Updating an old Apollo

[martinjs]

As some forum Members may remember I have plans to get a Flat bar road bike soon.
When I do that I am going to keep my drop bar Apollo and replace the running gear.

My question is it better to keep the original gear shifters on the main frame where they are now or update to a whole new gear set which will include the shifters integrated with the front brakes?

The frames still in good nick and I don't really care about keeping the bike in original form. All ideas welcome.

Thanks

Martin

[kukamunga]

What year and model of Apollo have you got there, Martin?

[martinjs]

Not really sure, I bought it new and it was a 1 year old model then. I have no records, lost in the move from Victoria. Closest I can come to is about 1995 model. I think I've owned for 12 years.

[vx255]

As some forum Members may remember I have plans to get a Flat bar road bike soon.
When I do that I am going to keep my drop bar Apollo and replace the running gear.

My question is it better to keep the original gear shifters on the main frame where they are now or update to a whole new gear set which will include the shifters integrated with the front brakes?

The frames still in good nick and I don't really care about keeping the bike in original form. All ideas welcome.

Thanks

Martin

Hi Martin,
Here's some food for thought, My 1988 bike with 2008 drivetrain and shifters
Linky to thread and pics

rgds Eddie

[familyguy]

It can be a worthy exercise. But it will depend on how much you'll ride it. You can spend a lot of money on something not really worthwhile and end up with an expensive piece of machinery just taking up space/gathering dust.

BikeForums has a huge thread, "retro roadies - old frames with STI's or Ergos"

Some awesome examples of how a bike can be modernised, and look and ride like a bicycle should. A lot of the bikes on that thread are classic frames, with upper level groupsets though.

Eddie's thread looks good, with a good clean bike and a lower level groupset complementing it nicely.

As you can see here, I'm all for it. But I do also have an old bike that I've left as DT shifters, cause thats how it exists, and I dont want to spend anything on it.

Experimentation can be fun.

Jim

[vx255]

It can be a worthy exercise. But it will depend on how much you'll ride it. You can spend a lot of money on something not really worthwhile and end up with an expensive piece of machinery just taking up space/gathering dust.
<snip>
Eddie's thread looks good, with a good clean bike and a lower level groupset complementing it nicely.

As you can see here, I'm all for it. But I do also have an old bike that I've left as DT shifters, cause thats how it exists, and I dont want to spend anything on it.

Experimentation can be fun.

Jim

Well said Jim, you've hit the nail on the head, For a non exotic frame (like mine), there isn't much point over capitalizing on parts for a project. My project took place because I had most of the parts on hand already, The bike was clean, And hopefully it will serve duty as a baby trailer carrier, and light load commuter.

Eddie

[martinjs]

Well the plan is to ride the flat bar for weekday commute and family rides and fix the Apollo up for week end rides, and of course to have a reliable backup to my new bike. I don't like the idea of throwing away a perfectly good frame that's served me well.

A new group set sounds like a good alternative to buying a second new bike.