Apollo Evade Upgrades

Associate
Joined
30 Nov 2010
Posts
79
Location
Caerphilly
I'm now a proud owner of the "Apollo Evade" I'll only be using it to commute to work and back home. All down hill to work, 2.23 Miles in 12 minutes, but it's all uphill going back home. I haven't timed myself going back home yet though.

I'm making a list of what to upgrade on my bike. Handle grips is being one of them and the saddle. I'll also look into replacing the pedals. Any other possible upgrades I could go for?

Here's the bike in question. I have the 20in Frame.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/apollo-evade-mens-mountain-bike
 
As daveski says, thinner and slicker tyres for road use.

As the bike is quite a cheap one I wouldn't spend too much upgrading it beyond what has already been stated by you and daveski though.
 
To add to/hijack this.
I have a Rockhopper. It's been consigned to not been ridden anymore. There's nothing wrong with it. My gf has a Trek something ("off road" from the 90s) or other... rigid, awful.
THAT should be binned.

I don't know how much travel they rockhopper has on it, maybe 100mm.. maybe only 80. Effective travel seems to be about 20mm... There doesn't seem to be any way to change the amount of springiness in the forks. They're Axel something or other.

Anyway, I was thinking of putting that in place of her bike at her grandparents farm. Mostly it'll be used on roads but on some bridleways. I'm wondering what tyres to put on it. I have some panaracer Mach tyres, which are kinda a knurled pattern on the main tread, but almost kinda slickish... with some knobbly bits at the edge.

Would they do?

I have some properly more slick Schwalbe ones.(City Jet).. but don't think they'd have any grip whatsoever on anything but tarmac/asphalt.
 
Last edited:
I expected this to happen.

Frame is sound, it's light. The bike does what I need it to do. I've seen a lot of discredit to Apollo. But the bike is sound, gears, brakes everything about I personally think is good.

I did think about getting a hybrid bike, with thinner tyres but this won't benefit me if I wanted to do some downhill mountain riding. Tyres are thick and wide, but I'll upgrade them once I have the chance. I had the Evade for £20 off because my previous bike "Radar" broke.

I don't have a lot of money to throw around on a expensive bike. So I'd prefer to upgrade this as I go along.
 
That's fine but you haven't really mentioned what you're upgrading for.

If there's nothing wrong with the bike then I'd leave it alone.

Better to upgrade than leave it stock? :D

Handle grips, pedals, crank arm, handle bars and possibly front forks. Gears are pretty sound atm, haven't had any mishaps with them yet.
 
I expected this to happen.

Frame is sound, it's light. The bike does what I need it to do. I've seen a lot of discredit to Apollo. But the bike is sound, gears, brakes everything about I personally think is good.

I did think about getting a hybrid bike, with thinner tyres but this won't benefit me if I wanted to do some downhill mountain riding. Tyres are thick and wide, but I'll upgrade them once I have the chance. I had the Evade for £20 off because my previous bike "Radar" broke.

I don't have a lot of money to throw around on a expensive bike. So I'd prefer to upgrade this as I go along.

You expected what to happen? You asked for upgrade advice and got it.
 
Your bike is perfect for what you currently use it for so leave it more or less alone. Maybe add some some slick tyres and possibly some clipless pedals to help your efficiency going up hill home.

Anything else is wasted money in my opinion, unless the saddle and grips are cutting you to ribbons leave them be, you won't notice on a 12 min ride!

Edit: just noticed you mentioned downhill riding on this bike, please don't, your bones will thank me later.
 
Last edited:
the bike is sound, gears, brakes everything about I personally think is good.
[...]
I don't have a lot of money to throw around on a expensive bike.

So everything is good and you dont have much money?

Why do you want to upgrade it then?

Building up from single components is significantly more expensive than buying a whole bike. Save the money you were going to use to upgrade and buy a new bike when the time comes.
 
Your bike is perfect for what you currently use it for so leave it more or less alone. Maybe add some some slick tyres and possibly some clipless pedals to help your efficiency going up hill home.

Anything else is wasted money in my opinion, unless the saddle and grips are cutting you to ribbons leave them be, you won't notice on a 12 min ride!

Yeah. That's one of the reasons why I need to upgrade my pedals. It's all uphill going home. But I'm taking different routes all the time. 12min to work was the fastest route to work which I want to avoid as it's too quick.

Any recommendations on which ones to get?
 
Whilst I agree when it comes to buying components, things like pedals can be taken off and put on the next bike (which will also likely ship with basic flats).

sure. but things like cranks as the OP suggests further up, a good set will cost more than the original price of the bike. when you start replacing the chainset, forks, good wheels etc you may as well save up and buy a better bike.
 
I used to do a lot of MTBing in the past, before I broke my arm. Only now I've started getting back in to it, especially it gets me to work and home faster.

If I stripped everything down, I'd be left with the frame. Frame is sound, it's light and durable. Everything I've taken off can be upgraded to something better. For now, I have a bike that moves. I'd like to make it better though whilst keeping the frame. I can do it bit by bit without putting a hole in my wallet. I don't earn a lot so can't spend £1000 on a bike to get the answers I need :rolleyes:
 
Back
Top Bottom