and they're not really my strong suit. With the adaption to a modern stem it's quite simple. I bought a stem adaptor from http://www.velogear.com.au/bike-parts/b ... aptor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which replaces the old quill stem.

I didn't weigh the frame and fork, didn't even occur to me to do it at the time. Probably should have but I figure I have more weight to lose from myself than from any bike parts so I never think about it.

[Lots of steel bikes]

Did a bit of reading and it looks like aero shifter mounts were found only on Apollo IVs or Vs. Can anyone confirm this?
Is it unusual not to have a headtube badge?

That's very unusual for an Apollo. I think even the top spec VI only had a 27.0. Maybe it's not even an Apollo

Did a bit more research and it is indeed an Apollo. It is the extremely rare Apollo XIII. Only three were made. One was gifted to Pope Paul and one was presented the the US President at the time, Richard Nixon. The third, which is now mine, was placed aboard the spacecraft Apollo XIII (hence it's name) to be used to research the effect of zero gravity on cycling. The results of those experiments are presented here. To reduce payload there was no head tube badge. The aero shifters were to reduce reentry drag should the bike need to be jettisoned during the journey home. The term bio'space' was coined from this mission

Upon return to the Earth the bike was kept on display at the NASA museum for many years. As the space program wound down it was decided to sell the bike at a charity auction. The famous basketballer Michael Jordan won the the bike for a record breaking bid of $2 million. He removed the gold Dura Ace seat post and replaced with a much longer post to suit his long legs. The adjustable Cinelli stem was a nice touch. Some time later Angelina Jolie bought the bike from Michael as a gift for Brad Pitt. This was to give him something else to ride (other than his motorbike). Brad wasn't mechanically minded, didn't know you could lower the saddle and therefore rode it standing for every ride. The increased leg strength came in handy for his role in World War Z running from zombies. After making the film Gravity his mate George Clooney began collecting space related memorabilia and asked Brad for the bike. Brad obliged but Angelina was incensed when she found out. She demanded the bike back, and so it wouldn't happen again, brought it with her to Queensland where she was making Unbroken. Ange enjoyed her time in Australia so much that she offered the bike to Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Tony had no class, rode a carbon fibre bike and therefore rejected the offer. She then offered it to Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. Campbell eagerly accepted the bike and immediately got a staff member to strip off the rest of the gold dura Ace groupset which he sold to fund his election campaign. The groupset was replaced with lower level parts. The bike now looked like any other 70's clunker and Campbell took it to the dump. It found it's way to the tip shop where I bought it.
With this incredible provenance I will accept $1.8 million for the bike. The price is firm, no offers please. Michael must have failed to notice the ding in the top tube that occurred during the rough reentry and therefore paid way too much at the charity auction.

Yes, a slow day at work.

[Apollo_TBlock]

First time poster here, trying to track down some decals for the 1981 Apollo I just had restored.
Following the various threads, the gist seems to be that Lix is out of action, and Cyclomondo don't do Apollo.
Is that right or did I miss a gem?
Any info much appreciated.

[Kermit TF]

Lol !

[Apollo_TBlock]

I don't get it- why the lols?

[Kermit TF]

Lol ! Meant for the post before yours. I need new glasses !

[The Fixer]

Taking a short-cut home this afternoon, the route took me past an op-shop which I hadn't visited in some time.

Noticing and old 'roadie' in among the bikes for sale out the front, I stopped for a look-see.

A 1978 Apollo (I or II) with some very nice gear hanging off it.

Price they were asking was $15. So naturally, I grabbed it.

It's rough, but quite rideable. Even the tyres held air, and are serviceable.

I'm smiling!

[PatNZ]

Taking a short-cut home this afternoon, the route took me past an op-shop which I hadn't visited in some time.

Noticing and old 'roadie' in among the bikes for sale out the front, I stopped for a look-see.

A 1978 Apollo (I or II) with some very nice gear hanging off it.

Price they were asking was $15. So naturally, I grabbed it.

It's rough, but quite rideable. Even the tyres held air, and are serviceable.

I'm smiling!

Wow nice.

[The Fixer]

Well, I sat on the lounge-room floor on Thursday evening after tea, and gave the old girl a bit of a 'once-over'
after having first given her a good bath.

Removed the 'suicide' brake levers, replaced the buggered RD with an age-appropriate Suntour Honor, adjusted
all the cables, and replaced the brake pads and pedals.

Rode her into work on Friday, and although she certainly doesn't ride 'like new', she's perfectly serviceable.

BUT...

