Argonaut RM3 review: Emotions crafted in carbon fiber

Ben Farver founded Argonaut Cycles in 2007. Initially, he worked exclusively with steel because – like so many others – he was drawn to the ferrous material’s unique ride quality: stiff yet springy, firm yet compliant. Nevertheless, it only took until three years before he realized he could mimic much of steel’s emotive feedback in carbon fiber, which was not only much lighter, but also more tunable given its longer list of available variables like fiber type and lay-up schedules.

Unlike most carbon fiber creations that also offered custom geometry at the time, however, Farver eschewed common tube-to-tube construction in favor of a modular monocoque setup comprising nine separately molded parts: the head tube incorporated most of the top tube and the upper portion of the down tube; the upper half of the seat tube included stubs for the top tube and seatstays; the main portion of the down tube was molded together with the bottom bracket shell and lower portion of the seat tube, and included stubs for the chainstays; each seatstay and chainstay was molded separately. The dropouts were also carbon fiber, using a pivoting two-piece design to accommodate various rear triangle configurations. 

Final assembly was done at Argonaut Cycles HQ in Bend, Oregon, but all of the parts were molded three hours north by Innovative Composite Engineering in White Salmon, near Portland.

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