Classic & Vintage - Purcahse Advice needed ASAP - got 1 hour to decide

Hi I found 2 vintage bikes in the thrift store- I paid for 1 but they are holding both till I can get back with my truck. (I was on my bike when I found them)

They are....

#1 - Apollo Custom Sport

* Tange double butted Mangaloy magnesiam alloy tubes
* Diacomp brake handles
* Shimano tourney brakes
* Super chromix steel rims (pretty darn true)
* Deore shifting items
* Tourney ST Cranks
* front and rear rack mount holes
* 33" floor to top tube.
* made in Japan by Kuahara
* Aluminum bars - no suicide brake handles

#2 Araya R200

* uni stem
* uni aluminum bars
* Diacomp brakes and handles (including suicide handles)
* Shimano shifting items
* Suzue sealed tech hubs
* araya alloy rims
* Tang 5 - chromo stainless tubing
* Front has only fender mounts, I don't see rack mounts
* 33" floor to top tube

Sorry no pics, and I won't have time to snap any before I return to pick one up

Araya has rear tire very close to seat tube, so I gather it's more of a road geometry than the apollo.

My riding wishes are more for pleasure, training, and possibly tours.
Don't race or ever wish to.

I'm leaning toward the apollo thinking the rack mounts are better for me, and maybe the seemingly more relaxed geometry. I just wish it had the alloy rims/quick release.

Please give me some tips/advice on deciding with the info I have captured.

Thanks

PS as mentioned I have about 45 minutes before I leave the house.

THANKS

PS - I'm currently riding a steel raleigh that's 33.5" floor to top tube, so it's a bit bigger.
I know that switching to a alloy frame will save me weight.

I'm 5'10" - and the raleigh feels a bit tall once in a while.

Any advice on size would be helpful too.

One more thing - the Apollo is 12 speed, the Araya is 10. Another reason to lean toward the Apollo for me.

FYI - I've been searching for the past minutes - thought I'd mention as well the Apollo has a Deeley sticker.

I'd go for the Araya, it sounds like the better quality machine from the info you posted. photos would definitely help here. No real difference between 10 & 12 speed, just one more sprocket on the freewheel - it's the range of gear ratios that counts.

Hope this helps. Or buy both, then decide and sell the one you don't like.

You have some of the specs mixed up. Both are steel frame bikes. Tange 5 is not aluminum. And the Apollo has steel rims (ugh!)

The Apollo has some decent features, like a pretty decent frame and some Deore parts. But the wheels are crap. So overall, the Araya is likely the best bike of the two, given the limited information.

5-10 with 33 1/2 stand over is a big frame.

Myself, as long as they are priced like I see at thrift stores, I am grabbing them both. I pretty much get every road bike with a decent frame (anything but high ten steel) at a thrift store, even if it has steel rims. I will pick up high ten steel frame bikes, if they have alloy rims.

I don't worry about front rack mounts, there are plenty of work arounds for this minor issue.

Shimano shifting system really means nothing grade wise. Go to Walmart, and most of the bikes have Shimano shifting system. Shimano makes a number of grades of components, from bottom of the line to top of the line. But again, at a thrift store price, it doesn't matter.

Depending on condition, I am probably taking the best parts off the Araya and putting them on the Apollo. But I would need to see pics of the bikes to make that decision.

Often bikes I pick up at thrift stores are missing a couple of parts, have some minor problems or whatever. So picking up TWO to end up with ONE is not unusual. And you can always merge the leftover parts, and resell the bike you do not want.

Thanks - guys - I grabbed both for now.
Pics to come.

The Apollo seems to be a 1983 (serial starts with 83)
What have I got ?

Here's some pics.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_01.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_05.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_02.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_03.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_04.jpg

Here's some pics of the Araya. What have I got ?

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_01.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_02.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/apollo_04.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_05.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_03.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_04.jpg

You have two decent bikes, but I couldn't catch the price. Both have a lot of potential.

