r/PriorityBicycles

Got the Apollo Ti last winter as a bad weather bike, mostly for commuting (35mi round trip three-ish times a week), and have put several hundred miles on it. But I couldn't stand the janky mechanical/hydraulic brakes, terrible ergonomics on the drops, and the ugly aesthetics of the shifting cable coming out the side of the right drop. It kind of ruined the bike for me since my other bikes (traditional drivetrains) are all internally routed cables and super tidy cockpits.

My local bike shop mentioned there's a di2 version of the Alfine 11spd hub, which got me thinking about a conversion to GRX. Finally decided to do it when I saw a clearance on GRX 11spd brakes/hoods, and went down the rabbit hole. Photos show the final product. Happy to give a parts list if any of is interested. Ended up costing roughly $850, not including bike shop labor to rebuild the wheel with the new hub and so on.

Got my Priority Apollo Flat Bar about a month ago and performed some tweaks/upgrades to make it exactly to my liking. Ended up very nice and did a first serious ride on it today (Tour de Bronx).

I am not a "real" cyclist, so some choices are unconventional:

• Don't like drop bars. They might be superior, more ergonomical, etc. - I get it. That are widely used for a reason. But I don't like them, so flat bar it is.
• I don't use padded shorts. I should be able to ride bike in any attire I am. Also I always felt this one distinct factor between bike to go places vs bike for exercising. I use bike to go places, exercising is just a bonus. So I needed wider, more practical saddle, which is Bontranger Commuter Comp.
• I don't ride clipless. Similar reason as above. So flat platform pedals and any shoes are fine!
• I have a stand! I used ebike before where stand is standard and struggled a lot with Priority first since I can make the bike just stand when I need! How do people manage this? There are no good stands for regular bikes in US - either cheap crap or super heavy things targeting ebikes. SO I had to order high-quality one from Europe - HEBIE Lite Fix 40.

However, I like numbers so I got power meter installed on this thing (Power2Max NGeco Road). Took some time to find version compatible with Gates cog, but otherwise installation was straightforward.

Otherwise, there are some pretty standard accessories and few decorative items to add red accents to the bike (those Hope rotors while being top notch quality and perfectly contributing to the aesthetics are super-duper expensive). Stock color scheme is boring - I had to fix it! And removed those brown tires - didn't work well with my color scheme.

I am considering the setup complete, but might need to adjust some things with more rides and understanding what may I need to add or change.

Overall, Priority are great! I still have their original bike from 2014 or 2015. It was belt-driven (obviously - this is Priority after all), but this was CDrive belt system, not Gates. And it had 7 speed IGH with coaster brakes in them. Probably not many know how Priority started, but this is how.

Ride safe folks. Life is too short to ride boring (and stock) bikes!

They came through for me.

A Frame Break Bolt had fallen out and when I emailed them they sent out a pair of them.

One the road again in Central America on my Hot Sauce.