Apollophiles - The Apollo Appreciation Thread

[ldrcycles]

Photo of my 'new' Concorde, aka the smoothest bike EVER MADE!! Rode it for the first time yesterday and it was even better than i remembered, i spent half the ride with my mouth open in shock at just how smooth it is. Riding along even rough surfaces i could feel almost nothing from the road, but it doesn't feel distant or vague, it has a wonderful tight solid feel. Averaged 35kmh for a hilly 26k. Unfortunately the BB started grinding on my way home, so it's out of action for the moment, until i get a new BB. It rides so well i'm even contemplating throwing a new Ultegra groupset and RS80 wheels on it instead of my aluminium Scott, only problem being the Concorde is noticeably heavy uphill, hmm...

[hazmat5765]

Smooth is the word , it's the word that you heard! (apologies to "Grease" fans.)
I agree, I`ve had mine for a few years and that's the thing that you feel straight away.
Yours looks like it's got the same 'fastback' seatstays as mine
Good luck with it mate. Rob.
PS mine`s black too.

[hexrunt]

Well it's not quite as retro as the rides posted so far but my "semi-retro" (Estimated to be about 12 years old) ride here is an Apollo and I do so love it.



Behold the Apollo Tandemania Sport. It's a great machine that manages to turn heads on a regular basis. Rolls like a dream, nice and smooth. Significant changes to it have only been changing the Shimano 'gripshifts' on it over to some (Alivio I think) Shimano rapidfire shifters because of my eternal hatred for all things gripshift. The usual little things... new cables, saddles, grips, the sexy yellow bidons and more recently a pannier rack.

I used to ride an 80's apollo II which I eventually gave to a friend as I wasn't using it. Seeing it about I think sometimes that I miss it but it's better actually getting used than sitting in my garage gathering dust and cobwebs.

[hazmat5765]

Behold the Apollo Tandemania Sport. Rolls like a dream, nice and smooth.

Very nice, a fan of tandems myself.
Rob.

[ldrcycles]

I picked up a 1984 III the other day, fair bit of rust and the forks were all over the place but at least it was mostly intact. And it's the first 'numbered' Apollo i've come across. Had a SunTour ARX rear derailleur, Sugino GT cranks, Dia Compe G500 brakeset and Winpista bars (bent). Unfortunately the stem was absolutely stuck, NOTHING was getting that thing out, not heat, cold or brute force, ended up just cutting through the stem and chucking it, the forks were useless anyway and the stem wasn't special.

So i'm now after a set of Tange forks, anyone?

[munga]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Road-Bike-Ap ... 500wt_1415

looks pretty tidy, and cheap too!

[Rob74]

The below may be of interest.
=>> From my "APOLLO NEWS - World of Wheels (WOW) Catalogue, Warren Norris Advertising 984.

APOLLO VI – 12 Speed
Colour: Pearl White
Frame: 019 CrMo double butted frame
Forks: CrMo
Ensemble: Suntour Superbe Pro
Sealed bearing: B.B. Hubs & Pedals
Derailleurs: Superbe
Brake Set: CB3000
Panaracer Leger 230 GSM tubulars

APOLLO V – 12 Speed
Colour: Olympic Gold
Frame: CrMo double butted frame
Forks: CrMo
Ensemble: Shimano 600 Series, brakes, chain wheel set 52/42T, pedals, hubs, derailleurs, free wheel 12-21T.
Panaracer Leger 230 GSM tubulars
Saddle: Kashimax super pro black suede

APOLLO IV – 12 Speed
Colour: Silver/Mink or Flamboyant Red
Frame: Tange CrMo
Forks: CrMo
Rims: 27” black alloy HP wheels with QR Hubs
Derailleurs: Suntour ARX
Cluster: Suntour 13-24T Ultra 6Speed
Brakes: Diacomp GX500N Alloy side pull
Chainwheel Set: Sugino GT Drilled hole 52-40T