I've been watching for anything better than an old cottered steel frame for a couple years now. Pretty thin picking here it seems. These were $20.00 ea.

I've scored a couple decent Mt bike for my boys, but road bikes are hard to find heree.

Both of those look quite nice for thrift store finds. The Araya looks a bit nicer, but it's much more of a full-on racing bike. The Apollo is more of a 'sport tourer', and will probably be a better frame for the sort of riding you're planning on. The Araya probably has better wheels, so you might want to move them over to the Apollo. Also, post these over in the C&V forum. The folks there can tell you everything you'd ever want to know about these bikes.

The Apollo has the better bits so it is odd that it has steel wheels but the Araya is a little better frame.

Ride them both and see what frame you like bests and move all the good parts to it.


If it were me I'd move the Deore derailleurs and maybe the Tourney cranks (I think they look nicer but they are about equal quality) to the Araya and call it good. Then sell the Apollo for $150. ;)

Thanks - guys - I grabbed both for now.
Pics to come.

Good decision Gerald. These are both nice bikes and for $20 apiece you got a great deal!

Decide which frame fits you better by riding both and move any better parts from the other bike to that one. Ride the "keeper" bike again to be sure and then build up the other bike with all the swap bits. You can either keep it as a spare or sell it for the market rate in your area (more than $40 for sure) and you've got a bike for free!

Post your bike photos on C&V Forum - the US based guys there will have much more info on these bikes and will be able to help you with advice on what to swap, etc.

Great score, well done!

Moved to C and V from General so he can get more info on the bikes he just purchased.

Regarding wheels, I found some wheels from a.e. bike in Michigan for 30 bucks each. They're aluminum and ill be putting a new 7 spd megarange on the back and should have myself a pretty nice ride. Others told me to find wheels on a donor bike but it was easier to just buy new esp with the weight savings I should get.

I'm kinda thinking of adding racks etc. to the apollo, working on getting some wheels etc., and keeping the araya as well for when I want to ride without any extra stuff. Thanks for the move Siu.

I'm kinda thinking of adding racks etc. to the apollo, working on getting some wheels etc., and keeping the araya as well for when I want to ride without any extra stuff. Thanks for the move Siu.

Good plan. You'll also have a spare bike ready just in case you have a problem on the ride home and no shops open till the next day to buy parts. Careful though, that's addictive - I've currently got 34 spare bikes with about another 8 to build!

http://aebike.com/product/dimension-value-series-1-700c-formula-freewheel-130mm-32h-alex-y2000-silver-2.0-silver-br-3x-sku-we8675-qc30.htm

these are the wheels I bought, I should be getting them tomorrow. They also had dirt cheap pricing on the freewheel and chain (they were both 12 bucks each, other places they were closer to $20 each) The most expensive part is that because I live in NYC I went with Pasela Tourguard tires at $25 each because road conditions here can be brutal. take away those tires and the two wheels, freewheel and chain ran me $85 bucks. Wheels are 700c but they have them available in 27" as well. I test fitted the 700C from my other bike and the brakes easily adjusted to fit so I elected to go with 700C

Thanks for the tip CP...

Any reason to prefer 700 over 27" for my "light touring" bike? More tire choices? Other reasons?

Slightly more fender/mudguard clearance.

Nice catch for a nice price. Good job!

Tire choices is probably the biggest reason to go with 700c, and fender clearance is another good reason.
Also the tube top will sit 4 mm lower when using tires of the same basic type. Might be important if you think a
33 1/2" standover is too much. The Array looks like it might be slightly taller.

I got busy on the Araya with some TLC. Not much really "done" to it, just cleaning, grease, etc.
So far...

1: 1 new shifter cable
2: Pedals
3: water bottle cage

Things to do priority

1: Saddle

Took her out for a quick 20km tonight, I like it a lot. (except the saddle angle was bad)

Here's a couple of "cleaned up" pics

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_06.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb60/gerald_g/Bikes_etc/araya_07.jpg

Nice clean up!

