DIY Apollo Fender
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- Hello Everyone!!
This episode is a bit different than most BBB episodes. We continue to prepare ourselves for our upcoming big adventure where we ride our Priority Apollo bikes across the US. We've struggled a bit getting our "off the shelf" rear fenders properly adjusted so they don't rub on the tire so we finally decided to build some DYI custom fenders for our Apollos. So this is sort of a "how to" or "dyi" video.
We know it's not our usual format so any feedback is appreciated so we can refine our skills with this kind of episode. Some day we'll be converting either a small school bus or a van to a mobile tiny house, so the feedback will be valuable to us.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
#priorityapollo #bikefenders
Solving the current problems is the greatest joy in life.
Hi Amy,
Totally agree. That's a great way to look at the various challenges we all face on a daily basis. I love your attitude and perspective.
Thanks for watching and for the comment.
Enjoy the Ride
Best use of a door strip ever!!!
Hey Todd,
I finally fixed by fender issue!! Part of the inspiration for doing this actually come from some of the fender vendors you had suggested. One of them (don't remember which) makes fenders out of flat pieces of wood which led me to think about building my own. Then I saw a few other RUclips videos about making fenders. Anyway, so far so good with these.
Thanks for watching and for the engagement.
Enjoy the Ride
Lance and I were just debating this last week. We were prepping my Apollo and his 600, as well as out Catrike 700 recumbent trikes for our weekend in NYC, and discussing our June bike packing trip. He’s a big supporter of adding fenders to my Apollo and I mentioned your issues with them. Sharing this video with him.
Hey Barb,
Great to hear from you. Thanks for watching for the comment. It's an interesting coincidence you and Lance were talking about fenders about the time we published this video. This fender design solves all the problems I was having with the off-the-shelf variety. Another viewer Steve Derr has been happy with his SKS Speedrocket fenders he bought from Priority but I wanted to try to build my own given all the frustration I'd had with the other plastic fenders I got with the bike. If you have the time and ambition, making one of these DIY fenders is a good option and I enjoyed the process. Let me know if you or Lance have any questions about the fender.
Where are you guys going in June?
Enjoy the Ride
Instead of zip tie on frame of bike by pedals can put threaded rivet in the frame to even look nicer
Hey Nate,
That's a good idea and something that I hadn't thought of. Thanks for the suggestion. And thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
Yep, no Vespa here. LOL! Ingenious ingenuity/engineering. Looks like you did round off the very end of the fender to eliminate the sharp edge. Did you add a piece of innertube rubber between the seat post and the bottom end of the fender (where you zip tied it), to eliminate any scratching/rubbing of the paint due to vibrations? Be interested in a long-term review (after your cross-country ride) as to how the pop rivets and the rest of the fender holds up from all the vibrations. I did end up getting the Speedrocker plastic fenders for the Apollo from Priority and I have been very happy with them (can also find them online from other sources). I saw the spare tire, so I'm guessing you didn't go tubeless, I did, and I've been happy with tubeless. I haven't had a flat yet to tell if tubeless is for sure a better way to go (messy if the tire doesn't seal and one has to put a tube in), but it just looks like changing a rear flat on the Apollo is not going to be any fun.
Hey Steve,
Not surprising you don't have a Vespa in your garage, they really aren't that common but the spare tire was had a great diameter for bending that aluminum threshold and turning it into a fender. I love your suggestion about putting some inner tube rubber between the fender and the frame. I'm going to go back and to that on both bikes.
I agree it'll be interesting to see how the fender holds up over time. When my son was in high school I mentored his FIRST robotics team and we used a lot of pop rivets to hold the robot together and they held up well to vibrations. They would fail if they experienced a significant shock load like running into another robot. So I'm expecting the rivets on the fenders to hold up.
The Speedrocket fenders are nice and it's great to hear you are having a good experience with them. It's frustrating to have fender rubbing issues.
We have an appointment at the bike show next week to get the wheels tuned because we are going to be over-loading the bikes and the spokes are the first thing to fail and having them all properly tensioned reduces the chance of spoke failure. At that time we are going to discuss and potentially switch to tube-less. We'll end up carrying those tubes as a backup. So many people are happy with tubeless I feel like it's time for us to give it a try.
I've had the rear wheel off the Apollo several times, the worst part is disconnecting the shift cable. After that it's not too bad. But I haven't done it with out my bike repair stand so it might be a little more challenging in the field.
Thanks for watching and for the great comment. Nice to hear from you.
Enjoy the Ride
Just lil be to enjoy the video im at work but you guys know i will be present later
Thanks Rene. Hope you have a good day at work and you enjoy the video later.
