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Updated (and still gorgeous) Argonaut road bike adds new T47 BB, flat mount disc brake standards

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2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles
All photos in this post from John Watson for Argonaut.

We had the chance to test ride and review one of the earliest Argonaut Cycles carbon road bikes. Even being such a young item in the brand’s stable, it was clear the bike is something special. Each is custom made for the rider, from sizing to carbon layup, and it makes for a great bike. Now, a couple years on and having won several awards, their flagship road bike is getting some important updates. Most importantly, they’re switching to the flat mount disc brake standard, making the rear dropouts thru-axle compatible, and spearheading the change to the new T47 threaded bottom bracket standard.

See how all those changes affected what’s already one of our favorite road bikes…

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

Up front, the frame stays the same, able to be customized for mechanical, hydraulic or electronic systems as needed.

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

The big changes come on the back half of the bike. Starting with the BB, Farver worked with the folks at Chris King and their house bike brand, Cielo, to develop a replacement for press fit bottom brackets. The problem with a pressed-in design is you’re reliant on everyone getting the tolerances just right (component and frame manufacturers), and having those items stay in tolerance as they wear. Too often, things aren’t, or don’t stay, as tight as they should be, and we end up with creaks or added friction from misalignment. While these guys were discussing a solution, White Industries, Engin Cycles and Enduro were also working on something and fortunately the stars aligned in time for everyone to work together.

Chris King Press Fit 30i T47 threaded bottom bracket

Chris King’s new Press Fit 30i is one option, and the one Argonaut will include with their new frames. Hit the link above for more options from the other brands and the complete story behind this new design.

Chris King Press Fit 30i T47 threaded bottom bracket

By offering a small selection of internal or external bearing cups and a handful of adapters to reduce the inside bearing diameter from 30mm to 24mm for Shimano cranks, the new T47 BB standard accommodates virtually any crank on the market.

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

The original Argonaut frames carried over the two-piece dropouts from their steel bikes. When they decided to switch to flat mount disc brakes, it provided enough reason to redesign the dropouts specifically for the carbon frame. And that gave them the opportunity to make them compatible with both standard QR and thru axles by simply swapping an insert.

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

The compact flat mount brake caliper sits snugly inside the rear triangle, and hose and wire ports to rear moving parts are all tightly spaced to maintain the clean appearance.

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

The driveside dropout is the same on both rim and disc brake bikes. The non-drive side dropout for disc brakes is molded as a longer single piece that includes the flat mount bolt holes. Both sides use aluminum contact points in the dropouts to protect the carbon from the hub axle being slid in and out.

2016 Argonaut Cycles road bike now available with flat mount disc brakes T47 threaded bottom bracket and thru axles

Soon, Argonaut will also have a complete paint shop in house, too, letting them customize your bike from start to finish inside their Bend, Oregon, facility.

Argonaut-Cycles-flagship-road-bike-T47-BB-flat-mount-disc-brakes01

ArgonautCycles.com

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sillyboi
sillyboi
8 years ago

let me get this straight, argonaut is using the 30i??? with 12tpi?? but got credit for 47t? its already looking bad folks. 2 new threaded standards for the cost of… our souls.

Scott
Scott
8 years ago

I read Bike Rumor for he comments.

JCycleTech
JCycleTech
8 years ago

@sillyboi I think you are misunderstanding things a bit. “ThreadFit 30i” (not Press Fit 30i as mentioned above) is tentative nomenclature for the King product compatible with the T47 bottom bracket standard. Argonaut and Chris King have been running fully functional prototypes in various interations for nearly 8 months prior to this release. There is only one Standard T47 which is essentially a PF30 shell or 68mm width with a 46mm bore, now with threads, 47×1 being the thread size hence T47. I’m not sure where you are getting anything about 12tpi. It is also important to note this is an open standard with collaborators mentioned above all working together to make a range of products for builders and consumers to have the widest range of compatibility all while addressing real life concerns voiced by many.

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

Still don’t comprehend what the advantage of T47 is unless you’re using a narrow BB30 crank

Aaron
Aaron
8 years ago

The advantage of T47 standard is that it’s thread-in “PF30” that’s all. No more creaks (supposedly) that (supposedly) plagued PF30 bikes/cranks.

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

@Aaron
But you could do that with threaded BSA with almost no design changes to the carbon since the shells are the same width. The only thing you lose out on is the ability to use narrow axle BB30 cranks.

Scott
Scott
8 years ago

@JBikes I’m so happy.

Rixter
8 years ago

@Aaron, I’m not understanding how the T47 screws into the frame? Is it self-tapping? If the frame is set to accept press-fitted shell, how is a threaded shell going to work?

parkcyc
parkcyc
8 years ago

I don’t care about them using or not using the T47 standard, which by the way, I like. I’m more concerned about the frames exploding like the one did while Logan VonBokel from Velonews was riding in Colorado in 2014. Thing literally exploded.