You need to move the quick release levers to the other side of the bike. The levers go on the non-drive side.

Also need to consider repacking bottom bracket and headset bearings. I would replace the bearings as well (they are cheap). The grease gets really old and solidifies. If you are not careful, you will do damage to the bearing surfaces, and thats when it gets expensive. (I would mention the wheels as well, but I am assuming those are the new ones.) Every single bike I have picked up from that era needed bearing work, 100% of the time.

http://aebike.com/product/dimension-value-series-1-700c-formula-freewheel-130mm-32h-alex-y2000-silver-2.0-silver-br-3x-sku-we8675-qc30.htm

these are the wheels I bought, I should be getting them tomorrow. They also had dirt cheap pricing on the freewheel and chain (they were both 12 bucks each, other places they were closer to $20 each) The most expensive part is that because I live in NYC I went with Pasela Tourguard tires at $25 each because road conditions here can be brutal. take away those tires and the two wheels, freewheel and chain ran me $85 bucks. Wheels are 700c but they have them available in 27" as well. I test fitted the 700C from my other bike and the brakes easily adjusted to fit so I elected to go with 700C

When you get the wheels, they will probably need to be trued and tensioned by hand, most machine trued wheels are either low on tension or they will be within about 30 seconds of starting your first ride due to spokes unwinding. There are a lot more tire choices in 700C, although considering that 27" wheels have not been on production bicycles in the last 25 years or so, the fact you can still get rims and tires is one of the interesting features in bicycles in that nothing every really disappears. Although these days if replacing a rim or a wheel, if a 700C will fit, that's probably a better idea, in that there are many more tire choices out there. One other thing I would do though, I would move to a cassette hub, just because parts are going to be easier to find later on.

Nice clean up!
You need to move the quick release levers to the other side of the bike. The levers go on the non-drive side.


Ya I noticed on my "before" pics last night that I'd got them on wrong, I'll flip 'em around.




Also need to consider repacking bottom bracket and headset bearings. I would replace the bearings as well (they are cheap). The grease gets really old and solidifies. If you are not careful, you will do damage to the bearing surfaces, and thats when it gets expensive. (I would mention the wheels as well, but I am assuming those are the new ones.) Every single bike I have picked up from that era needed bearing work, 100% of the time.

I've re-packed all the bearings. BB, Headset, and wheels. These are still the original wheels on there. It's the Apollo white bike that has steel rims, and will need new wheels.

Thanks for the tips.

Ya I noticed on my "before" pics last night that I'd got them on wrong, I'll flip 'em around.



I've re-packed all the bearings. BB, Headset, and wheels. These are still the original wheels on there. It's the Apollo white bike that has steel rims, and will need new wheels.

Thanks for the tips.

Then you are definitely ready to roll! Well done!

bill

Nice clean up!

You need to move the quick release levers to the other side of the bike. The levers go on the non-drive side.

Also need to consider repacking bottom bracket and headset bearings. I would replace the bearings as well (they are cheap). The grease gets really old and solidifies. If you are not careful, you will do damage to the bearing surfaces, and thats when it gets expensive. (I would mention the wheels as well, but I am assuming those are the new ones.) Every single bike I have picked up from that era needed bearing work, 100% of the time.

^ What he says.
Though I once encountered a bike that did NOT need the hubs/BB serviced. (I did them anyway).

( While you are at it, I would lose the spoke reflector and foam grips, and install some complementary colored bar tape instead)

I put the reflector on, and intend to add one to the front. I ride around after dark quite a bit and I feel they help with visibility.
(will also add lights before running at night.)

I plan on ditching the foam for sure.

If you can remove the lower foam without damaging it, I may be interested. I ride drops only, and may try the lower foam on a couple of long ride bikes. Anything to avoid gloves; they make me feel like Madonna.