My new bike Apollo Phaze
- Thread starter boy racer
- Start date
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Banjo
Fuelled with Jelly Babies
- Location
- South Wales
boy racer said:
Get out , have some fun on it ,it isnt a high quality bike but it will do the job . Be a bit carefull with the brakes, disc brakes need to bed in a bit before they reach full stopping power.
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
looks decent for the money. best to remember that apollo bikes can have reasonable frames with cheap components.
on that bike, replacing the forks with something better will improve the ride, but if budget dictates just make do and upgrade if it stops working correctly.
as others have said, just go and enjoy the ride.
on that bike, replacing the forks with something better will improve the ride, but if budget dictates just make do and upgrade if it stops working correctly.
as others have said, just go and enjoy the ride.
festival
Über Member
If you intend to ride regularly, by that i mean at least once a week for at least an hour at a time and you mean proper off road not just gently down some easy bridleways etc i am afraid you may have made a poor choice.
I will explain so you don't think I'm being elitist about it. Your bike looks like the replacement for the appollo xc26s that usually retails for £179.99 but is now on clearance for £149.99 . These may be in short supply now but i am sorry to say Halfords have been massively inflating prices for the last few years e.g. the xc26s was a good £179.99 bike but regularly priced at £249.99 or more so during promo periods through the year it looked a bargain at £179.99 to the man in the street . The Phaze is being marketed in a similar way, its worth about £190 at a push but the write up on the bike means nothing in the real world ' What exactly does powerful & reliable braking in all conditions mean when talking about a bike of £200. And what on earth does built with quality & performance in mind mean. The crazy thing is the carrera vulcan v spec is currently going for £279.99 and most people in the trade would rate this as an excellent entry level off road bike,not a BSO ( bicycle shaped object) Just to add insult to injury (sorry ) did you get the best advice on size and did they put it together properly or did the work experience boy assemble it & the non cycling cycle staff check his work before handing it over ?
I will explain so you don't think I'm being elitist about it. Your bike looks like the replacement for the appollo xc26s that usually retails for £179.99 but is now on clearance for £149.99 . These may be in short supply now but i am sorry to say Halfords have been massively inflating prices for the last few years e.g. the xc26s was a good £179.99 bike but regularly priced at £249.99 or more so during promo periods through the year it looked a bargain at £179.99 to the man in the street . The Phaze is being marketed in a similar way, its worth about £190 at a push but the write up on the bike means nothing in the real world ' What exactly does powerful & reliable braking in all conditions mean when talking about a bike of £200. And what on earth does built with quality & performance in mind mean. The crazy thing is the carrera vulcan v spec is currently going for £279.99 and most people in the trade would rate this as an excellent entry level off road bike,not a BSO ( bicycle shaped object) Just to add insult to injury (sorry ) did you get the best advice on size and did they put it together properly or did the work experience boy assemble it & the non cycling cycle staff check his work before handing it over ?
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
festival
Über Member
just re read my reply and i think i was a bit mean, i meant well, sorry.
Having worked in the trade, both Halfords & Independent I know the pros and cons of both . There are some good people working in Halfords bike huts but they are few and far between and a lot of customers would get a better result if they are lucky to have met someone in store who cares.
As others have said, enjoy .
Having worked in the trade, both Halfords & Independent I know the pros and cons of both . There are some good people working in Halfords bike huts but they are few and far between and a lot of customers would get a better result if they are lucky to have met someone in store who cares.
As others have said, enjoy .
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Hi boy racer & festival and welcome 
battered
Guru
My honest opinion? It's OK. Not great, not garbage, but OK. Get out on it and have fun, use it for what it's intended. Don't spend a fortune "upgrading" it, just use it and if abything falls off then replace it. After a couple of years you will know what y9u want out of your *next* bike so sell this one in the paper (or use it for going down the paper shop) and get what you want. I did this with a £400 bike 15 years ago, I now have 5 bikes (2 under repair) and the original £400 bike has had almost every moving part worn out and replaced at least once, so it can't be all bad. It's currently a shopping/pub bike, at current rates it will wear me out first.
alci4
Well-Known Member
- Location
- birmingham
dont know if the bike is any good or not but had to laugh when i read the q & a section for the bike "can you fit a hamas child seat to it" lmfao.
hope your not from Israel
hope your not from Israel
sleekitcollie
Well-Known Member
- Location
- winchburgh west lothian
I bought a saracan ruftrax 2 from halfords when I got into cycling about 3 years ago . It was "reduced" from supposidly £299 to £149 and I got £50 worth of accessories "free" . ( nice wireless computer and toepeck bar bag that i ended up getting both for the £50 as bike wasn't ready when I went to collect . ALWAYS ASK FOR THE MANAGER )
bike has been really good , I know it's not top end components but decent enough to get me into cycling and last and still going strong , although just replaced cassette chain and front rings . But I did 3500 miles last year alone on it both off road ( nothing to bad but occasional flurry where it shouldn't really have been ) and also fully laden on cpl wee highland tours . 1 on the great glen way ( off roadroute over the hills,rough tracks fully laden )
anyway wot I'm saying is my bike has done me great fir £150 and is still going great used it all through the winter ( but washed it off after every run to get salt off )
I've now bought a spez tricross sport at £899 and already it's been back to the workshop to have the headset bearing replaced
so go out enjoy ur bike USE IT LOTS and if in a year or so u'd like to upgrade then go for it .
)bike has been really good , I know it's not top end components but decent enough to get me into cycling and last and still going strong , although just replaced cassette chain and front rings . But I did 3500 miles last year alone on it both off road ( nothing to bad but occasional flurry where it shouldn't really have been ) and also fully laden on cpl wee highland tours . 1 on the great glen way ( off roadroute over the hills,rough tracks fully laden )
anyway wot I'm saying is my bike has done me great fir £150 and is still going great used it all through the winter ( but washed it off after every run to get salt off )
I've now bought a spez tricross sport at £899 and already it's been back to the workshop to have the headset bearing replaced
so go out enjoy ur bike USE IT LOTS and if in a year or so u'd like to upgrade then go for it .
Iv only been riding for a few weeks now so its not a bad budget bike, your right its not great. You get what you pay for.battered said:My honest opinion? It's OK. Not great, not garbage, but OK. Get out on it and have fun, use it for what it's intended. Don't spend a fortune "upgrading" it, just use it and if abything falls off then replace it. After a couple of years you will know what y9u want out of your *next* bike so sell this one in the paper (or use it for going down the paper shop) and get what you want. I did this with a £400 bike 15 years ago, I now have 5 bikes (2 under repair) and the original £400 bike has had almost every moving part worn out and replaced at least once, so it can't be all bad. It's currently a shopping/pub bike, at current rates it will wear me out first.
If i keep the cycling up like you say il just buy a better bike a few years down the line. For my lever of cyclist when buying a bike you dont really know exactly what to look for, more cycling will enable me to acquire this knowledge.
Overall though im pleased with the bike