APOLLO III – 12 Speed
Colour: Silver/Grey or Metallic Lemon
Frame: Tange CrMo
Forks: Hi Tensile
Rims: 27” alloy HP wheels with QR Hubs
Derailleurs: Suntour ARX
Cluster: Suntour 14-28T Ultra 6Speed
Brakes: Diacomp G500N Alloy side pull
Chainwheel Set: Sugino GT Aero alloy cotterless 52-40T

APOLLO Cutlass – 18Speed
Colour: Champagne or Metallic Light Blue
Frame: Tange CrMo
Forks: Hi Tensile
Rims: 27” alloy HP wheels with QR Hubs
Derailleurs: Suntour ARX-GT
Cluster: Suntour 14-34T Gold 6Speed
Brakes: Diacomp N500 Alloy side pull
Chainwheel Set: Sugino GT Triple Aero 52-42-28T
Rear alloy carrier, many frame braze-ons.

APOLLO II – 12 Speed
Colour: Ice Blue or Black or Red or Peal White
Frame: Tange Hi Tensile Steel
Forks: Hi Tensile
Rims: 27” HP steel wheels with front QR Hub
Derailleurs: Shimano Z503 Series
Cluster: Shimano 14-28T 6Speed Uniglide
Brakes: Diacomp light alloy Alloy side pull with QR. Dual levers and centreon adjuster.
Chainwheel Set: Sugino Alloy Aero No.6 cotterless 52-40T

APOLLO I – 12 Speed
Colour: Apollo Blue or Black or Silver
Frame: Tange Hi Tensile Steel
Forks: Hi Tensile
Rims: 27” HP steel wheels
Derailleurs: Shimano Z501 Series
Cluster: Shimano 14-28T 6Speed
Brakes: Diacomp light alloy Alloy side pull. Dual levers.
Chainwheel Set: Sugino Alloy Aero No.5 cotterless 52-40T

All APOLLO bikes are manufactured and assembled to meet the requirements of Australian Standards AS1927.
APOLLO frames and forks carry a 15 year guarantee

Could you get the Apollo V & Apollo IV in a 25" frame? The Catalogue does not indicate whether this was possible?
(However Catalogue lists Apollo IV & II as available in 19 1/2, 21, 22 1/2, 23 1/2 or 25").

Rob.

[singlespeedscott]

Rob. Can you get a scan of this catalog?

[Paddles]

I'm finding that if I want to ride on the road I'm using the single speed Apollo III and so the IV is sitting in the shed pretty much unused so if some one wants to buy it I'll ask for $250. It needs nothing doing to it for that price as I completely stripped it and built it back up from scratch. I'll throw an ad in the for sale section as well.

[ghostpoet]

Nice bikes peoples

[old al]

Here are a couple of old Apollo's I acquired to practice my restoring on. The mountain bike is (or was ) an Apollo Cascade mountain bike. One of the originals. The road bike is an Apollo 11. The yellow Cascade was brush painted and the blue 11 was rattle canned. Not bad but I still have a lot to learn. I don't restore true to type by the way. Just enjoy "doing them up" as a retirement hobby.

Al.

[hazmat5765]

They look nice Al, I especially like the Cascade.
Rob.

[old al]

Thanks Rob, just realised that I have redone the front end since that photo. It now looks like this.

Al.

[ldrcycles]

That's a cool machine (and the roadie too), nice work.

[rebelcontender]

Picked up today from gumtree.


Will be kitted out with a spare Nexus 8 I have, a rack and some bags for a daily commuter

[singlespeedscott]

Here are a couple of old Apollo's I acquired to practice my restoring on. The mountain bike is (or was ) an Apollo Cascade mountain bike. One of the originals. The road bike is an Apollo 11. The yellow Cascade was brush painted and the blue 11 was rattle canned. Not bad but I still have a lot to learn. I don't restore true to type by the way. Just enjoy "doing them up" as a retirement hobby.

