The Radavist

When Ben Farver from Argonaut Cycles decided he was going to make the switch from building custom steel bikes to custom, made in the USA carbon fiber frames, he needed to find some local experts. The team at Innovative Composite Engineering, or ICE, were located just over the river in White Salmon, Washington state. Their expertise lies in everything from SUP poles to products for the aerospace industry. A few phone calls later and they began to meet to discuss a new, proprietary system for manufacturing custom carbon fiber bicycle frames.

ICE and Ben began to collaborate. They both were motivated to develop the frame using the best and most advanced molding technology, and to bring something new to the industry. They both pushed each other to do this without compromise or cutting corners, deciding on a few key points: There would be no vacuum forming, no tube to tube carbon lug bonding and no real hand finishing needed. The process would be streamlined, efficient and most importantly, customizable. While I can’t show you the juicy details, which I can assure you are juicy, I can show you snippets of the Argonaut Cycles process.

It begins with a roll of carbon, which is then cut out based on digital CAD templates on a large cutting bed. Each piece is based on the individual parts’ dimensions. From there, the carbon is inserted into aluminum molds, around a bladder where the resin layup occurs. Then, these aluminum molds are heated, allowing the resin to cure. This is repeated until all the parts are finished. When it’s all said and done, the frame is ready for assemblage.

Shot at ICE, these photos lay out the process used in manufacturing a 100% made in the USA carbon bicycle frame, like my Argonaut Cycles road.

EDIT: see a reply from Argonaut below that answers many questions everyone seems to have…

Every new bike needs a maiden voyage and last Saturday, that’s what we intended on doing. Ben from Argonaut, Billy and I headed out to Estacada, Oregon for some playtime in Mt. Hood National Forest. I had no idea what to expect other than “we’ll be climbing immediately. And that we did. Before reaching the ranger station at mile 25, we were in a good place. Billy’s sidewall blew out, but a simple dollar bill boot fixed that. Aside from the blow out, mechanical systems were good to go. For the time being.

Around mile 48, I noticed Ben and Billy pulled over immediately (I tend to be at the back a lot on 5-8% grade climbs up mountains). In all his crazy torque, Billy popped a spoke on his drive side, rendering his wheel a wobbly mess. I really wanted to finish the projected 120 mile loop but “no man left behind” is a more pressing mantra. At that point, it was snowing, the roads were wet and we were freezing as we descended at a whopping 14mph, awaiting the imminent threat of an exploded wheel. But alas, we made it to the ranger station, where we left Billy to be picked up by car as Ben and I trudged onward.

In the end, 75 miles and 5,200′ of climbing ain’t bad. Truth be told, it was too beautiful up there to make it a hammer fest, so I’m glad a mechanical merited some time off the bike for photos. We ended up at the Safari Club, a vegan’s nightmare. Why? See for yourself in the gallery. This is one of my favorite Recent Roll posts of all time.

Camera: Yashica T4 with Neopan 400 black and white.

I’ve been trying to type out a few introductory sentences for this bike for the past few minutes and honestly, I have no idea where to begin. So let’s start out by me saying that it is by no means the first carbon fiber bike I have been offered but it was the first that had a compelling story attached with it, something I’m always intrigued by and will ultimately make for a better piece of journalism.

For the past year or so, I’ve been watching Ben at Argonaut Cycles reinvent his modus operandi. He made the shift from building steel bikes to developing a new fabrication system with a local carbon manufacturer. Unlike anything else currently being manufactured domestically, or overseas, the new face of Argonaut is focused on the future of bicycle design. But that’s not to say that Argonaut’s steel past had been cast aside.

Before he even began to sketch out his design, he met with the carbon engineers, who reverse-engineered some of his favorite steel tubesets, and improved upon their weaknesses. Ben wanted his bikes to have the same ride characteristics of his steel bikes, just more technologically advanced. He came to loosely call this “steel 2.0” but you should take that with a grain of salt because let’s face it, carbon fiber is not steel.

