If you are a bicycle frame builder with the passion to build carbon bikes, how do you stand out amidst all the bikes in the marketplace that are also constructed from carbon? Perhaps you begin with the layup process, source materials from an unexpected place, or utilize your background as a cyclist and incorporate what’s missing in the current slew of carbon bikes into your own?
Argonaut Bicycles brings these concepts to each bike it builds. And it does that while getting to know you as a customer and a cyclist, so it can make your dream bike, a bike like no other out there.
About Argonaut Bicycles History
The company was started by Ben Harper in 2007 in Bend, Oregon. Harper’s background is in building steel bikes. Why? Simple, as a cyclist himself, he loved the ride quality that the material produced. But since he was a bicycle builder, he had to move with the times and, additionally, he sought for more speed and performance, something that carbon could offer.
But he wanted his move to building carbon bikes to be meaningful. He didn’t just want to mimic what was already out there in the marketplace. As mentioned on the Argonaut Bicycles website, for Harper, “carbon piqued [his] interest not so much because of its ideal strength to weight ratio, but rather its nearly limitless potential for customization.”
The main thing Harper wanted to achieve in his builds, however, was for his bikes to retain the ride quality of a steel bike. A bike that is “lighter, stiffer where it counts, and with a ride quality that [he felt] is truly transcendent.” He also wanted to give cyclists the ability to fully customize an existing design or build a bike from the ground up.
Argonaut Uses Technical Wizardry to Become “Masters of Carbon”
Carbon has been part of the bicycle industry since the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since that time, the process for moulding it into bicycle parts has been refined by many builders, both new and classic, such as Colnago, Pinarello, etc.
Argonaut attempts to differentiate itself in a couple of specific ways when it comes to its carbon usage. For one, it sources its materials from within the United States, which gives Argonaut Bicycles the ability to create its bike parts at its factory. Secondly, the company uses “detailed analysis across a wide range of carbon layups, [which] allows us to find the exact point on the displacement curve where the force of the rider’s outputs matches the natural flex of the frame…”
A High Pressure Silicone Molding (patented) with every performance nuance explored also makes Argonaut stand out as a builder. The company uses a combination of carbon fiber from Aramid, Innegra, and Kevlaris. Within 32 hours, Argonaut claims it can condition parts to work with the way you ride. That’s pretty sweet. How often can you tell a bike builder exactly what you want and they don’t question it, just build the bike you want?
Test It, Break It, Test It Again
Even if you use the best carbon fiber available, there’s still the chance a break can occur. Argonaut Bicycles says it sources carbon that goes beyond industry specifications. Even after a prototype of a bike is built, the frame is tested past the breaking point, then retested.
Argonaut also desires to exceed industry safety standards. That’s because it “invested in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities that empower [it] to design and develop [its] own proprietary carbon components right here in Bend.” As a cyclist in the middle of a bike purchase, it’s comforting to know every step of the build is monitored.
Last Thoughts
Argonaut Bicycles is a boutique builder that specializes in carbon fiber that will give you the ride quality of a steel bike. That is part of its evolution. It currently builds a road bike and a gravel bike with the buyer’s option to customize. In reality, though, Argonaut sees itself as a custom builder and a relationship builder with a cyclist.
That point is all-important when a full custom build starts at $17,000. Yes, that’s the price, just in case you were fully blown away by that number. But keep in mind, everything is high-end at Argonaut: the carbon sourced, the parts, the build, the testing, safety, you name it. While, perhaps, not a bike for everyone, it is for exacting cyclists who see their bike as an extension of themselves.
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