Apollophiles - The Apollo Appreciation Thread

[Shauny88]

Hey there Apollo fans,

Just got gifted those frame and forks the other day to have a go at doing my first buildup. As best I can tell from worn out decals is that it’s an Apollo Eclipse but I only get a couple text matches and some google image hits when searching the name.

What I can see over the chainstay is hyperglide (assuming this is a shimanon reference?), the seat tube near the BB says Is designed in Australia, and further up near the seat mount is Chromoloy. Head tube is an Apollo sticker not a badge and the rear seat stays don’t have that old school flat section I have seen throughout this thread.

Serial number is A2I05833 so with all of this, I am dating it around the early 90’s would that be about right? Just trying to find a bit more info on these originally. Guessing made overseas based on Australian designed?

Seat tube to middle of BB is measuring somewhere around 56-57cms
TT is 59ish cms

[karweng]

Hi everyone,

I've recently picked up an old Apollo Cheetah mtb, it doesn't come with a seat post, does anyone know what is the seat post diameter size for this frame?

[WallyH]

I thought I would share with you all my pride and joy its my 1995 Apollo Kosciusko.

I purchased this bike in 1995 for somewhere around $400-500.
Over the years I have replaced derailleurs and shifters, but its an awesome bike and I've never come across one on the net the same as mine. The paint colour scheme is just beautiful .
Here are the pics of it! ...

Did you ever find the manual for this bike you were looking for? There's one for sale and I am curious what size wheels it has, and a few other specs like seatpost diameter , handlebar clamp diameter and steam diameter.

[PaulSuper]

Hi fellow Apollo fans... My first steel road bike build which ended up being an accidental ISO output. I’d been looking for quite a while for a suitable vintage early 80’s road bike and missed out on two (fully restored bikes) prior to picking up this 1982 58cm Apollo IV. It had been a barn find and previous owner had done the hard work rescuing it and getting it back on the road. Bike was largely original (e.g. Shimano 600 gruppo, etc) or period correct but had 44cm Nitto bars and 3ttt stem to suit. Wheels were 105 hubs and narrow anodized Ukai rims. Shimano 13-23t cluster, chain, cables, hoods were new on the bike and it came with the white Muudialita saddle.

I really liked riding it but wanted to up spec the brakes and make it present better and ‘sparkle’ a bit.

Shimano 600 Arabesque gruppo was in good nick as were all the components but I stripped it all down and gave everything a good polish/buff and detailed the panto.

I upgraded (slightly) the brake callipers to 600-6208 (I like the finish and detail on 6208s) and modified the rear brake stay and fork crown to take the recessed nut. I added KoolStop salmon pads but I also wanted rims which had a ‘braking surface’.

The wheels is where most of the effort and cost went with new fairly wide SunRingle CR-18 rims (polished finish) and I came across some NOS Asahi SS DB spokes and nipples. I laced the rims to the rebuilt 105 hubs that the bike came with and added Continental UltraSport (25) tyres and new tubes and added the red pinstripe to the tyres to break up the side profile a bit.

To finish the bike off I put on some KKT Vic Pro II pedals and did the handle bars with white Cinelli bar tape.

The paint is original (does have a bit of patina) but I did a few tricks to hide the worst of it by ‘stretching’ the chrome up the forks were the paint was flaking as well as adding chrome to the chain stays and top of the seat stays where the paint was also not great. For the decals I got the Apollo crest, Tange2 and Stripes from Cyclomondo but the 'Apollo' and 'Apollo IV' decals are original.

All in all I think it rides and brakes very well, feels really tight though a little bit twitchy (compared to my other more versatile modern bike).

Overall I am extremely happy with the result especially given the learning curve for me was pretty steep. I love taking it out for a blast and think it looks great and a little different especially the wheels where the polished rims and stainless steel spokes really do make it ‘sparkle’!

[Dave_C]

Paul That is beautiful and I'm jealous. As a Teen that was my "pin-up" machine and in the colour i loved. I had in those days a 82 model II that I changed the grouppo to 600ex arabesque. Sold it many years ago but recently got a 84 model V. The decals are different so can do a respray until I get somewhere to reproduce

Dave

[10speedsemiracer]

Paul That is beautiful and I'm jealous. As a Teen that was my "pin-up" machine and in the colour i loved. I had in those days a 82 model II that I changed the grouppo to 600ex arabesque. Sold it many years ago but recently got a 84 model V. The decals are different so can do a respray until I get somewhere to reproduce

Dave

Cyclomondo has various Apollo decals, and is Australian with a top quality product.

[DarrylH]

In 82 I was assembling Apollos and that IV looks better than new.

[10speedsemiracer]

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(snipped)

Lovely build, good spec too. Am very partial to the Ukai rims and KKT pedals, I use these on lots of 80s stuff.

