Apex Bicycles

[Riaan Wolmarans]

Hi, what do you guys think of Apex mtb as entry to the sport?

[Eugene]

Hi, what do you guys think of Apex mtb as entry to the sport?

Never heard of Apex. Is this brand available in SA or are you planing to import yourself or is it a Game/Makro/Hypermarket brand?

 

Personally, I would go with a more mainstream brand like Titan, Momesen, Axis etc.

[Markellis]

Save yourself a lot of headache and look for something secondhand in the mainstream brand as mentioned above.

 

Bikemarket.co.za has some secondhand bikes in the same price range

 

Also look at Signal bikes, they local and solid.

[Danger Dassie]

Apex bikes are a local brand under Rush Sports, who also own Signal Bikes. Their premium brand is Santa Cruz for whom they are the local agents. 

Apex sit below Signal in the hierarchy, so a fair bit more basic and entry level. If you're riding around three times a week and just looking at some dirt track and basic riding, it will serve you well upto a point.
Really depends on what you want to do, but the support is pretty decent. 

[Riaan Wolmarans]

Only will start now, it will be more for exercise, dirt roads and doing some offroad trails.

[Danger Dassie]

Only will start now, it will be more for exercise, dirt roads and doing some offroad trails.

You should be fine I reckon. If you can, see if you can spring for one of the Signal bikes, experience will be a bit better. 

Either way, enjoy it and welcome to a whole new sense of freedom.

[HSJ]

Bought an Apex bike today. VERY disappointed... Can't ride it as it has endless problems with brakes alignment. I will probably try and return it and pay a bit more and actually be able to ride it. Rather avoid Apex if you were lucky enough to read this review in advance. 

[HSJ]

Save yourself a lot of headache and look for something secondhand in the mainstream brand as mentioned above.

 

Bikemarket.co.za has some secondhand bikes in the same price range

 

Also look at Signal bikes, they local and solid.

Agree with this comment from first hand experience. I am sitting with a big headache after buying a new Apex. Rather buy another bike even if it is second hand which you can actually ride after you bought it instead of a new apex you will not be able to ride even from new. 

[HSJ]

Hi, what do you guys think of Apex mtb as entry to the sport?

Avoid. As the other reviewer said you will save yourself a lot of headaches.

[DR ◣◢]

Any bike will only be as good as the person that put it together. 

 

You mentioned brake alignment issues? What exactly is wrong? 

[ChrisF]

Any bike will only be as good as the person that put it together.

 

You mentioned brake alignment issues? What exactly is wrong?

Agree 100%

 

Maritz's first 20" bike was a Makro Totem ... took it home, stripped it, re-built it, making sure everything is lubed, alligned and set up correctly.

 

He even did the Hemel and Aarde trail with this Totem.

 

5 years later and ZERO issues with the bike, and it has seen a lot of use !! While he has moved on to larger bikes, the Totem has been used by many of his friends ....

 

 

 

Few weeks back friends joined us on the trails, their kid on retail store Raleigh .... pedal fell off mid trail .... I later serviced the bike for them, and jip, brakes were not working .... 30 second fix.

[aquaratza]

I received some Makro vouchers around 7 years back from my bank and figured it would be a cool idea to rekindle my childhood farm cycling with a bike from Makro. I bought a HUFFY and then took it to Jonkershoek, as one does. It fell apart on the gravel circular route and it put me off cycling for another 5 years.

 

To be fair when I eventually gave it love and fixed it up it was okay and made me want to get something better.

[Mojoman]

I received some Makro vouchers around 7 years back from my bank and figured it would be a cool idea to rekindle my childhood farm cycling with a bike from Makro. I bought a HUFFY and then took it to Jonkershoek, as one does. It fell apart on the gravel circular route and it put me off cycling for another 5 years.

 

To be fair when I eventually gave it love and fixed it up it was okay and made me want to get something better.

Lol... Some years back a friend did a relatively easy and flattish MTB race with me on his 'dual sus' Raleigh...Kakked off big time....He said it was the only bike he has ever had to keep on peddling on the downhills to keep going....

 

[Wesselv]

It's not a bad bike at all and has great service back up. 

Rush would not distribute this if it was ****. 

 

Not the best on the market but it def is worth it, the A900 is pretty decent and comes in at under 5k for something you can give a go. 

[Kealan Erasmus]

I've had my Apex A900 for more than a year now... I really love the ride, great for XC, especially for climbing. The best part of the bike is the frame and cockpit set up, the ride is Hella stable and super forgiving

The problem is that Initially, I had to replace quite a few components which was crap expensive. These included changing the rear Hub, brake alignment, tightening the brake cables etc etc... Many of these things sound like they are done after a service but I was shocked at how quickly the OEM parts wore out... I replaced those with respectable aftermarket parts and now the bike is awesome ???????????? 

 

honestly if I had a lot of money, I'd convert the 3 x 7 to a 1 x 12... I know its cheaper to buy a bike with this... But like I said the bike makes climbing effortless ???????? the bike descends decently... the control and stability is on point... I've rode on my friend's reflex 29 and another friend's silverback stride (both on several occasions) it's simply not as good ....

But atleast they didn't have to replace anything on there bike ????

 

 

[Rolf Hansen]

34 minutes ago, Kealan Erasmus said:

I've had my Apex A900 for more than a year now... I really love the ride, great for XC, especially for climbing. The best part of the bike is the frame and cockpit set up, the ride is Hella stable and super forgiving

The problem is that Initially, I had to replace quite a few components which was crap expensive. These included changing the rear Hub, brake alignment, tightening the brake cables etc etc... Many of these things sound like they are done after a service but I was shocked at how quickly the OEM parts wore out... I replaced those with respectable aftermarket parts and now the bike is awesome ???????????? 

 

honestly if I had a lot of money, I'd convert the 3 x 7 to a 1 x 12... I know its cheaper to buy a bike with this... But like I said the bike makes climbing effortless ???????? the bike descends decently... the control and stability is on point... I've rode on my friend's reflex 29 and another friend's silverback stride (both on several occasions) it's simply not as good ....

But atleast they didn't have to replace anything on there bike ????

 

 

The Reflex 29 (I assume you are referring to the Avalanche)  is also an entry level bike and I would have been surprised if it was significantly if any better than your Apex. We were once following a guy on one riding a tame trail at Big Red Barn and he turned his front wheel into a taco when he hit a 3cm high tree stump hidden in the grass.

The Silverback Stride can be had in several flavours but the most basic of these is also not much better than the Apex. 

A have a friend with an Apex A900 and he has done several trails with it without issue and he loves it. 

It is great that you are enjoying the bike. Any bike can be enjoyed especially if you spend time on maintaining it and setting it up correctly.