Yep - did one from this series, then had to do the set.
This one had been ridden half a dozen times and then garaged by the owner who needed a new knee. He eventually got the new knee, but it was never quite right.
I thought the dust would just blow/rinse off nice and easy, but it took a full strip and clean as usual - that's 28 years in a garage workshop for you.. This did reveal an almost new bike though! It looked pretty good all dusted up as well to be fair.
As per the 92 Ravine I've just featured on the forum, the cantilevers and steel chain rings had to go. NOS XT M734 cantilevers and DX 650 silver chain rings substituted.
As usual, the STIs had gummed up, so they needed a strip to access the pawls.
The 92 Apex had the black 501 handlebars which were mint, but my NOS red USE handlebars had at last found a match colour-wise.
Beautiful paint job. I was worried about owning a bike this colour, but I am converted.
The unmarked black rims and the black tyres were just too... black, hence their replacement with amber wall tyres (Road Cruisers not Delta Cruisers). I'm not 100% about them, but I felt it had to be done as I could find no other pictures of this model with them on.
The alignment, fit and finish off this frame is of a high order and is a credit to those who put it together in the main factory. The 27.0mm seat post is a tight, but nevertheless sublime fit in the seat tube, but the black finish on the post is so smooth, as is the internal surface of the seat tube, that there is barely enough friction to hold it in place without creepage; it's like a piston in a bore. Can't use copper grease...
This one had been ridden half a dozen times and then garaged by the owner who needed a new knee. He eventually got the new knee, but it was never quite right.
I thought the dust would just blow/rinse off nice and easy, but it took a full strip and clean as usual - that's 28 years in a garage workshop for you.. This did reveal an almost new bike though! It looked pretty good all dusted up as well to be fair.
As per the 92 Ravine I've just featured on the forum, the cantilevers and steel chain rings had to go. NOS XT M734 cantilevers and DX 650 silver chain rings substituted.
As usual, the STIs had gummed up, so they needed a strip to access the pawls.
The 92 Apex had the black 501 handlebars which were mint, but my NOS red USE handlebars had at last found a match colour-wise.
Beautiful paint job. I was worried about owning a bike this colour, but I am converted.
The unmarked black rims and the black tyres were just too... black, hence their replacement with amber wall tyres (Road Cruisers not Delta Cruisers). I'm not 100% about them, but I felt it had to be done as I could find no other pictures of this model with them on.
The alignment, fit and finish off this frame is of a high order and is a credit to those who put it together in the main factory. The 27.0mm seat post is a tight, but nevertheless sublime fit in the seat tube, but the black finish on the post is so smooth, as is the internal surface of the seat tube, that there is barely enough friction to hold it in place without creepage; it's like a piston in a bore. Can't use copper grease...