[Dave_C]

10speed,
Would agree with you on the KKT Black pedals do look great - and it does look brand new.
Unfortunately I tried Cyclomondo, He has the ones that suit this model , but for some reason my 84 has different set of decals - a more ornate head set seat tube one and different font for the cross bar Apollo - he has said he is too busy to reproduce them for me currently and little demand to make cost effective

[PaulSuper]

Thanks for the compliments guys and spot on about the decals. There aren't many Apollo V's getting around especially compared to IV's so the later Apollo decals (as per the '84 V) don't seem to be available and the Apollo crest on my bike was used on BMX bikes as well. My bike is a bit of a mix though as I chose to go with what I liked rather than what was original, for example I have gold edged 'world champ' bands which Apollo of course don't use the 'world champ' pattern of colours. I got the crest from Cycelmondo but chose a different set of Tange2 decals as the one Cyclemondo sell with the Apollo 'set' actually has "Motocross" on it so obviously not for the road bike! Funnily enough I tried to make my own decals and although I was happy enough with the design the adhesive photo paper and my printer meant I couldn't get the black dark enough and they paper couldn't handle any moisture either. I am very happy with the adhesive 'chrome vinyl wrap' I bought which really solved the frame's paint issues and also gave the bike a bit of a custom look. Cheers.

[sli123]

Last spin on the Apollo V just before the first Melbourne lock down. Spirit of Tasmania in the background

[10speedsemiracer]

That's a nice part of the world to ride in, lots of good coffee around, couple of nice eateries.

[Dave_C]

Paul,
Actually in 82 you have used the correct decals, both the headset one and the "world champ" stripes (i don't think people will notice the extra gold). They were on my 82 II and I know they were on yours. I would submit photos o mine , but I don't use file sharing and cant upload
Dave

[skippa]

Hey all, new to the forum here,

Wow, just had a look around this thread, some awesome clean builds!
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for this Apollo II I just picked up!

I was looking for a cool frame to restore as my first project (I'm a novice at this ), but after getting home and having a proper look I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. There seems to be quite a lot of rust and the top tube is in particularly bad shape.
I'm not sure if the rust is structurally problematic. Maybe I have to sand to find out?
It fits great and I would love it as a commuter so I'm seriously considering my options. Do you guys reckon this frame is saveable? I love the Apollo paint and decals but for this one is a full strip down and period-correct repaint my best option?

Would appreciate any advice!
Here's a link to the pics (couldn't figure out how to direct upload, will do some investigating)
https://imgur.com/a/H3Uo6g7

[P!N20]

I'm not sure if the rust is structurally problematic. Maybe I have to sand to find out?
It fits great and I would love it as a commuter so I'm seriously considering my options. Do you guys reckon this frame is saveable? I love the Apollo paint and decals but for this one is a full strip down and period-correct repaint my best option?

It's hard to see how bad the rust is in your photo, but I doubt it's to the point of structural degradation.

I'd hesitate in venturing down the full restoration path - it's a low end frame and no amount of paint and polishing is really going to change that.

That's not to say some new cables, chain and refurbed components wouldn't make this a reliable little commuter - guess it's up to you how much time, $ and effort you want to put in for the desired result.

It would also be a good starting point just to get your head around how everything works if you're new to the game. Have fun!

[skippa]

I'm not sure if the rust is structurally problematic. Maybe I have to sand to find out?
It fits great and I would love it as a commuter so I'm seriously considering my options. Do you guys reckon this frame is saveable? I love the Apollo paint and decals but for this one is a full strip down and period-correct repaint my best option?

It's hard to see how bad the rust is in your photo, but I doubt it's to the point of structural degradation.

I'd hesitate in venturing down the full restoration path - it's a low end frame and no amount of paint and polishing is really going to change that.

That's not to say some new cables, chain and refurbed components wouldn't make this a reliable little commuter - guess it's up to you how much time, $ and effort you want to put in for the desired result.

It would also be a good starting point just to get your head around how everything works if you're new to the game. Have fun!

Thanks for the advice P!N20. Yeah, that is true. I might just replace a few basics and see how she rolls for a while before doing anything major. It's definitely a cheap platform for learning what mistakes not to make on a more serious machine!

[jamesobanana]

Hey guys! New to the world of cycling, currently building a fixed gear roadie for a bit of fun. But also looking for a retro road bike to do some casual km on. Came across this on gumtree, the guy says it’s an Apollo I, are they any good? Or do they just look cool haha!

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/dicky-b ... pasteboard

Cheers!

[singlespeedscott]

Hey guys! New to the world of cycling, currently building a fixed gear roadie for a bit of fun. But also looking for a retro road bike to do some casual km on. Came across this on gumtree, the guy says it’s an Apollo I, are they any good? Or do they just look cool haha!

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/dicky-b ... pasteboard

Cheers!

Save your money mate. Something a lot better will show up for less

[Longdog]

Hello all,

New member and first time poster, although I've been enjoying this thread for a while.

I currently have an old Apollo Cascade in great condition which I am adding racks to and swapping out the bullmoose bars for it to serve as a commuter/light tourer for my partner. I'm still looking for a bike for myself to also be an ongoing project and for use as a commuter and for some light touring.

