Two wheeled slice of userbility (Apollo Maia 17in Mountain Bike)

Member Name: PinkHaze

Product:	Apollo Maia 17in Mountain Bike
Date:	02/09/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Colour, weight, set up free, old school biking

Disadvantages: Pedal stems

Well what can i say im a total girl it had pink on it!! Id like to add that i dont judge a book by its cover but i certainly judge a bike by its colour! Pink and white very nice indeed!
I was browsing round halfords and this bike stood out. It was a sunny, hot and glorious day and the bike shouted summer rides to me!
The bike itself isn't anything special but it does its job. I use it to pop to town, round the country park and to pop my son to nursery in his bike trailer...
The bike has 18 speed shimano gears and to be honest i havent got a clue what that means! The gears work with the old twist and click of the handles which means that as you ride along its so much easier to change the gears. The brakes on the bike are fantastic, strong and sturdy and importantly realiable especially as 99% of the time im towing the trailer with my son in it.
The bike has a little suspension in at the front which is easily confused with thinking that the front type is flat when you push down on the handle bars. The tyre's are sturdy for the job that its intended to do.
The frame is strong and the bike itself is rather light weight which is a bonus when trailer towing!
Halfords even put the bike togther for me and got rid of the box - free of charge i may add.
Halfords also offer a 6 week bike check free of charge with all bikes purchased which at the time i thought was a very good idea as for example new bike cables (gears, brakes etc) stretch and need tightening. To be honest though the bloke that did mine completley fudged my brakes, losening them far to much that i had to get my brother in law to fix it!
A major floor with this bike is the pedal stems they are far to long and many a time when pedalling i have scuffed the toe of my shoe on the ground! Which hurts and is very annoying.
This bike is a simple, easy to use bike. Back to the old school days of biking!

Summary: This bike is a decent enough trailer towing, country park riding, two wheeled slice of useability.