Apollo City Pro Review

Cockpit

The City Pro’s stellar cockpit is home to some of its most noteworthy upgrades.

Here, you’ll find the newly added 8th-generation paddles for both the accelerator and regen brake. With a big textured surface area, smooth actuating motion, and integrated buttons to control your lights, riding mode, and turn signals, they offer a comfortable and practical foundation that sets the tone for the rest of the scooter.

This is further bolstered by the new handgrips, which now feature a ribbed design for more tactility than the lightly patterned variants found on its predecessor.

Then we have the cherries on top: new turn signals that are embedded into the end of each grip. Coupled with the deck-mounted lights (more on these later), they guarantee visibility from all angles.

At the center of it all is a display that shows all your key riding stats. Aesthetically, it ticks all the boxes – it doesn’t protrude awkwardly or disrupt the flow of the cockpit, but there’s room for improvement when it comes to its functionality. The digits and icons get a little washed out in direct sunlight making it difficult to keep tabs on which riding mode you’re in.

I also encountered a minor bug with the riding mode controls. When I cycled through the modes – Eco, Comfort, and Sport – the lights turned on when I selected Eco. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but slightly irritating nonetheless.

As for the handlebars themselves, by my measurements, they stretch 26.4 inches. This makes them 6% wider than the 24.8 inches of its predecessor. Not only are they the widest in the commuter scooter category, but they play a pivotal role in the City Pro’s appeal as one of the most balanced, nimble rides on the market – you always feel secure behind these bad boys.

Frame

Apollo is a brand famed for its willingness to go against the grain – and nowhere is this more evident than with the City Pro’s proprietary frame. Whereas lesser scooters are made of parts cherry-picked from multiple factories, everything on the Pro has been purpose-made.

This minimizes vulnerabilities and maximizes the scooter’s durability – a quality strengthened further by its new IP66 water resistance rating. That’s right: the City Pro is a model that you can enjoy come rain or shine.

The frame looks the part, too. The aerospace-grade aluminum body is painted in a futuristic grey that looks more iPhone than electric scooter.

Deck

I’m a huge fan of the grippy deck. Reminiscent of a penny skateboard, it tapers at the rear to a carry handle that doubles as a kickplate.

Occupying a space that’s 22.6 inches long, 7.3 inches at its widest, and 4.7 inches at its narrowest, it provides plenty of room for you to adopt a stance that best suits your riding style.

Add the aggressive 38-degree angled kickplate into the mix, and you can lean into the ride for even greater control when accelerating.

Elsewhere, the 5.1 inches of ground clearance gives you enough distance to navigate kinks in the road without incurring damage to the undercarriage. You do, however, need to be careful when dismounting curbs.

Tires

The City Pro’s tires are unsung heroes. It’s easy to overlook them when there are so many other show-stopping qualities elsewhere, but they play a huge role in elevating your riding experience.

Why? Well, not only are they tubeless – ensuring your contact with the ground is cushioned – but they’re also self-healing.

Thanks to a layer of gel-like sealant that runs around the entire lining of the tire, this particular innovation allows you to keep riding even if a foreign body penetrates the tire. No matter the object – whether that's a nail, thorn, or piece of glass – the gel gets to work by filling the cavity to prevent air from escaping.

At 10 x 3.25 inches, the tires sport an enlarged profile, too. This gives you a more stable, reliable feeling when accelerating, braking, and cornering.

Portability

Weighing 65 lbs, it isn’t the lightest scooter. Carrying it up more than a flight of stairs is a challenge, though lifting it in short bursts is doable.

Previously, the City Pro folded neatly at the stem courtesy of an intuitive folding lever. At the time, it was one of the best that I had tested. However, with Apollo being Apollo, they decided to make the mechanism even better by replacing it with the same quick-release lever as featured on the vastly more expensive Apollo Pro.

Not only does this new integration ensure that the stem remains rock solid with no signs of wobble when locked upright, but it also guarantees swift and easy folding.

Located at the foot of the sturdy stem, you simply press down on the safety catch, pull the lever back to release the locking claw, and lower the stem. Once lowered, the hook on the back of the handlebars loops into the latch at the rear of the deck.

While the hook on the 2022 version of the City Pro was liable to fall out of the latch, the 2023 model introduces a new spring clip to prevent it from coming loose.

Load

Apollo claims that it can support riders up to 265 lbs, making it a welcoming model for heavier riders who want to get in on the fun.

While testing the scooter I weighed 190 lbs and it performed exceptionally well. For optimal performance, I wouldn’t exceed 235 lbs.

Lights

The first thing to note about the lighting rig is that the headlight has been redesigned.

You can now adjust it up or down to change the angle of illumination – though it does project a slightly odd T-shaped beam. Nevertheless, it’s far brighter than what came before it. I do, however, recommend attaching an additional clip-on headlight for even greater visibility.

Aside from the headlight, a responsive taillight is perched on top of the rear fender and flashes when you squeeze the brakes.

The real piece de resistance, however, comes in the form of the turn signals.

Embedded into the rear of the deck, the arrow-shaped lights flash in unison with the handlebar integrated signals for 360-degree visibility. Out of all the scooters that I’ve tested to date (20th September 2023), these are the best.

Mobile App

A feather in the City Pro’s cap is its mobile app.

Through it, you can:

• Record trips
• Get range estimates based on your most recent riding pattern
• Use it as a navigational device where you can follow a route to your destination
• Adjust the top speed of each riding mode
• View the health and status of your battery
• Toggle between kick-to-start and zero-start modes
• Turn cruise control on or off
• Turn the headlight on or off
• Remotely lock and unlock the scooter, which
• immobilizes it by applying the electronic brakes

Then, if you go into the advanced settings, you can:

• Dial in the strength of your acceleration and regen brakes
• Set the time that it takes before cruise control automatically kicks in
• Set the time that it takes before the scooter automatically shuts down when not in use

Build Quality

To assess the build quality of any scooter you can focus on three key areas: the materials used, how the parts have been designed, and how they’re assembled. But, the most important indicator of quality is how a scooter holds up over time.

While every component that makes up the City Pro has been expertly crafted and assembled like the intricate mechanics of a Swiss watch, it’s the 10,000 km warranty that truly makes the difference. Why? Well, this shows you how much confidence Apollo has in City Pro.

On average, the key components that make up a typical scooter undergo 100,000 cycles of tests, while the scooter as a whole is expected to remain in optimal condition for a maximum of 3,000 km.

Those on the City Pro, however, have been through an impressive 300,000 cycles, while it’s also been through 10,000 km of simulated road tests (hence the warranty). So, it’s fair to say that Apollo has gone above and beyond to build a scooter that can withstand the wear and tear of continuous use.

This relentless testing process elevates the City Pro to a level of build quality that’s superior to its peers.