I recently came across a lovely brown Apollo II for sale on Gumtree, but by the time I was able to contact the seller the bike was already taken to the tip and is now lost to me. I know they are at the lower end in terms of quality, but I just thought it a beautiful bike, really nice lugs and colour. Anyway I know threads exist for members looking to buy, however I hope it's not a transgression to post to this forum in the hope of finding my dream bike; it's such a great little online community of Apollophiles that I thought it worth a shot. I'm hoping that someone here might have an old Apollo II or even III surplus to their needs they would be willing to sell. I'm not concerned so much with condition and prefer bikes to have some character and patina. I'm located in the upper Blue Mountains, but more than happy to travel for the right bike. Looking for something of medium size around 53-54cm.

Thanks very much for a great thread full of useful information.
Jon

[Bird]

So Im up for new tyres.. 26x1.75 rims for my 94 Kosciusko
http://www.gupatrol.com/pushy/apollo.jpg

Wondering if 26x2.3 tyres will hang in there - looks like plenty of frame width, just concerned about the rims.

Thanks

[10speedsemiracer]

So Im up for new tyres.. 26x1.75 rims for my 94 Kosciusko
http://www.gupatrol.com/pushy/apollo.jpg

Wondering if 26x2.3 tyres will hang in there - looks like plenty of frame width, just concerned about the rims.

Thanks

I'm not sure 2.3's will clear the chainstays, maybe 2.1's but more likely 1.95's ...

Sorry.

[uart]

So Im up for new tyres.. 26x1.75 rims for my 94 Kosciusko
http://www.gupatrol.com/pushy/apollo.jpg

Wondering if 26x2.3 tyres will hang in there - looks like plenty of frame width, just concerned about the rims.

Not sure what the true (inner bead hook) width of those rims are, but I've put 2.25 and 2.35 width tyres on old MTBs that originally had 26x1.95. I think that actual inner rim widths on these old ones of mine were in the range of about 19 to 22 mm.

I find the higher volume tyres can really help the off road capabilities, and the only real downside is that (depending on the bike) you may need to partially deflate the tyre to get the wheel on/off.

[ApolloFour]

Hi Team,

New to the forum and enjoying the years of beautiful old Apollo's and shared knowledge here.

I have been lucky enough to inherit an Apollo IV from my father and am on the pursuit to restore it back to its former glory; not that it is in terrible condition now.

The front rim has a slight wobble and could be bent (suspect from a crash maybe.. fixable?), crank slips when peddling hard and has cosmetic wear as normal, but other than that it's in pretty damn good nick; my father really loved this bike.

Couldnt find too much specifc info, but from what I've read the Apollo IV was actually a higher end model from this era. Hopefully the wealth of knowledge you guys have will help give me an idea of what year range, if the parts are standard or aftermarket and what could do with replacing/upgrading.

From what I can identify, the below is on the bike:

- SunTour (ARX Derailer, Gear Levers, Pedals)
- Shimano GT crankset
- Nitto olympiade 115 bars
- Dia Compe Brakes
- Suzie Juno Wheels 27"

I would like to restore it as original and period correct as possible, within reason of course, but not sure I will he able to find certain replacement parts any more. Also, I would love to give it a blast and power coat to ensure its protected for another 40 years but I can't find the decals anywhere.

Any help advice would be greatly appreciated.

Trying to figure out the photo attachment process too.

Chris

[10speedsemiracer]

<snip>

From what I can identify, the below is on the bike:

- SunTour (ARX Derailer, Gear Levers, Pedals)
- Shimano GT crankset
- Nitto olympiade 115 bars
- Dia Compe Brakes
- Suzie Juno Wheels 27"

I would like to restore it as original and period correct as possible, within reason of course, but not sure I will he able to find certain replacement parts any more.

I'd be thinking these are mostly OE parts but suggest it may actually be :

SunTour Arx definitely original, dating the bike to somewhere around '83-86
Sugino GT crankset, also likely original and in 52-40t
Nitto bar may be original, may be a retrofit, hard to know without pics
DiaCompe calipers also likely original
Suzue Juno hubs (prob 36h) which most likely laced into Araya rims.

The crank and hubs, for their time, were very decent bits of kit. That combo of SunTour ARx etc places this bike into the upper end of what was available off-the-rack in the mid-80s, and would be a lovely thing to ride.
Lots of SunTour equipped bikes had either Suzue hubs, or Sansin (aka Sanshin, and Sunshine).
Chances are that the wheels only need a re-lacing and that the rim can be brought back into shape. If new rims are needed, Velocity Dyads come in 36h and 27". A tough rim, and good value.


I refurbished one for a nice gentleman just a week or so ago, came up like new. The Apollos of that era were well finished in terms of paint, and the frames were quite good.

Would love some pics.

[Dave_C]

Look at the first two digits on teh frame - this was normally the year on the Japanese make.
My 84 V is Shimano 600ex complete. I remember the 83 or 84 model IV was a 600ex build ( I was a teen wanting that model)

I cant find decals for my markings either. for parts ebay is good. There is a guy on ebay ( north NSW) that makes some for Apollo - but was the earlier 80's markings ( what was on my 81 model as a teen)
D