Apollo FS 26 Review

Overall Rating

Comfortable Seat
Low Price
Halfords offered me an upgrade

Cheaply made
Poor quality
Gears Slip
Chain Broke
Two punctures in 8 weeks
Brakes pads wore away after 5 weeks
Tyre rubs agianst frame
Terrible Gears
Potentially Dangerous
Brake Wires almost at snapping point
Began making noises
Very Heavy
Chain constantly gets stuck

I TOOK MINE BACK IT BEGAN TO FALL APART AFTER 5 WEEKS
I was impressessed when i first bought the bike but just a few weeks later the brake pads wore away so i could hardly brake and the gears kept slipping and the gripshift gear change started to fail.
Halfords fixed the problems with the gears at the free service but wanted to charge me £15 for new brake pads just six weeks after purchase. I got them free after I complained. After the service, the bike really started to fall apart. The gears quickly screwed up again and the brake pads wore away. I had two punctures because of cheap tyres and the chain broke in two at one point. The bike also started making all sorts of clinking and mechanial noises and the front tyre started rubbing against the frame making another annoying noise. A few days ago, the chain began getting stuck in the cheap plastic ring surrounding the cogs when i moved it to third gear and every time this happened, i had to spend 10 minutes at the roadside fixing it, only for to happen again a few minutes later.
I decided to take the bike back and this is when I realised that the wire connecting the brake handle to the brake pad was about to snap as it had become very thin at one point. If i had ridden it any further, it could have snapped and could have killed me. It could be very dangerous.
This bike would have literally fallen apart if i had ridden it any further. Halfords gave me my money back and i bought a Carrera Subway 1 for £185 down from £280 to replace it. This is a much better bike.
It is a deathtrap in my opinion that will fall apart so don't make the same mistake I did and spend at least £180 on a decent bike. Apollo are very poor and the once prestigious Raleigh are not much better these days.
To be fair, I was riding it quite a few miles every day which is a bit too much for a cheap bike. This bike should be OK if you are only planning to use it occasionally, otherwise according to the sales assistant at Halfords, you should spend at least £250 on a bike that you want to use every day. If you want to spend less than that then buy one in sale like I did where you can get one with an RRP of higher than £250 for around £180 or £200

Members' Comments onNick7213's Review

• apjordan on 1st Jun 2009

  I found this review helpful because I agree with the £250 comment. My wife has just bought a £117 (from £189) from Halfords. I hope we dont have too many problems, well none at all!