Argon 18 Opinions?

rafletcher

I'm considering getting a frame to build up (or mYber have built up - with Miche / Campag) and one option is the Argon 18 Gallium or maybe if I'm feeling flush the Gallium pro. Anyone with experience of the brand?

ride_whenever

The 2014 gallium pro is awesome, super light and completely different to the old gallium pro (which is now the gallium)

Superb ride quality (taken the old pro for a decent test ride and ridden most of the tri bikes) some of them can be a bit fiddly to cable but the pro should be fine.

On the pro there are off the peg builds that are below 6.8kg. You can go mad light on them, and it's very similar (visually) to the R3 but without the snappy seatstays!!!

rafletcher

Thanks for that - quite an endorsement. And it looks good (to my eyes) too

giant_man

still got my 2003 Platinum, still good, no issues whatsoever

mattwood

My 2011 Krypton still does the business! Looks incredibly nice as well.

rafletcher

Well, I guess now is when the negative opinions arrive - as I've pulled the trigger on a 2014 Gallium Pro frameset, which I should have in a couple of weeks. Will be building it myself, but this time all new parts. Shifters and mechs will be mechanical Campag (Chorus or Record 11. Probably Campag brakes, possibly Miche. Assuming I can find a source, chainset and cassette will be Miche. The cassette is made up of individual sprockets, so you can build an11-32 if you wish (the guy who did my bike sizing did just that - and ran it with a Chorus 11 rear mech, for alpine climbing) They do a couple of 110mm BCD chainsets with rings available for both compact and standard double (which apparently Rotor are going to do, no more 130 BCD chainsets from them in the future). Wheels I'm undecided on as yet. Miche used to do a deep section alu rim set, but now it looks like full carbon only. Hmmm. It'll be clinchers though, whatever it is. Saddle is an S-Works Romin, post comes with the bike. Tyres initially will be some Ultremo's I have hanging up in the shed. Just got to decide on bars and stem. The latter can wait until after I've had a final bike fitting to fine tune dimensions, so it's a question of "full size" or compact bars. That one I'll have to think about.

Oh, and talking to the guy at Primera, he asked if I read "Cyclist" magazine - as he met a journo on Sunday test riding a Gallium Pro for a review in a future issue!

Calpol

rafletcher wrote:

Well, I guess now is when the negative opinions arrive - as I've pulled the trigger on a 2014 Gallium Pro frameset, which I should have in a couple of weeks. Will be building it myself, but this time all new parts. Shifters and mechs will be mechanical Campag (Chorus or Record 11. Probably Campag brakes, possibly Miche. Assuming I can find a source, chainset and cassette will be Miche. The cassette is made up of individual sprockets, so you can build an11-32 if you wish (the guy who did my bike sizing did just that - and ran it with a Chorus 11 rear mech, for alpine climbing) They do a couple of 110mm BCD chainsets with rings available for both compact and standard double (which apparently Rotor are going to do, no more 130 BCD chainsets from them in the future). Wheels I'm undecided on as yet. Miche used to do a deep section alu rim set, but now it looks like full carbon only. Hmmm. It'll be clinchers though, whatever it is. Saddle is an S-Works Romin, post comes with the bike. Tyres initially will be some Ultremo's I have hanging up in the shed. Just got to decide on bars and stem. The latter can wait until after I've had a final bike fitting to fine tune dimensions, so it's a question of "full size" or compact bars. That one I'll have to think about.

Oh, and talking to the guy at Primera, he asked if I read "Cyclist" magazine - as he met a journo on Sunday test riding a Gallium Pro for a review in a future issue!

It would be a shame to put Miche chainset on if the rest is Chorus. I picked up a Chorus compact crankset from Ebay for £90 and only had to replace the bearings (£20)

djhermer

Calpol wrote:

rafletcher wrote:

Well, I guess now is when the negative opinions arrive - as I've pulled the trigger on a 2014 Gallium Pro frameset, which I should have in a couple of weeks. Will be building it myself, but this time all new parts. Shifters and mechs will be mechanical Campag (Chorus or Record 11. Probably Campag brakes, possibly Miche. Assuming I can find a source, chainset and cassette will be Miche. The cassette is made up of individual sprockets, so you can build an11-32 if you wish (the guy who did my bike sizing did just that - and ran it with a Chorus 11 rear mech, for alpine climbing) They do a couple of 110mm BCD chainsets with rings available for both compact and standard double (which apparently Rotor are going to do, no more 130 BCD chainsets from them in the future). Wheels I'm undecided on as yet. Miche used to do a deep section alu rim set, but now it looks like full carbon only. Hmmm. It'll be clinchers though, whatever it is. Saddle is an S-Works Romin, post comes with the bike. Tyres initially will be some Ultremo's I have hanging up in the shed. Just got to decide on bars and stem. The latter can wait until after I've had a final bike fitting to fine tune dimensions, so it's a question of "full size" or compact bars. That one I'll have to think about.

Oh, and talking to the guy at Primera, he asked if I read "Cyclist" magazine - as he met a journo on Sunday test riding a Gallium Pro for a review in a future issue!

It would be a shame to put Miche chainset on if the rest is Chorus. I picked up a Chorus compact crankset from Ebay for £90 and only had to replace the bearings (£20)

....and in about 10 days' time i will have a Chorus chainset up for grabs (53/39). Exceptional condition. Let me know if you're interested and I'll PM you with photos and price. I'm away from tomorrow until Thurs 6th (riding in the sun in Lanzarote) but will be ready to get rid of if after that.

rafletcher

What I liked about the Miche chainset was the fact that it was basically a compact BCD, but they did both compact and full fat ring sizes to fit (as I believe do FSA). I'm not aware of a campag 39 or 52 ring with a 110 bcd (though I suppose I could fit the Miche or FSA rings to the Chorus compact. I need the option I'm afraid of the lower gearing for certin riding - though I heartily disliked a compact for my usual UK riding - the ratios don't suit my preferred cadences!

Grill

Rotor do 53, 52 and 38 in 110bcd (both Q and no-Q). Praxis do a 52/36 which is my preference. You could also get whatever size you need from Fiber-lyte.

rafletcher

Grill wrote:

Rotor do 53, 52 and 38 in 110bcd (both Q and no-Q). Praxis do a 52/36 which is my preference. You could also get whatever size you need from Fiber-lyte.

I didn't know about fiberlyte, a tad pricey maybe. Rotor non-Q seem worth a look thanks

Grill

Price you pay for carbon chain rings