Argonaut Paris-Roubaix Road Bike

A Classic for Every Day

By Scott Leonard

Western Colorado is laced with brilliant gravel roads that cross mesas, link river valleys and breach rugged passes. These rough roads are littered with steep climbs, fast descents, loose gravel, washboard and potholes.

Ironically, the template for an “ultimate” gravel mountain road bike that masters these surfaces doesn’t come from the mountains; rather it comes from the wind-swept plains of northern France where cyclists race on cobblestone paths—the famous pavé du nord. For the last 100 years, professional teams have been racing on special bikes for the famous and brutal one-day race, Paris-Roubaix. Roubaix bikes are designed to float over the 33 miles of pavé and ease the pain of the brutal 166 miles of this race, and others like it.

The basic principles of Roubaix bikes are increased vertical compliance, more stable handling and more tire clearance than a standard road race bike. The front triangle is strengthened to maintain lateral rigidity, while the fork and rear triangle are stretched out and “softened” to add the stability and compliance.

This is exactly the kind of bike I need for those Western Colorado roads.

My search led me to Ben Farver of Argonaut Custom Cycles at the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show in August 2009. Based in Portland, Ore., Argonaut Custom Cycles specializes in steel road bikes using lugs and fillet fabrication methods to build custom bikes, whether ’cross, track, road, commuter, touring or fixie.

“I am a product of the Portland framebuilder boom,” Farver explains. “I was fresh out of college, and I saw and was inspired by what guys like Sacha White, Tony Pereira, Joseph Ahearne and Ira Ryan were doing.” Several years later, and after winning Best in Show and Builder’s Choice awards at the 2008 Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show, Farver has evolved into a top caliber builder and a fillet brazing specialist.

During the design phase, Farver asked me insightful questions and gave clear explanations of what he needed to know and why. Before he made any drawings or picked any tubes, Farver was thinking of the same bike, both performance-wise and aesthetically, as I was.

While Farver went to work on determining the tube set and brake set options and finalizing the design of his new rear dropouts, I got a proper fit. Since I couldn’t go to Portland for a fit, Farver used his professional network to get references for Colorado-based fitters. The most highly recommended was Chris Jacobson at the Sports Garage in Boulder, Colo. Sports Garage is a Serotta dealer and Jacobson used to teach bike fitting for the Serotta International Cycling Institute.

The Serotta fit system begins with a detailed interview, body assessment and measuring process. Through a combination of video analysis, subjective questioning and information from a Size Cycle, which shows the shape of your pedal stroke, power output and output bias per leg, adjustments are made to the various fit parameters. The fit also includes trying several saddles and handlebars. All of the detailed information gathered from the fitting was neatly recorded in a worksheet and emailed to Farver, and I left with my new saddle and bars.

Jacobson determined that my hip flexors are stiff and, thus, I needed a particularly steep seat tube angle to achieve my optimal position. “The geometry has to do both with your physique and how the bike was going to be ridden. The top tube is relatively short as you’re all legs. The head tube angle and chainstay length are in realm of a typical road geometry but intended to be more on the stable side for loose gravel descents,” Farver explains.

Since the bike would be used on steep, rough descents that require a full grip on the drops and one-finger brake operation, I wanted something more powerful than road caliper brakes. I expected to end up with a cyclocross cantilever brake, but the custom build gave us the option to use a very cool brake set from Paul Component Engineering called the Racer Medium.

The Racer Medium is a center pull brake with short, stiff arms. The braze-on version, which is particularly compact and stiff, is perfect for a custom bike because the pivot boss position is specific to the Racer Medium and is incorporated into the frame design. The Paul brakes are machined 6061 aluminum art: simple, clean and elegant. The quality and execution of the construction is exquisite, and the brakes were easier to install and set up than the water bottle cages.

Once we were clearly aligned on the concept and important points—like the brakes—Farver formally designed the bike, drafted the specs for fabrication and decided on the tube set. “The intention of this build is to replicate a classic Paris-Roubaix style bike, which should feel lively and responsive on the road but forgiving enough to spend long hours on remote gravel roads,” Farver says.

For the frame, Farver used Columbus Life steel tubing. The front triangle uses a 36 mm oversized head tube, a 35 mm, 6/4/6 triple-butted down tube (.6 mm thick on the ends and .4 mm thick in the middle), a 28.6 mm top tube and an externally butted seat tube. It doesn’t stand out since the frame is so big, but the head and down tubes are fat by steel standards and give the frame significant torsional rigidity and bottom bracket stiffness. The vertical compliance and the stretched wheelbase are achieved by extending the trail of the fork, stretching out the rear triangle and strategically biasing chainstay and seatstay flex.

Farver explains this concept: “The chainstays are longer, 425 mm, and beefier than a normal road bike and paired with lighter seatstays, this adds vertical compliance without sacrificing lateral rigidity. The seat tube angle is steeper than normal, 75.5 degrees, to accommodate your lack of hip flexion, and the front end has a trail that stretches the wheelbase, adds compliance and inspires confidence when descending.”

The fork is uni-crown style with chromed tips and Breezer-style dropouts. The rear dropouts are a custom Argonaut design, machined out of a combination of 4142 alloy steel and 6/4 titanium.

The piece that is brazed into the stays, which the rear dropout bolts to, is a type of steel that increases in strength once brazed – the brazing heat gives its finish temper. The dropouts are titanium and bolt into position with three Torx head bolts. Farver included a horizontal set of dropouts as well to set the bike up as a singlespeed. This was the first bike he made with these new Argonaut dropouts.

Like many custom builders, Farver partners with Spectrum Powder Works almost exclusively. Spectrum painted the frame anthracite with a blue pearlescent clear coat. The logos and small paint details on the bike are wet paint to match a Lotus sports car color called isotope green. The stem, seat post clamp and frame pump are painted anthracite to match the frame. The frame and fork have a unique aesthetic; the look of the front and rear dropouts complements the smooth lines of the fillet-brazed junctions and uni-crown fork.

When you get a hand-built custom bike that you intend to use the rest of your life, it makes sense to build it with nice parts, so I did: Cane Creek 110 headset, Easton EA70 bar, Ritchey stem, Thomson seat post, Specialized Avatar saddle, Dura-Ace levers and drive train, the Paul brakes, DT Swiss R1600 training wheels and 25c Michelin training tires.

The operation of the group is flawless. The brakes lived up to the lofty performance promises: I can easily overwhelm the contact patch of a 25c width tire with one finger. In addition to exceptional torque, their modulation is subtle and precise, proving a perfect brake for rough, slippery descents.

The first time I rode the bike, got settled in and spinning, I felt like I was sitting on the Size Cycle—the fit is dead on. From the comfort, to the handling, to the position over the pedals, the ride was revelatory. The steep seat tube placed my hips in the right spot; the power delivery and pedal stroke shape feel awesome.

The bike feels exceptionally stable, predictable and smooth. The Argonaut is a great descender since it is essentially the road equivalent of a long-travel, cross-country bike. On my first fast gravel descent, the bike felt so planted that I came close to not leaving enough braking area for a tight corner. On my long, mixed-surface rides, which the bike is intended for, it rode perfectly.

The Roubaix style of bike is a practical choice for mountain bikers who use a road bike to train for marathon cross-country events and dice it out in club-level criteriums and time trials. The Roubaix style Argonaut could even be ’crossed in dry conditions since it has clearance for up to a 34c width tire.

With the Roubaix-style Argonaut, I can explore Colorado’s pavé in comfort and style and develop my own circuit of brutal classics. Ronde van Roaring Fork anyone?