Need help deciding between Luna X1 or Apollo

[Nebakanezzar]

Hi All,

Im looking to get a EMTB and i think i have settled on Luna for best value, and now I need A little help deciding between a X1 or a Apollo.

a little about me:

Im mid 50's, 6'5", ~290lbs, grossly out of shape (embarrassingly). I have bad knees and am looking into biking as a low impact way to get out and moving again.

I bought a used Trek Stache 8 hardtail (XL) about a year ago but rarely ride it for a couple reasons, 1) I don't find it super comfortable to ride, 2) haven't been on a bike in like 20 years so just the act of riding is not super comfortable yet, and i think the biggest reason is 3) because im out of shape i dont get far which has been discouraging me from riding. Im hoping a EMTB will allow me to go further making the ride more enjoyable which will get me out on it more regularly. I am extremely fortunate to live within a mile of Folsom lake which has a lot of paved roads and trails i could be riding on so i want to take advantage of that.

I would mostly be riding in the neighborhoods and paved/simple trails in order to gain more comfortability with riding bikes again, then slowly progress to more trails riding around the lake. Maybe some rare commuting or running to the grocery store or other such errands.

only MTB experience i have is riding my Stache 8, and i also recently took a Obrea Wild for a test ride at a LBS. the XL frame seemed to fit OK, and it was a lot of fun to ride...but man, that $7k price tag >.<

I was also able to ride the Obrea up a small hill (that i would not have been able to ride up manually), and it pushed me up that hill relatively effortlessly.

Questions:

1. Why are there no reviews on the Apollo? there seem to be a lot of youtube reviews for the X1 but not a single one for the Apollo?
2. would one be better over the other to handle a guy my size?
3. Seems like the Apollo is more bike than i need, but seems like its only about $700 more than the X1, $4900 vs $4200 after upgrades( Ludi, 860 Display and Silent treatment), seems on paper the Apollo is the better value?
4. i also like that the Apollo is made here in the USA, seems like a lot of the bad X1 reviews are due to issues arising from poor assembly in China? would saying the Apollo will arrive better assembled be a fair statement? i have zero experience working on bikes so this could be important to me.
5. seems the X1 is a little more of a stealth emtb? that battery on the Apollo is just massive! would i need to consider this for riding in my area?
6. it seems like a lot of the initial complaints about the X1 have been fixed, are there any outstanding issues on the Apollo? I read a review that mentioned, i think it was the 11th gear, was locked out on both the X1 and the Apollo, but has been fixed on the X1...has this been fixed on the Apollo?
7. Also sounds like the Apollo might have more inventory before the X1 will

Thanks in advance for any advise you guys can offer!

 

[greeno]

Brother I hate to break the bad news to ya but there is no Apollo. Luna has advertised it for 2 years and I have only "heard" about a guy in Santa Barbara that has two of them. One other time my buddy "thought" he saw one ride by him in SLO town. Maybe there's more around but I have never seen one, never heard of one either. Kinda like a unicorn. Go ahead and inquire on their website and they can respond with an answer but I wouldn't hold my breath.
The X1 seems like an ok bike but with the smaller M600 motor and the Apex is kinda spacey lookin to me. It has the bigger M620 motor and a friend of mine has one and he likes it but his battery is smaller than ours so he usually has to turn back early on our normal rides. Good luck to you sir.

 

[TomD]

I would opt for the Luna X1 in the XL size. It's got enough power to assist, but not so much that you won't get exercise. That said, it's more of a MTB than a grocery getter. If you want a MTB with more power, I'd buy a Watt Wagon Hydra all day long over the Apollo.

 

[Nebakanezzar]

Thanks Tom.

Unfortunately it looks like neither the Hydra or the X1 will be offered in XL frame (confirmed with both vendors) or i would probably go with the Hydra.

The Apollo is back in stock right now so i just pulled the trigger on a XL Apollo. I test rode a XL Levo this past weekend and liked it a LOT more than the Obrea! i think if i dont like the Apollo ill sell it and go with the Levo.

 

[TomD]

Not a bad option as it will probably work better as a city bike. One thing I would highly recommend is not getting the ludi upgrade. Invest that money in the controller upgrade from watt wagons and you'll have a motor as refined and smooth as the turbo levo but with oodles more power. Even better if Luna will sell you the bike without the motor and you can buy the motor with controller upgrade directly from watt wagons.

 

[greeno]

Well bust my buttons! Checked the site last week and it was still was on backorder. I finally got tired of waiting and got an Exess E-180 with the WW upgraded motor last Sept.and built mine up myself. I would do as TomD said buy the bike stock and send motor to Pushkar for the X1 upgrade or if it's the stock programming tune it yourself. Not sure how the Apollo's controller is configed.
Looks like they kicked Kevin to the curb and are going with the Rockshox Yari on the front. Good fork just not as good IMO.