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Submitted by
Mike
a Weekend Warrior
from UK
Date Reviewed: February 11, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Anywhere you can ride | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$1700.00 | | Purchased At: | Ibike | | Strengths: | Geometry is relaxed and perfect for trail bashing, strong and light. Welds are superb and colours are fantastic. Mine is Rohloff specific in red/orange with glitter, total 1970's. Ibike service was fantastic. | | Weaknesses: | Cost | | Similar Products Used: | Trek & Specialised hardtails. Many FS bikes, currently riding Santa Cruz Nomad FS bike. | | Bike Setup: | Argon FR large size (red/orange colour with glitter, stunning!)Rohloff specific cable routing, Fox Vanilla fork, Mavic 717 rims, Hope mono M4 brakes, big wide handlebars. | | Bottom Line: | Fantastic bike that has relegated my FS to very limited use. Very rigid frame transfers every tarmac bump into the legs; however it really comes alive on singletrack where the sheer fun of the thing is awesome. Imparts incredible confidence on any type of singletrack. I love it.
I bought this bike as a practical low maintenance UK winter bike and prior to purchase thought long and hard as to what I wanted: hardtail, relaxed head tube geometry, Rohloff capable. The Argon FR ticked all the boxes and the guys at iBike were great to deal with.
The geometry is perfect for me, relaxed at the front but steep at the seatpost it really sits you in the bike and makes thrashing it an effortless pleasure. Point it at technical ground, ride it light and it just goes over everything. Steering is fantastic as soon as you point it down. As a singletrack and play bike it is superb, I have also ridden 30 milers on it but long distance is not its speciality.
The Rohloff is superb, changing gear instantly even submerged in sticky gloopy mud. Picking the bike up the weight of the Rohloff is concentrated at the rear but when riding it doesn't feel any different to a regular geared bike. Cleaning is a breeze, a quick wash from the hozepipe and oil it.
All in all I not only have a great practical solution to UK winter riding but the Argon FR is just great fun. Highly recommended. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
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