The 600 Arabesque gear is totally inappropriate for this model, so I plan to remove it, and replace it with (again)
age-appropriate Suntour gear (which I already have to hand). The Sugino crank-set will also be replaced with one
more befitting a low-end Apollo. I also will give her a full mech overhaul and touch-up the worst of the paintwork.

The 600 gear and the Sugino crankset (along with a nice Dura-Ace rear derailleur which I've just acquired) will be
going onto the Slim Ward 'Satellite' which, although it also never had them when new, is at least rare and unusual
enough to both warrant them and to show them to best advantage (I don't have anything else 'high-end' enough
for them to really suit).

The old girl is lucky in a way that I was the one who bought her. I can just see someone buying her, stripping the
600 goodies off her and scrapping her. But she got bought by an Apollophile, so she will live on.

[tchickdp]

Hi all, i'm new to this forum, and i'm new to bike restoration so i have my work cut out for me. I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of the specs for this Apollo Geneva ladies bike that i'm going to restore or if anyone has any tips at all for me. (I do have a friend who's a bike mechanic so i'm not totally in the dark) but I'd love some advice from fellow Apollo appreciators! I'd love to know how old it is! I saw a post earlier in this thread from Apollo3 with the exact same bike and it looks magnificent!

I have pics, i'm trying to work out how to upload them!

[Paddles]

Hey Apollo_tblock, good luck with finding replacement decals. I think you'll find there's nothing available off the shelf and you'll have to go custom made.

[BradL]

Here's an Apollo 3 that I picked up a little while ago.

The frame is in nice condition, as are the components. I've swapped out the bars, seatpost and cranks to better suit me size wise. Have tucked away the original bits in case I want to revert it back to original components, but as it is it gets ridden regularly. It glides, rather than rides.

Next thing to do is to get new tyres, and sort out the spokes. The galv has gone rather ugly over time..

[a-frame81]

Nice to see the brake choices, i'm going to have to start ordering stuff off the internet in the near future it seems.

Did you weigh the fork and frame when you striped it. I'd be curious to find out since your bike looks to me as if its possibly the same year as mine or if not very close, so i'm thinking the steel may be similiur even though I suspect my frame maybe the next size up from yours.. It'd be nice to know where this frame lies in the weight category.

Are you keeping the Bio Pace Chain rings? Or is that part of what you sold?

Also interesting is whats happening with your fork. Forgive me for not knowing about this but I looks like you've modified the original fork to add a modern style headset. Whats involved in this process did it require wielding? Whats the main advantages to doing this?

The biopace rings were part of what I sold. I'm going to a compact crankset as we have lots of hills around the ACT and they're not really my strong suit. With the adaption to a modern stem it's quite simple. I bought a stem adaptor from http://www.velogear.com.au/bike-parts/b ... aptor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which replaces the old quill stem.

I didn't weigh the frame and fork, didn't even occur to me to do it at the time. Probably should have but I figure I have more weight to lose from myself than from any bike parts so I never think about it.

So I've now finished the build on the old Vitesse and she's good to go. Still deciding if I'll re-do the decals or leave it bare. I kind of like the bare look for now but will decide once and for all in a while after seeing how the pressure pack spray job holds up.

Ended up having to replace the wheelset to go 8 spd but am happy with the result. I was a bit nervous prior to doing the bar tape. Turned out the job's not as hard as I thought, I got it ok, but it's not quite even all the way along the bars. Came up nice enough though.

Pics:

[The Fixer]

Looks good to me, A-frame...

[ironhanglider]

Hi Apollogists,

I stumbled across a couple of big Apollos (a III and a IV) on Gumtree here in Canberra. Item 1069470872

The photos don't show a lot, but I do see Arabesque shifters on the IV (with a triple).

Cheers,

Cameron

[mark field]

Looks good to me, A-frame...

+1 to that- sweet looking ride, good colour choices. be proud. was there a build thread for this?

[a-frame81]

NO build thread. Didn't really get time to take many photos as I had to use my girl's nap times and after work to get it built. There were some photos earlier in this thread of what it looked like before and when I'd stripped and painted the fork. I can put up a list of what's been done to it if people want.

[lunker]

Hey guys!
I recently joined the club with a nice old Apollo... I am unsure what it is because any decal mentioning model has been removed/come off. I have had a look around and it seems that it may be an Apollo 3.5? The frame is in ok condition, but needs a restoration. The groupset however, is full Shimano Golden Arrow and is in immaculate condition! So, a bit of a score I think. The frame has a 26.8mm seat post and is quite light, if that helps.

Can someone please tell me if this would be a 3.5, or if not, which model?

Thanks!

[Kermit TF]

3.5