Lazy-Commuter
New Member
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We bought a 20" wheel Apollo some years ago for Little-LC which subsequently got passed on to her little sister, who's now not quite 8yo. It's annoyed me pretty much since the day we bought it: I'm not an ace mechanic by any stretch of the imagination but it's always seemed a real nightmare to work on compared to our other bikes. But we've put up with it as we told ourselves it'd only be for a few years.
To get to the point, we were recently out and I had to lift it over a fence (long story) and I was reminded just how heavy the thing feels, and is. And then we had a chance of a 2nd hand Spesh Hotrock at a good price. We took a look and it is much lighter and just better all round than the Apollo, so we went for it: if we can get a few quid for the Apollo it won't have cost us much to upgrade.
We took the Hotrock out for the first time yesterday and it was a revelation: she flew up the hill from our house, breezed through the woods and did a 7 mile round trip in a bit under an hour, which is about 50% down on how long it used to take her. Normally, we'd have stopped 3 times up the hill and had to wait for her to get off and push on the bumpy bits through the woods due to her lack of confidence over the terrain. And she could even change gear and go quicker once we got on the open bits - previously she'd not often left gear 1 due to her inability to change back down: the gear-shifter was quite stiff for a 7yo to deal with.
Obviously the light weight helped with the hill and I suspect that a combination of that and better components gave her more confidence on slightly uneven terrain. Whatever, it was a real eye-opener. She seemed to be controlling the bike, instead of the other way round. She loved it.
She's always done OK for her age but now we realise just how much we were asking of her. At that age, that extra few kilos does make a real difference. I know it's a different size bike to the one you're considering, and a different "other" bike, but I'd imagine the Apollo vs Better Bike comparison holds true.
To get to the point, we were recently out and I had to lift it over a fence (long story) and I was reminded just how heavy the thing feels, and is. And then we had a chance of a 2nd hand Spesh Hotrock at a good price. We took a look and it is much lighter and just better all round than the Apollo, so we went for it: if we can get a few quid for the Apollo it won't have cost us much to upgrade.
We took the Hotrock out for the first time yesterday and it was a revelation: she flew up the hill from our house, breezed through the woods and did a 7 mile round trip in a bit under an hour, which is about 50% down on how long it used to take her. Normally, we'd have stopped 3 times up the hill and had to wait for her to get off and push on the bumpy bits through the woods due to her lack of confidence over the terrain. And she could even change gear and go quicker once we got on the open bits - previously she'd not often left gear 1 due to her inability to change back down: the gear-shifter was quite stiff for a 7yo to deal with.
Obviously the light weight helped with the hill and I suspect that a combination of that and better components gave her more confidence on slightly uneven terrain. Whatever, it was a real eye-opener. She seemed to be controlling the bike, instead of the other way round. She loved it.
She's always done OK for her age but now we realise just how much we were asking of her. At that age, that extra few kilos does make a real difference. I know it's a different size bike to the one you're considering, and a different "other" bike, but I'd imagine the Apollo vs Better Bike comparison holds true.
