Apollo Racer

[tjwilson]

Recently came across this and couldn't resist. Plan is to do the same as in my Sportmaster build, some cleanup and minor modifications to make it ridable. Not sure on the year. If I were to guess I'd say early seventies, maybe seventy one? Looks like the incorrect seat but the one that's on there is in good shape and will stay. There's also been an obvious interaction with a wall or some other such immovable object along the way. That will need to be addressed.

A few details.

 

[tjwilson]

First things first... a little pressure applied to the fork with a pipe bender. Looking at the fork closely I didn't see any serious cracks to the forks themselves, just the paint. They straightened out "okay" and seem to be good to go. Something I'll need to keep aware of.

Side view with the seat at the final ride height. I'll be lengthening the sissy bar on this build too.

 

[toro1978]

LOL I didn't even notice that the fork was bent. Good fix. Awesome sissy bar, I see such squared for the first time. The seat and frame color go well together.
I like the style, I'd love an adult version scaled to 29" wheels and with the seat slammed. I'd ride it till the wheels fall off!

 

[hamqqea]

Nothing against your build... Slick how you mended the fork... good enough for the girls we go with.
The Apollo Ross is one of worst frames ever made. Has to do with the stamped wraparound design. One of our best riders in the hood got one for his b-day and destroyed it in a week.
Glad you didn't attempt to make it a BMX I think the popularity is mostly due to their lower cost as I remember.

Prejudice aside, I continue watching...

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Sometimes all a bike needs is a little fluff-up to make it shine again. Looking forward to seeing all the little improvements you make to this one too! Glad to see you already got the fork straightened out.

 

[ParkRNDL]

I love the Apollo frame design. I have 2 of them, a brown ('76-ish?) Frankenstein job cobbled together from the parts bin and a black '73 with heavy patina that's almost completely original. It's true that they're pretty noodly as riders, but I still love them and they get a ton of attention. The brown one was my go-to muscle bike for a while.

 

[tjwilson]

Nothing against your build... Slick how you mended the fork... good enough for the girls we go with.
The Apollo Ross is one of worst frames ever made. Has to do with the stamped wraparound design. One of our best riders in the hood got one for his b-day and destroyed it in a week.
Glad you didn't attempt to make it a BMX I think the popularity is mostly due to their lower cost as I remember.

Prejudice aside, I continue watching...

Calling this a "Racer" is a bit of a stretch. I wouldn't take it over 40mph , especially with that fork! Looking more closely at the frame it does look like the bean counters at the time won out (see the images below). I'd think more of an I-beam profile to the sides and a stamped lip or ridge to the dropouts would have gone a long way to strengthen it. Have no idea why they would have put the seam for the upper brake/fender bridge facing up. There's lots of dripped and running brazing under the paint too. Thought the dovetail attachment between the frame rails and dropouts was cleaver though.

 

[tjwilson]

Frame details after cleanup and wax.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Frame details after cleanup and wax.

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That is one sweet shade of green! A little wax goes a long way!

 

[tjwilson]

I love the Apollo frame design. I have 2 of them, a brown ('76-ish?) Frankenstein job cobbled together from the parts bin and a black '73 with heavy patina that's almost completely original. It's true that they're pretty noodly as riders, but I still love them and they get a ton of attention. The brown one was my go-to muscle bike for a while.

It is a pretty cool and unique design. Noodly... thats a good description. I took it for a short ride before taking it apart. The rear axle needed to be tightened and just assumed that was what I was feeling. I'll have to make sure I avoid any pot-holes once its finished!

 

[tjwilson]

 

[hamqqea]

Sure do appreciate the parts layout photos, takes effort. Doesn't hurt to have a good camera either. I'm purposely using a crappy cam. An SLR and the right angles can make all the difference

It's all good, has some interesting features. Not sure why the Ross made the pantheon MB list, but it does bring back fun memories for a lot of us old kids today... guess that's why. Good thing the fork went first.

It's green, what's not to Green bikes are not only faster, they're stronger!

