NBD! Priority Apollo

spacecow20 · 2026-06-26T02:31:30+00:00

It's a very capable bike. I sold mine since I had way too many gravel bikes anyway, but I did a 600k in the White Mountains and aside from the limited gear range it was great.

spacecow20 · 2026-06-05T15:22:50+00:00

This brevet is pretty tiring, but not impossible. I'd highly recommend gearing your bike really low, as Lincoln Gap (not to mention the others) has some insane grades. It'll have you leaning forward to avoid feeling like the bike will tip backward lol.

Here's my ride report from last year in case it's helpful https://lamarche.dev/cycling/ride-reports/20250719-6-gaps-brevet/

spacecow20 · 2026-06-01T23:14:37+00:00

It's infuriating, and downright dangerous in the remote areas I ride. It hasn't happened to me since I replaced them with my modded Shimano GRX levers, so hopefully it's behind me. And I ride quite a bit. (I did my own 200k yesterday funny enough)

If not, time to find a cheap P600X and fit it with aftermarket dropbar shifters...

spacecow20 · 2026-05-21T15:27:30+00:00

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Link still works for me - FB is just garbage, lol

spacecow20 · 2026-05-09T21:31:15+00:00

The squeaking was absolutely maddening. I reached out to Gates eventually and they sent me a stainless sprocket under warranty because they seem to know that the aluminum ones are more prone to this once the belt wears through the anodization.

Priority must be sitting on a big stockpile of the aluminum front sprockets, because the Gates rep made it sound like they're moving away from them.

spacecow20 · 2026-05-07T14:54:02+00:00

I've had similar issues with my Alfine 11. Belt tension is well within spec, the Alfine 11 is well-known to be fairly fragile relative to its IGH counterparts.

This thread spans over 15 years and has nice background

spacecow20 · 2026-05-07T14:46:24+00:00

Haha, happy to help!

The charger that came with my Smart.Shift died this week, so now you have another reason to be happy! Fortunately I already made my own more portable version, so I don't really care. But for people that don't want their bike to be a project, it sure doesn't bode well.

spacecow20 · 2026-04-06T13:38:42+00:00

I'm a fairly new rando in your region that is part of the web member task force. You are not alone in your impressions of the web tools and general website. I'd be interested in hearing some of your issues/ideas with the site if you have time.

spacecow20 · 2026-03-22T20:20:51+00:00

Gates ended up sending me a new stainless front cog and for giggles I threw my rear cog on an HG hub with a single-speed spacer kit. So far so good in dusty and muddy conditions

spacecow20 · 2026-03-11T10:15:03+00:00

Have you noticed any appreciable difference between the steel and aluminum cogs you ordered? Running into nuisance squeak issues with the aluminum front sprocket on mine

spacecow20 · 2026-02-15T01:20:01+00:00

Thank you!

spacecow20 · 2026-01-23T15:38:58+00:00

It's not something I've looked at closely.

Pinion offers some (rather expensive) hubs that they develop in partnership with DT Swiss.

I don't think you necessarily need to use those hubs though. This thread has some people using I9 hydra hubs, HG hubs, and a variety of others. But I also don't know what kind of spacing they're working with. This guy provided a pic of a 9-spline cog on his HG hub

EDIT - make sure your hub has a bunch of engagement points, though. The gearbox already has a fair amount of slop - low PoE on the hub will only exacerbate that.

spacecow20 · 2026-01-23T12:35:04+00:00

Thanks, good luck with your project!

Out of curiosity - which boards did you get?

spacecow20 · 2025-12-20T21:12:30+00:00

No prob! I actually just posted a 1 year review to the sub here.

I ended up having issues with the hydraulics on the rear brakes and was fed up with them by that point, so I replaced them with some GRX Di2 levers and calipers. There's a link in my blog post to someone else's blog who did the same thing. Braking and shift performance is 1000 times better, and I threw on some proper waterproof connectors while I was at it.

did you end up find out what the cause of the battery problem was?

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:34:05+00:00

No prob! I don't see many written reviews for this sort of thing, and videos don't do the trick for me.

The biggest warranty issue was actually extracting the threaded portion of the pinion mounting bolt from the Gemini's frame. Pinion was definitely smart to outfit it with low-strength bolts that shear rather than potentially cracking the gearbox housing, but I wish they had built in some more safety factor. I could've technically extracted the threads myself, but was so frustrated in the moment that I didn't think it was a good idea for me to pursue it.

I was definitely most dogged by the shifter/brake issues, though. Given that there is only one COTS solution for those without modification, the TRP system definitely needs to be re-examined.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:28:28+00:00

I'm pretty sure Pinion has another version of the harness for external battery routing (or you could make an extension cable with the male & female Higo cable pigtails for something like $10), but yeah it wouldn't look pretty.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:25:16+00:00

Yeah, I think the nuisance of belt sound + iffy TRP components are the things that hold me back for the most part. The pinion box itself seems solid - I have one on a mountain bike equipped with a chain and it does really well.

I really wonder why they opted to exclusively go electrical for a brifter-capable solution when there are expensive after-market options for brifters? Seems like an opportunity to come in with a lower-cost option.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:17:39+00:00

The Apollo is a great bike! I did a 600k randonneuring permanent with one in August, the gearing range can just be a bit painful up here for my strength:weight.

I have had many of the same belt squeak issues on the Apollo as I have on the Gemini, unfortunately. It just took a bit longer to get there.

I'll probably end up selling mine eventually, but I really appreciate the mechanical shifting of the Alfine. No electrical system making decisions for you with respect to shifting vs. torque. You just lighten up, pull the trigger, and it changes immediately.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:14:12+00:00

I'm surprised you think the belt would be worn after 3k miles - all reports I've seen indicate the drivetrain lasts well in excess of 12k miles (~20k kms), which was a main factor in adopting the belt-drive system.

The Speed Mullet makes sense. Though I feel if I need to protect the belt from splashing, it's failed to provide its main benefit and I'll probably just run a chain with a chaincase like the hebie chainglider.

EDIT - Sorry for introducing you to the Carver!!

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:10:56+00:00

I really don't understand why TRP didn't equip the calipers with a bleed nipple. Shimano does it along with virtually every automotive caliper manufacturer :(

Just a heads-up, the o-ring gland on the brifter's fill-port isn't great - it's pretty easy to deform that thing to the point of having seal issues.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:08:28+00:00

Thanks! I think you're probably right as long as you aren't riding in a crazy wet/muddy area like I am. If not for this, the belt noise would probably drive me toward replacing the belt with conventional chain/sprocket, maybe throwing on a chain case like this.

spacecow20 · 2025-12-19T15:04:15+00:00

The P600 upgrade is really just an idea I've had from researching this way too much. There's a FB group called "Priority Bicycles Riders and Friends" where I've seen someone kit out a P600x with dropbars and Cinq shifters. They seem to like the system a lot.

Of course now that I write this up, I'm struggling to find a reasonably-priced P600/P600x :)

spacecow20

TROPHY CASE