Enjoy the Ride
@@BBB_Adventuresthanks i love it nice work grtting the apollo ready to the trip oh i send a email to the other day
I liked this video. I remember your videos when you first got the Apollos and fussing with the fenders, and I wondered how that worked out. I wonder if the problem with commercially made fenders is they are made for chain drivetrains.
Thanks Craig,
We appreciate the comment and the acknowledgement of the earlier videos and our struggles with the rear fender. I spent a lot of time (probably too much) trying to get a satisfactory adjustment and then even more time researching what to do before landing on trying to make my own fender. The fenders came from Priority and they only sell Gates rubber belt drive bikes, but I also don't believe Priority designed those fenders, I believe they are a version of a commercially available product, as you point out. Based on all my work and analysis of the rubbing issues, I believe it's a tire width issue and a slight and normal misalignment of the rear wheel assembly to the frame. The flat design of my DIY fender eliminates that alignment sensitivity.
We'll be road testing these fenders on our ride across the US so we'll see how they perform over time.
Thanks for watching and your continued support of Buses Bikes and Beers.
Enjoy the Ride
@@BBB_Adventures Will the ride across the US include RAGBRAI? 🙂
@@cdmiller51 Yes!! We have designed our route and schedule to include RAGBRAI. Will we see you there?
@@BBB_Adventures I hope so. 🙂 I'm planning to ride from Fort Dodge to Pocahontas, then to Emmetsburg, and Mason City. Then ride back home.
If you reduced the width of the tire to something like 32 or 35mm instead of the stock 40mm would that have allowed the stock fenders to fit better?
Hey TG,
Sorry for the delayed response.
It makes sense that a thinner tire would reduce the chance of fender rubbing as it would create more clearance but we really wanted to use the 38 mm tires for The Apollo Mission and I got tired of trying to get the molded fender perfectly aligned which lead me to build these custom fenders.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
I'm interested in getting the apollo bike but need front and rear pannier racks for the bike that will carry my ortlieb bags. What racks did you put on your bike?
Hey Steve,
The rear rack on my Apollo is one I bought from Priority when I ordered the bike and I believe it's an Axiom rack. The front rack on my bike is a Roswheel Tour Front Rack. However, my Apollo is from one of the initial builds when the bike was first launched. The front fork on my Apollo has a threaded mounting lug near the through axle and my understanding is the fork on later builds don't have that mounting lug. I think you could figure out a way to mount the rack without that mounting point but it's definitely something to keep in mind. We both used Ortieb back roller classic panniers on the rear rack and I had smaller Ortieb panniers on my front rack. We installed Topeak Vera Cage on Mb's front fork which also worked well.
We were extremely happy with the Apollo bike set up as a touring bike. BTW, if you do decide to order an Apollo please consider using the link listed in the descriptions of any of the Apollo Mission episodes. We are a member of their affiliate program and using the link will help us. Thanks.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
My bike came with fenders that had support struts down to near the axel. What a pain those were. Always getting bent out of shape and the welds holding the struts were breaking. I replaced mine with plastic versions direct from "chi-na" with a Trump accent.
Yes. Those struts seem to make fender adjustment more problematic, which is why I decided to try supporting the fender with the rear rack, which reduces any flexing of the fender. I hope you also ended up with a fender that you're happy with. If not, try making your own. :)
Thanks for the comment and for continuing to watch BBB.
Enjoy the Ride
@@BBB_Adventures They don't cover as much, but when I cycle through 3-4" of water, I raise my legs to the center pipe anyways.
How much do replacement belts cost, and can't a longer one be had?
Hey Ron,
I think replacement belts are somewhere between $90 and $120. I don't believe Priority sells a longer Gates CDX belt for the Apollo but it's possible that Gates sells a longer belt. I honestly haven't looked into it but if someone wanted lower gears than what we ended up with, a longer belt would be something to look into as well as the larger rear cogs or smaller front cog.
We ended up being very happy with our final gearing during the Apollo Mission with the bikes fully loaded in touring mode.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
@BBB_Adventures it seems like whoever is selling the gears would also offer a variety of belts.
Bucket
Hey Drew!!
Totally....a buck would totally work to bend the shape of the fender. Great suggestion. Thank you.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride
I don't understand why fenders ore not more flat vs molded bs!!!
Howdy,
That is a great question. The rounded molded fenders were nearly impossible to get centered on the tire so they wouldn't rub. Drove me crazy. We've been using these flat DIY fenders for several years now that they work great in the rain. I'd highly recommend these if you're looking for bike fenders.
Thanks for watching.
Enjoy the Ride