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TECH NEWS

Tour Tech 2017: Fabio Aru’s stage 5 winning Argon 18 Gallium Pro

Argon 18 launches lightest ever bike, and Fabio Aru gets custom painted one to race the Tour de France

Astana’s Fabio Aru has high hopes for a strong ride in this year’s Tour de France, and here’s a look at the brand new, and fully customised, Argon 18 Gallium Pro he’ll be racing. And he's just ridden it to victory on stage 5 of the race in the first big shakeup for the general classification battle.

The Astana team switched from Specialized to Argon 18 this year (because Argon 18 were replaced by Spesh at the Bora team at the end of last season with the signing of Peter Sagan). It marks the first time the Canadian bike brand has been in the WorldTour, the top league in professional cycling. 

The company and team have pulled out all the stops in producing what we reckon is one of the nicest looking bikes in the peloton. It’s also a brand new bike, the latest in a long line of Gallium Pro models. It was unveiled right before the Tour de France, we actually shot this video moments after the mechanic had built the bike and before the presentation, so we didn't have all the salient details to hand. 

Tour de France 2017 Fabio Aru Argon 18 - 1.jpg

We do now though, so we can tell you Argon 18 has developed the new bike to be lighter and stiffer - but you probably already guessed that - two of the four pillars of current road bike design. The new frame weighs a claimed 794g for a size medium, ensuring it joins the sub-800g club with the likes of Cervelo, Cannondale and Specialized. The fork is lighter as well, but also tuned to provide more front-end compliance for ironing out rough French roads.

“Our new Gallium Pro 2018 is lighter, stiffer and more precise downhill. Our R&D team succeeded to push the limits and fine-tune the balance of this bike. First two races, first two wins. We cannot ask for better results and are proud to have the Astana Pro Team take to the Tour de France on this new model,” said Gervais Rioux, Founder and CEO, Argon 18.

He is, of course, referring to Jakob Fulsang’s surprise victory in the Criterium du Dauphine, the traditional build up event to the Tour. “I tried the new bike just before the first stage of the Criterium du Dauphine and I immediately I realised, I want to continue on this bike. I really liked the new bike and its characteristics. It is stiffer and still has a very good balance for the downhill. In the same time you feel really comfortable on it and can ride it really good,” praised Fulsang. 

Tour de France 2017 Fabio Aru Argon 18 - 16.jpg

Every detail of the Gallium Pro has been revised. The carbon layup has been improved to bring about that reduction in weight, as well as increasing the stiffness. Little details like the derailleur hanger with a four-point rivet attachment, integrated chainsuck protector, revised cable routing and increased tyre clearance for up to 28mm rubber. There’s now a 27.2mm seatpost a common move on top-end race bikes to provide a little extra deflection at the saddle. 

Lots of changes then, but the new Gallium Pro continues to use the novel 3D System of interchangeable head tube spacers to easily adjust the stack height of the bike, without resorting to an ugly stack of spacers.

Tour de France 2017 Fabio Aru Argon 18 - 4.jpg

While most of the Astana team get a regular paint job, Italian national champion Fabio Aru’s bike has been custom painted to celebrate his  Sardinia heritage. The red looks glorious in real life and the mirrored decals are a very smart touch. The red also matches the red of his national champion's jersey, having clinched his home national championship before the Tour.

Tour de France 2017 Fabio Aru Argon 18 - 7.jpg

The bike is built up with previous generation Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 shifters and mechs, but the latest generation brake calipers, which is a bit odd, and an FSA K-Force chainset with Power2Max power meter. FSA also supplies the seatpost, handlebar and stem, while Prologo supplies the customised saddle. Finally, the wheels are from Corima, a rare sight at best, but super lightweight with very few spokes. 

It’s fair to say Argon 18 does fly under the radar a bit, which is a shame as we’ve been impressed with the bikes we’ve ridden over the years. Here’s hoping WorldTour team sponsorship ups their presence a little.

More tech from the Tour right here.

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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13 comments

Avatar
1961BikiE | 7 years ago
1 like

I had to admit I was almost doing double takes when he was put front. The tube profiles are almost traditional and I honestly kept wondering what bike it was and almost if it was steel. Just looked so different to the bikes of the rest of the peloton.

Avatar
RobD | 7 years ago
0 likes

Lovely looking finish on that, and nice that they kept it pretty simple, it certainly stood out in the sunshine on the stage yesterday.

I hope they don't become too popular, they're one I'm considering as my next bike and like the slightly alternative nature of the brand.

Avatar
Toast | 7 years ago
0 likes

Think I've seen that justified as giving the saddle some flex forward/downward when you're right down over the bars..?

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therevokid | 7 years ago
0 likes

nice. I like that a lot. odd use of a "layback" post and then slam the saddle forward !!

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Toast | 7 years ago
1 like

Agreed about the main site; it would be nice if they kept the headlines off the Facebook feed though.

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Pifko | 7 years ago
2 likes

Fancy that, a road cycling website containing details of the winner of today's stage in the worlds' most widely watched road cycling race?

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IanW1968 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Simon I am cut to the bone by your comments!!!

I have been up north all day helping orphan children and baby robins when  on the way home I stopped breifly in Peterborough service for a vegan Mac. 

Whilst making space for the meal I clicked on road cc expecting the usual stuff  about white Audis causing carnage but no!! The headline on the top story gave the tdf game away!!

 

It s just not cricket!!!

 

Avatar
IanW1968 | 7 years ago
2 likes

Simon I am cut to the bone by your comments!!!

I have been up north all day helping orphan children and baby robins when  on the way home I stopped breifly in Peterborough service for a vegan Mac. 

Whilst making space for the meal I clicked on road cc expecting the usual stuff  about white Audis causing carnage but no!! The headline on the top story gave the tdf game away!!

 

It s just not cricket!!!

 

Avatar
reliablemeatloaf | 7 years ago
0 likes

"It’s fair to say Argon 18 does fly under the radar a bit..."

I've noticed that, they are often left out of tech reviews, or lists of recommended bikes.

I have a Gallium, and I love it, that bike just seems to want to jump forward, whether on a hill, into a headwind, when I am tired, or all three combined!

Maybe now they will get more attention.
 

Avatar
Simontuck | 7 years ago
7 likes

Oh Boo Hoo. No time to watch the TDF but enough time to get on the internet and go to cycling websites that have a specific task of getting news and race results up as soon as possible

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IanW1968 | 7 years ago
3 likes

Yeah nice bike and the headline means I no longer need to watch todays tour action when I get home. 

Thanks

Avatar
madcarew replied to IanW1968 | 7 years ago
1 like

IanW1968 wrote:

Yeah nice bike and the headline means I no longer need to watch todays tour action when I get home. 

Thanks

It only requires a modicum of intelligence to realise that if you browse cycling websites you are almost certain to come across a 'spoiler' for that day's results at some point. It really is quite  simple; rather than everyone else and every website to modify their behaviour.  altering their reporting styles, advertiser commitments etc, how about you simply exercise that modicum of intelligence, modify your behaviour,  and don't go on a cycling website until you've watched the race? Also I suggest you keep your twitter feed, facebook feed, radio and television turned off too. 

 

Edit:/ Oh. Just read all the comments... starting to sense some irony...

Avatar
handlebarcam | 7 years ago
0 likes

That just might be the prettiest bike in the peloton. But think how much better it would look with gleaming, chrome-like shifters, brakes and cranks.

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