BTW, what products are you using, and are you applying all mechanically or by hand. What's involved in the process?

Lookin' good

 

[tjwilson]

Sure do appreciate the parts layout photos, takes effort. Doesn't hurt to have a good camera either. I'm purposely using a crappy cam. An SLR and the right angles can make all the difference

It's all good, has some interesting features. Not sure why the Ross made the pantheon MB list, but it does bring back fun memories for a lot of us old kids today... guess that's why. Good thing the fork went first.

It's green, what's not to Green bikes are not only faster, they're stronger!

BTW, what products are you using, and are you applying all mechanically or by hand. What's involved in the process?

Lookin' good

An SLR is nice. I have a Nikon d610 that I've had for seven or eight years. Only problem is that sometimes I spend more time setting up shots, shooting and post processing images than I do working on the bike!

After an initial clean up with soap and water I tried a citric acid bath to remove some of the surface rust on the frame. The ratio was about a quarter teaspoon of citric acid per cup verses half a teaspoon per cup for chrome. Mixed up a big patch in a 30 gallon tub. Didn't leave it in long though, maybe only ten minutes, because I could tell that the paint was already starting to fade/change color a little. After a thorough rinse and dry I applied Meguiar's rubbing compound and then Meguiar's carnuba wax. These were both applied by hand with soft cloths. The scrubbing and rubbing compound removed some of the surface rust but not all.

 

[tjwilson]

And speaking of citric acid baths... here's some of the chrome before and afters. Everything was put into a mixture of half a teaspoon of citric acid per cup of water after a quick clean up with soap and water. Hard to say exactly how long. I just kind of kept an eye on it, as the rust started to be easily scrubbed off I'd remove the piece from the bath and finish with a hand scrubbing. The seat stem and clamp had a layer of paint that had to be removed before the citric acid treatment. The fenders and, seat stem and clamp also spent a little time under the buffer.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

And speaking of citric acid baths... here's some of the chrome before and afters. Everything was put into a mixture of half a teaspoon of citric acid per cup of water after a quick clean up with soap and water. Hard to say exactly how long. I just kind of kept an eye on it, as the rust started to be easily scrubbed off I'd remove the piece from the bath and finish with a hand scrubbing. The seat stem and clamp had a layer of paint that had to be removed before the citric acid treatment. The fenders and, seat stem and clamp also spent a little time under the buffer.

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Would you say that using a citric acid bath to remove rust is better than using an oxalic acid bath to do the same thing? I've been itching to try an OA bath on some parts of mine, but from what I know, it's a rather long and messy process.

 

[tjwilson]

Would you say that using a citric acid bath to remove rust is better than using an oxalic acid bath to do the same thing? I've been itching to try an OA bath on some parts of mine, but from what I know, it's a rather long and messy process.

Never tried oxalic acid so I can't say which is better. Citric acid is what I heard of first and it's always worked for me. I should probably give oxalic acid a try at some point though.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

Never tried oxalic acid so I can't say which is better. Citric acid is what I heard of first and it's always worked for me. I should probably give oxalic acid a try at some point though.

Okay, thanks.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

I do love Apollos. I've got a ratty one I keep rebuilding. Right now it's out in my boneyard.
I too like the blown out photos but I don't have a garage floor anywhere that clean.
But I do think I'll have a go at it with the tear down of my BMX build...

C.

 

[tjwilson]

I do love Apollos. I've got a ratty one I keep rebuilding. Right now it's out in my boneyard.
I too like the blown out photos but I don't have a garage floor anywhere that clean.
But I do think I'll have a go at it with the tear down of my BMX build...

C.

The Apollo kind of reminds me of a flipped girl's frame... in a good way. Trick to the blown out photo / lack of floor space is to have enough vertical space just outside the image area to pile everything up into.

 

[tjwilson]

Quick update on the sissy bar extension. I added 3-1/2" to the length.

Connection detail after cleanup.

Here's a detail of an end after the citric acid bath. The chrome was pitted pretty bad, understandable that it had been painted.

End after polish. Still pitted but I prefer this to the paint.