Advice/thoughts on early 90s Apollo rebuild

[ldrcycles]

A mate gave me an early 90s Apollo Vitesse frame a while ago and i'm finally getting around to rebuilding it, i've got a bunch of Shimano 105 bits i've been collecting (rear mech, downtube shifters and cranks, still looking for front mech and brake levers), just wondering what brand stem would go with the age and frame? Thinking either Sakae Road Champion or SR modello anatomico bars (i have both of those so just a matter of picking).

[ldrcycles]

Does anyone know if a golden arrow RD-A105 rear derailleur will work with SL-1050 indexed shifters? (though of course i can turn the dial and use it as a friction shifter if not)

[munga]

probably up to 7s
sakae stem? nitto?

[rkelsen]

Is it a purple one? I have one of those. The paint was badly chipped and the previous owner had ground off a few of the non-fixie friendly braze ons, so I painted it black.

Any old '7' shaped stem you've got lying around should look good. It's those riser stems that ruin the look of a retro racer, imnsho.

[find_bruce]

Oii this is meant to be the retro bike forum! An early 90's bike can't be retro - I still own & use an Avanti Kona (105 with downtube shifters) that was my only bike from 1991 until 2009

Is the frame steel or alloy ? I had a few issues with my alloy frame craking around the seat post and headset as this was before they figured out that alloy has really poor strength in tension & fitted steel rings to give clamping force.

I would also vote for the 7 shaped stem. Wrap the bars in tape, white was especially popular then - my kona is purple with white tape.

What are you doing for wheels? While the 105 has been excellent I have been through a few sets of wheels over the years. I currently have modern shimano with radial spokes but nothing says retro like lots of spokes.