This bike is however a by-product of domestic engineering and fabrication. The carbon weave is from the States. It’s cut to shape, moulded by a proprietary process, assembled and finished all within an hour drive from Portland. The process used produces very little waste. There’s no hodgepodge assemblage, no messy resin and it’s 100% custom. Basically, it’s a streamlined process that utilizes technologies that allow each frame to be engineered to a customer’s specific needs.

That’s what had me intrigued in Argonaut and so I agreed to come on board. Soon, I started to hear the echos of “steel is real” in the back of my head, however. I knew my Bishop is as perfect as a steel bike could be. The geometry is dialed and I’ve never ridden anything like it. So I approached Ben with the idea to make the exact same bicycle, just with his new carbon manufacturing process.

Dimensions, trail, geometry, were all the same, just the profile changed a bit to a racier silhouette. Even the tube’s proprietary layup were influenced by the same steel that my Bishop is built from. Bottom line is, I wanted to be able to subjectively compare the two materials.

After I filled out my ride journal, had numerous talks with Ben and designed the paint, the bike was done. Last week, I arrived in Portland and immediately got to check it out. First thing I noticed was how much of a stellar job Keith Anderson did on the paint. The build wasn’t bad either! Rotor cranks, SRAM Red group, ENVE tapered fork, ENVE bars, Thomson stem, Fizik Kurve saddle, Chris King hubs to H+Son Archetype rims (built by none other than Sugar Wheel Works), Chris King PF30 ceramic BB and that special I8 Chris King headset. It was a dream build.

But what about the ride? The first day, we did a nice 25 mile ride up Saltzman, then Saturday, we headed out towards Mt. Hood for 75 miles (then Billy broke a spoke and we had to call it quits). My initial reaction is very optimistic. The ride is what I can only call “light and responsive”. It handles like my Bishop but even better. Descents are faster and it climbs with little or no qualms. There’s no jarring feel when I hit rough terrain. Everything feels dampened and smooth.

My previous experiences with carbon rental bikes like Cervelo, Specialized and other brands were always harsh. The bikes were stiff and I didn’t enjoy the ride. I’m not a racer, I don’t need a bike engineered to race. I need a bike that rides how I want it to, when I want it to and that’s what Argonaut produced for me. It really is like steel 2.0… So what about my Bishop? There’s nothing on this planet that would make me stop riding it. That’s a fact. Steel is still, real but this new experience has been loads of fun. As for the bike itself, it’s very easy on the eyes.

The bike weighs 15.5 lbs as seen here (minus bottles). With middle-grade LOOK pedals, 32h wheels and 28c tires, that’s not bad at all.

See more photos in the gallery!

In a world where a majority of carbon fiber bicycle manufacturing is overseas, it’s rare to see someone not only building frames Stateside, but approaching customization in an entirely different way. That’s what Ben from Argonaut Cycles is doing with his custom carbon fiber road bikes. Everything from the weave to the molds is proprietary and made here in the USA. I got to spend 111 miles next to (well behind) this bike and I gotta say, it’s drop dead gorgeous in motion. Which is probably why I had a hard time photographing the thing at a stand still.

If you’re at the Dirt Demo today at Interbike, you can see this baby in person. If you can’t make it out, check out more photos below.

Click on the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

I didn’t get to spend much time on the road bike while in Portland, but one of the two rides I did was with Ben from Argonaut Cycles, Kyle from Chris King, Souphorse and some fellas from the Jens Voigt Army who have been testing custom Argonaut Frames. We left from Portland and rode to Hood River. I borrowed Billy’s Raleigh Record Ace and we headed out towards Mt. Hood.

The route is arguably one of Oregon’s finest, hitting local favorites like Bull Run, Little Switzerland, and Lolo pass.

We concluded at a carbon fiber facility just north of Hood River, where Ben from Argonaut has been working on custom carbon frames. There’s more to this story developing, so sit tight, but for now, check out the photos below.