1996 Diamond Back Apex

This is my 1996 Diamond Back Apex, my main bike. Bought at a discount by mail order (from a shop advertising in MBUK) in 1997, to replace my aging 93 M Trax 400. Since then it's been all over the world with me (The Canaries, Mexico, South Korea, Portugal), almost every part has been replaced now, either because the original part wore out, or to 'upgrade'. It's very nearly the Trigger's broom of the retrobike world!

The spec sheet:

Frame: True Temper AVR steel. Titanium bottle cage bolts.

Fork: Diamond Back cro-mo.

Headset: Dia Compe aheadset, A2Z alu top cap with alu bolt.
Stem: no-name forged alloy.
Handlebar: Bontrager Rce Modified 620.
Grips: Gripshift (yellow).
Barends: Avenir alloy.

Brakes: Kona Curve 2 front, Suntour XC SE rear.
Brake Pads: Kool Stop front, Suntour rear.
Brake Cables: ??
Cantilever cable hangers: Kona Curve 2.
Brake Levers: Kona Curve 2.

Shifters: Sachs Wavey 3x8 speed.
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT M780 3x10.
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Altus.
Derailleur Cables: ??
Cassette: HG51 8 Speed 11-32t, Token alloy lockring (blue).
Chain: SRAM PC850.
Cranks: Sugino.
Crank Bolts: ??
Chainrings: Sugino.
Chainring bolts: Sugino steel.
Bottom Bracket: ??
Pedals: late 90s LX-level SPD (unsure of model).

Hub Skewers:Shimano Deore QR (modern).
Rims: Mavic XM 317 32H, Mavic XM117 36 H rear.
Hubs: Hope Pro 2 Evo QR (blue), Shimano XT T780 (silver, no disc mount)
Nipples: DT Swiss brass.
Spokes: Dt Swiss double butted (black front, silver rear).
Tyres: Panaracer Fire XC Pro.
Tubes: ??

Saddle: Sell Italia Q-bik.
Seatpost: Avenir alloy.
Seatpost Binder: Avenir alloy with steel bolt.

Weight: ~24 lb.

Some changes coming very soon:
Onza Mongo III (blue) to be fitted.
Deore DX steel seat post to be fitted.

Changes being contemplated:
Bar (for steel or Ti).
Stem (ideally Ti)
Brakes (??).

Tyres really not doing it for me.

DB fan.

minor_LEGEND":2h01ytue said:

Tyres really not doing it for me.

Click to expand...

I hear you - in terms of looks the tires are a bit marmitey, people either hate them or love them. I chose yellow to match with the yellow grips and the yellow in the DBR decal, and most days I'm happy enough with how they look, but I do get the odd pang of regret that I didn't go with the pure black versions.

Personally, I can't get along with grip shift. But loving this being around the world, and still original frame AND forks.

I've got 3 Apexeeessssesss, a 91, and two 95s.

One thing worth note, I've got the 96 brochure somewhere, and yours seems to be correct with tubing spec (AVR) but as the other recent thread shows - I think there must have been an SE Apex in 96 with TT-Lite tubing (and I believe they returned to TT-Lite for the Apex in 97).

Thumbs up from me.

nice i love old db,s ,how tall are you :?:

I'm 6 foot 3. The angle of the against the wall shot has made the seat post look out of proportion to the rest of the (foreshortened) bike, methinks. The seat post is in fact a well-proportioned 370 mm post raised to within a few cm or so of the max line.

Neil":bhdfvlnt said:

Personally, I can't get along with grip shift. But loving this being around the world, and still original frame AND forks.

I've got 3 Apexeeessssesss, a 91, and two 95s.

One thing worth note, I've got the 96 brochure somewhere, and yours seems to be correct with tubing spec (AVR) but as the other recent thread shows - I think there must have been an SE Apex in 96 with TT-Lite tubing (and I believe they returned to TT-Lite for the Apex in 97).

Thumbs up from me.

Click to expand...

Cheers bro

It still has the True Temper AVR decal, which is the only reason I knew for sure this frame is built from AVR, otherwise I would have guessed it used the same tubing as the Axis model of the same year.

ultrazenith":3ovoy1du said:

Neil":3ovoy1du said:

Personally, I can't get along with grip shift. But loving this being around the world, and still original frame AND forks.

I've got 3 Apexeeessssesss, a 91, and two 95s.

One thing worth note, I've got the 96 brochure somewhere, and yours seems to be correct with tubing spec (AVR) but as the other recent thread shows - I think there must have been an SE Apex in 96 with TT-Lite tubing (and I believe they returned to TT-Lite for the Apex in 97).

Thumbs up from me.

Click to expand...

Cheers bro

It still has the True Temper AVR decal, which is the only reason I knew for sure this frame is built from AVR, otherwise I would have guessed it used the same tubing as the Axis model of the same year.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what happened, that year - I have 95 and 96 brochure (but the 96 brochure only goes up to the red Apex you have, the Apex SE in another thread may have been part of the upper range in another brochure). 94, 95 and 97 (and the 96 Apex SE) frames all used TT-Lite tubing - like the steel Axis - not sure why they reverted or had an AVR tubed Apex in 96 as a sort of one-off for that grouping of years.

Realistically doesn't make a whole heap of difference - I have a 91 Apex with AVR tubing, and I love that too (bought it from a member here, as my original 91 Apex lost it's fight against crime in 95). The 91 Apex is probably the one that means the most to me, since it's on one of those I did most of my riding on, BITD. I got a 95 Apex new, in 95 (still have it, plus another 95 Apex, as well as a 91 and 92 Axis) as a replacement for my 91 Apex when it got nicked, but by that point I wasn't doing quite the same amount of recreational riding / MTB-ing, so it mostly did road miles.

I wouldn't change my 96 Apex for anything else (except perhaps for some high end British steel like a Roberts), it rides beautifully and is a no-nonsense, relatively lightweight bike. But I always did feel slightly disappointed with it. Something weird happened in 1996. The 94 model that my best friend rode, which inspired my to choose a DB Apex when the time came to get a completely new bike, was specced very well indeed -- almost all Deore LX except for the STX hubs, a Titec Bontrager bar, and of course the premium tubing. But not only did the 96 model have AVR tubing, the groupset was an odd mix of LX (rear hub, cassette, rear mech), STX (front mech), Sugino chainset, Quando front hub, SRT600 gripshift (eurgh!) and no-name Chinese cantis and levers. I love the colour, though, which has to be one my favourites. Despite my initial reservations about some of the parts, I found it did all work and I did a couple of XC races on it to break it in, but before too long I upgraded some of the least appealing parts with V-brakes or other slightly more preferred parts I had lying around after the demise of my 93 M Trax.

Since you've ridden several different DB Apex and Axis tubesets, I'd be interested to know whether the is any appreciable improvement from AVR to the Axis framesets?