There was a lot to be excited about with Argonaut Cycles when we visited them at NAHBS. Aside from winning Best Layup of the show and being able to boast primary collaborator credits for the new T47 bottom bracket standard (in case you were wondering whom to blame), Argonaut has added in-house painting facilities allowing them to add another level of customization to their frame sets. And, lastly but not leastly, Argonaut debuted some new, attractive dropout system solutions for their road bikes in caliper and flat mount disc formats. See what the men from Bend (Oregon) have been cooking after the jump…
Despite new paint facilities, founder Ben Farver (whom we interviewed in our Road to NAHBS pre-show coverage) says that paint jobs are unlikely to get too crazy. The bikes shown at the show were each painted with simple blocking accents on the inside of stays and fork blades, that allowed the carbon to shine.
The flat mount disc model was mostly naked to give us a peek at that award-winning carbon layup.
The new dropout system was particularly impressive. Needing a new system that would serve both disc and rim brakes, Argonaut rethought the system so that it could extend its flexibility to both thru axles and quick releases as well. The result is a clever, cleaner, and more compact dropout solution.
The new setup features a mostly molded carbon, but also machined body (as opposed to the previous iteration which featured a greater metallic component) with minimal aluminum inserts allowing for either thru-axle or quick release variations based on the individual bike. The minimal inserts also add durability to the hub interfaces, giving the dropouts more protection than a carbon-only interface.
