Introduced a bit before Le Tour started, the new Argon 18 Nitrogen Pro takes the base Nitrogen aero road bike introduced at Eurobike last year and gives it the pro treatment.
Team rider Andreas Schillenger said the geometry’s the same, it’s just lighter, and that they only started riding them the week before the Tour started. And that he likes it. Join him past the break for a run down of team spec and bike details…
Likely because of sponsor commitments, they weren’t running the newly developed aero bar/stem unit that comes as part of the Pro model. But, it keeps the same TRP aero brakes with dual cable placement to minimize drag and ease installation options.
The Nitrogen Pro uses higher end fibers and layup to drop the frame weight by a whopping 127g over the standard 960g Nitrogen frame. Claimed weight for the Pro version is 833 with paint and clear coat. Hardware adds a claimed 52g, which is also less than the 60g hardware weight on the standard version.
The downtube is rather rectangular for an aero bike, but the BB section gets sculpted to direct air smoothly over the chainstays.
The aero seatpost is reversible to offer multiple setback options. Bora’s team used bolt-together number plate holders zip tied to the seatpost.
FSA cranksets and cockpit parts were rampant, with seemingly every team having something from the brand on a bike or two. These guys had their cranksets outfitted with Power2Max’s power meter spiders.
Riders had various ways of highlighting important points on each day’s stage. Here, it was showing a sprint points marker at 80.5km, a feed zone at 89km and the finish at 166km for stage two.
For the big climbing stages, the riders will hop aboard the Gallium Pro, Argon 18’s 790g lightweight contender.
The read hub axle caps indicate ceramic bearings.
Always fun to see how the riders customize their bikes.
The Argon 18 E-118 Next also debuted at Eurobike last fall and is being used for the TT stages.
The Vision Metron Disc wheel is available as a tubular only.