Al.

Nice. I really like the Cascade. What year is it? Is the paint original or did you repainted it. If so where did you get the decals done?

[Paddles]

very cool old apollo on gumtree, it's not cheap but it's got plenty of cool accessories on it for anyone wanting a traditional touring/commuting machine
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/montrose ... 1003354521

[Rob74]

61cm Apollo Concorde Kuwahara
Tange 900 cr-mo.
Velocity wheelset

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bundoora ... 1003416766

for those in Vic

Rob

[Apollo3]

I'm after some member assistance identifying these correctly because apparently the decals may be incorrect...

My bike mechanic thinks the blue one is an Apollo II due to the components and the weight whereas the yellow one I picked up is lighter but apparently has the wrong brakes on it for a III, the yellow one looks similar to the first bike in this thread and another further down, but the rear cluster only has 5 cogs (10 speed) not 6 (12 speed)

Both have Kuwahara markings on the headstem nuts.

Blue 1982
Yellow 1981

Lots of images here http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/Rockey70/Apollo%20Bikes/

[hitchhiker]

I'm after some member assistance identifying these correctly because apparently the decals may be incorrect...

My bike mechanic thinks the blue one is an Apollo II due to the components and the weight whereas the yellow one I picked up is lighter but apparently has the wrong brakes on it for a III, the yellow one looks similar to the first bike in this thread and another further down, but the rear cluster only has 5 cogs (10 speed) not 6 (12 speed)

Both have Kuwahara markings on the headstem nuts.

Blue 1982
Yellow 1981

Lots of images here http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/Rockey70/Apollo%20Bikes/

I think your mechanic might be right. I had an Apollo III for a short while and it looked almost identical to yours, including the brakes. I also recall it had a 5 speed rear cluster, I'll try and dig up some photos

Back in the '80s I had an Apollo II, my memories are a bit hazy on that one but the blue bike looks like a II to me. Yours seems to be in excellent condition.

[hitchhiker]

I think your mechanic might be right. I had an Apollo III for a short while and it looked almost identical to yours, including the brakes. I also recall it had a 5 speed rear cluster, I'll try and dig up some photos

Here's a picture of the brakes



Looks like only 5 cogs in there

[Apollo3]

I think your mechanic might be right. I had an Apollo III for a short while and it looked almost identical to yours, including the brakes. I also recall it had a 5 speed rear cluster, I'll try and dig up some photos

Here's a picture of the brakes



Looks like only 5 cogs in there

Thanks HitchHiker

So I may actually own two Apollo bitsa's!

[Paddles]

I'm pretty sure the first number on the frame number is the year, so you've got a 1981 and 1982 bike. The yellow one is pretty much identical to my 1980 III with the Altus derailleurs and centre pull brakes although I think the shifters have been moved to the downtube from the stem, It looks pretty original to me. I dunno about the blue one but the equipment spec did change by 1984 according to the specs in this thread so maybe a bit more searching might reveal it to be all original too. Don't forget that it was fairly normal for bike shops to change out equipment from original spec up until recent years so it could be as it was sold after all.

[Apollo3]

Don't forget that it was fairly normal for bike shops to change out equipment from original spec up until recent years so it could be as it was sold after all.

So true, If I recall correctly there was much hype about centre pull brakes back in the day, so the shop may have suggested those instead of the originals.

I plan on making the yellow one into a speedy racer and will leave the blue one as is, what is a good upgrade for the brake levers, I like the ones on the blue bike shown up a bit, I've thought about replacing the SORA brakes on my Giant Defy 2 with Tiagra ones and wondered if the sora would fit on these classics?

I'll do some digging through the site and see what upgrade options I do have.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[BRLVR.v2]

Picked up today from gumtree.


Will be kitted out with a spare Nexus 8 I have, a rack and some bags for a daily commuter

Saw that listing. Looks Ace

Can't wait to see finished pics.