So I guess now it's official. I'm totally stoked to be sponsored by Argon 18. After hooking up with Element Cycling and Multisport this winter, moving to one of their bikes seemed like the obvious choice. I did some research and eventually decided that if I was switching from my beloved Specialized, I wanted to ride a Canadian Designed and Engineered bike. Argon 18 and the E-118 seemed like a great choice. Elise Gaudet-Mackenzie, co-owner of Element, made the call to Argon 18 and just like that I was in.
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| Element Storefront on a wintery day! |
So this past Saturday the family and I made the drive to Edmonton to complete the E-118 build with Cam Mackenzie, bike mechanic extraordinaire and co-owner of Element. The family spent the day with friends in St Albert, while I spent the day with Cam. (Aside: I'm aiming to spend at least one day a month at Element working alongside Cam to refine my mechanic skills and lend a helping hand. It's a great way to meet some Edmonton Triathletes and probably more importantly give back to Element.)
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| Cam and I after completing the build! |
So withour further delay, here is my new beautiful stealth steed.
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| The Argon 18 E-118 ready for its first race...well maybe it still needs a few finishing touches! Wheels HED Jet 6 and HED Jet Disc. Saddle is a Specialized Toupe though I'm going to give the Cobb SHC a try in a couple weeks. |
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| Rotor Cinqo Quarq Powermeter w/ 54/39 Q-rings and SRAM Red FD |
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| SRAM Red RD |
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| E-118 Integrated Aerobars w/ TRP brake levers (with brake tension adjusters), SRAM R2C Shifters and of course a Garmin Edge 500. |
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A big plus to Argon 18 for getting TRP to manufacture a brake lever with integrated brake tension adjustment. This is a huge plus as it allows quick and easy adjustment of the brake tension. A nice touch on the brake lever - the cable tension adjuster is anodized red. Another nice feature on this year's Argon 18 aerobar is that you can actually route all the cables internally (only exception is the front brake). If you are only planning to race local (or never travel by air) then routing cables internally is awesome. I've opted to route the cables out of the frame and into the aerobars so that I have sufficient cable slack to remove the aerobars for transport. To route the cables internally, the cables actually come through the frame directly into the stem and then into the aerobars - it's a well thought out system.
Before leaving the shop, Cam weighed the bike: 17.8lbs. Not bad for a triathlon bike. Definitely a tad lighter than the Shiv was.
And finally, the first ride of the E-118 today on the Computrainer. I'm loving it. Fit probably still needs to be dialled in a bit, but I think I'm in the window.
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| The E-118 madden voyage on the Computrainer. |
A huge thanks to Argon 18 and Cam and Elise at Element for setting up the whole deal.
