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TECH NEWS

Bora-Argon 18 reveal 2015 team bikes

First glimpse at the newest bikes to join the professional peloton in 2015

We reported earlier this year that Canadian bike brand Argon 18 would be joining forces with German kitchen maker Bora to become the new title sponsors of the Netapp-Endura team for 2015, and today Argon 18 have revealed the team bikes ready for the first team training camp.

Montreal-based bicycle manufacturer Argon 18 have clinched a three-year deal to sponsor the team, which marks their first time at the top level of the sport. The current Netapp-Endura outfit are Pro Continental status, but they were given a wildcard to ride the 2014 Tour de France, and given the way the team performed there’s every reason to suggest they might just get the chance again next year. 

The German professional team will have three bikes to choose from, the all-round Gallium Pro (above), Nitrogen aero bike, and the E-118 time trial bike. The Gallium Pro will be the mainstay of the team, it's the company’s lightest offering with a claimed frame weight of just 790g. I rode the previous Gallium Pro and was hugely impressed with the blend of speed, stiffness and comfort, and if the new lighter version is the improvement it promises to be, it certainly has the credentials required of it to perform at the top level. We'll hopefully get one in for review next year.

Argon 18’s strong brand identity is clearly evident in the paint job, in fact they don’t look hugely different from the Argon 18 bikes you can currently buy. There’s the predominantly black colour scheme with red panels and the distinctive white logo on the seat tube and white decals on the down tube.

For components the team will be riding Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets with power2max power meters and FSA K-Force Light chainsets. They stick with the FSA theme for the SL-K brake callipers and K-Force Carbon stem, handlebar, headset and seatpost. Wheels also come from FSA, albeit their Vision brand, with the Metron 40 tubular carbon wheels that the Cannondale Pro Cycling team, and Peter Sagan, used for the last couple of seasons. Tyres will be Vittoria Corsa CX 25mm and saddles are from Prologo.

The other bike the team will be able to call on is the Nitrogen. This is their recently introduced aero bike, and draws on their expertise at developing time trial bikes, with aero shaped tubes, the front mini V-brake mounted behind the fork and the rear brake flush with the seatstays, and all cables routed internally. The seat tube is aero shaped and there’s an aero seatpost as well.

For time trials they’ll swap onto the E-118 Next, their flagship time trial bike.

So that's the bikes taken care of, now we just need to wait until the team strip is revealed, which should be soon.

More about the bikes over at www.argon18bike.com

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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9 comments

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Nzlucas | 9 years ago
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They should have just shot them on black background and save someone a load of work

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TheoWebb | 9 years ago
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What are those shifters?

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domd replied to TheoWebb | 9 years ago
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they look a bit like the old dura ace di2 shifters to me

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David Arthur @d... | 9 years ago
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As far as I can tell, these are computer generated graphics of the new bikes

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ajmarshal1 replied to David Arthur @davearthur | 9 years ago
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David Arthur wrote:

As far as I can tell, these are computer generated graphics of the new bikes

Looks more to me that someone is just really bad at photoshopping out backgrounds.

Avatar
Metjas replied to ajmarshal1 | 9 years ago
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ajmarshal1 wrote:
David Arthur wrote:

As far as I can tell, these are computer generated graphics of the new bikes

Looks more to me that someone is just really bad at photoshopping out backgrounds.

that would certainly explain the discrepancy between Metron 55 in the pic and 40 in the article, and I am wearing my new spectacles for the first day!

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othello | 9 years ago
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Is that a medium/long cage Di2 mech? I seemed to have missed that was available.

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Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
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that crankset  31

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s_lim replied to Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
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Scoob_84 wrote:

that crankset  31

I like it, it looks like something from Battlestar Galactica

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