Funny how Velonews never mentioned that or showed pictures of that frame.

Sir Eddy
Sir Eddy
8 years ago

@parkcyc. Didn’t Logan have a crash in a crit? Consensus at the time was that no bike would have survived that crash from what I read. Another case of ignoring the facts in an attempt to besmirch a company maybe?

sillyboi
sillyboi
8 years ago

@parkcyc, yeah, that one got buried quick didn’t it? pic clearly showed no one or anything in front of Logan when the front end of the bike seemed to have just popped off

or maybe i am confusing with the one in Tulsa Tough last year.

parkcyc
parkcyc
8 years ago

Sillyboi,

Yeah, no pictures of it anywhere on the net. no mentions of it in Velo or other websites. And funny thing is is Logan is now handling their marketing/media for the company/firm he switched to earlier this year.

I saw the frame/bike personally in Velo’s office in June. It literally exploded. IN FIVE SECTIONS!!! It was crazy! All right where the kevlar was in the frame. right at the stopping points of the kevlar. The fork was dead perfect though. No damage to that.

parkcyc
parkcyc
8 years ago

FOUND IT!!!

It was in Texas. My bad. If you click the link, you can see the thing is in numerous pieces.

http://texasbikeracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/crash.jpg

Craziness.

parkcyc
parkcyc
8 years ago

Wait, my bad. It is on a page from some guy in Texas. But it was Tulsa Tough. Either way, my bad on the location of the race. but it’s interesting that nothing is mentioned about it anywhere.

bc
bc
8 years ago

T47 is the next evolution of BB386, which uses a standard length spindle(86mm) & Q factor, with a 30mm diameter. BB386 cranks can be used on threaded BSA shells, but the bearings of the BB become very small, increasing wear/likelihood of failure.

JCycleTech
JCycleTech
8 years ago

@bc That is incorrect. The T47 is currently based around a 68mm shell width meaning narrow q-factor 30mm spindle road cranks can be used and larger “internal” bearings. Additionally cups with external bearings can be run to accommodate 86mm spindle crank systems like Shimano and SRAM GXP without larger step-down adapters if desired. Also BSA 30 BB’s can be made with larger more reliable bearings.

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

@BC
How does the shell size have any bearing on the bearing size when the bearings are external on BSA shells?

Logan VonBokel
8 years ago

Okay guys,

Let’s bring it down a botch. Some not-true things getting thrown around here.

First: I work for Uncommon a communications who handles ALCHEMY Bicycles’ marketing. Not Argonaut. Alchemy makes as-you’d-expect durable frames, just like most brands in the market.

The Argonaut didn’t break in five places, but you’re close.

The bike broke, as I remember, because I ran into a down rider during the Friday night race at Tulsa Tough.

The Enve fork and wheels were in perfect shape. As was everything else on my bike and I had a concussion.

I don’t normally read the comments, but this was brought to my attention, and for the sake of being a good spokesperson for my clients, I wanted to let you keen fellows know that I don’t work for Argonaut.

parkcyc
parkcyc
8 years ago

Apology for the wrong “A” company. I got them mistaken.

As for the five break points, I thought I counted five. Might have been four. I know there were ones up by the headtube on the top and downtube. And then I thought I saw two more on the downtime near the bottom bracket and one near the seattube on the top tube.
Am i mistaken? If so, again, apology from me.

I will say though, a failure like that should never happen either while riding or even if you hit someone. The whole point of forks in the past was shock absorption and for them to fail and not the frame. Clearly, the frame was under built or had some other issues with it. Cause in my opinion it shouldn’t have happened.

How fast were you going? 20mph? 25? Even at those speeds, I would hope it would’ve survived. Your fork and wheels were solid and perfect. Which means the issue was with the frame.

Anyways, love the T47 idea.

Sir Eddy
Sir Eddy
8 years ago

Oh god Parkcyc. you have no clue what you’re talking about. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a god story!

Fork supposed to break before the frame? That’s truly a new one. I’ve seen plenty of frames broken during crits.

Ben Farver
8 years ago

Given the subject of these posts going to Logan’s broken frame from the Tulsa tough, I thought it prudent to chime in. Logan, thanks for speaking up as well.

Logan was involved in a serious crash at the Tulsa tough, running into a pile up at 28 mph. NO frame would survive a front impact at that speed. We got the frame back from Logan and did a careful inspection, and Logan had Braddy Kappius in Boulder inspect the frame. All parties agreed that given the crash, where and how the frame broke was not surprising, and not reflective of any deficiencies in the layup or construction.

My bikes are designed and engineered to hold up to the day to day rigors of aggressive riding. However, I make no claims as to how my frames will hold up in serious crash, as no builder would.

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