(gentle wooshing)
- I'm here with a bike,
which I am very, very excited to get a look at.
When I originally saw some photos of this bike online,
I thought to myself, John,
you need to get a closer look at it.
So, here I am with the Argon 18 Gallium Pro
belonging to Team Astana rider, Jakob Fuglsang.
Why's it so special?
Well, I'm going to tell you all about it.
(upbeat techno music)
Why is this bike so special, then?
Well, for a start, let's just look
at the paintwork on the frame.
So, a couple of the riders, so far this year,
have actually got custom-painted bikes
and they've been done by a company
pretty local to GCN, actually,
a company called Colourburn Studios.
This time, though, Fuglsang, he gets his chance
to have a bike painted up for him.
So, if you look at it, it's got, kind of like,
this moon-dusty effect to it, with a red fade,
and of course using that famous Astana colour
there on the Argon 18 logos.
Now, I can't actually talk about
how much I love this paint job
because we'll be going on about it forever and ever,
but a couple of really neat little bits on it...
Basically, on the top tube here you can see
you've got half his face and half kind of a robot face.
Now, I'm not very good with
comic books or anything like that,
but I have been led to believe
that that's a character from one of those.
And then here then on the actual down tube, too,
you've got the logo of Jakob Fuglsang,
and I think those things are just incredibly neat,
and if you're a pro bike rider,
how lucky or how cool is it to get something
as special as this?
The paintwork really does stand out
from all of the other standard bikes on the team.
Now, the size of the frame,
it comes in a size medium for Jakob Fuglsang.
Now, he stands 1.83 m, which is six feet tall in old money.
So, if you're looking to buy one,
at least you know roughly what size could fit you.
And then fitted to it is this FSA K-Force Light seat post
with 32 millimetres of setback for his saddle.
That saddle, a Prologo NDR carbon railed model,
which is one of those shorter-style saddles.
Which, traditionally, we started to see
introduced onto time trial bikes,
so our riders get slightly further forward on the saddle
without breaking any of the UCI's regulations or rules
related to actually where your saddle
can sit behind the bottom bracket.
So, yeah, they do tend to be quite favourable these days
with many riders actually in the bunch.
Moving to the front end of the bike.
As you can see, there is quite
a large spacer here underneath, what's effectively,
the bearing top cap cover.
Now, Argon 18 are pretty unique with this design,
and these spacers here, do come in different heights.
So, if you are gonna be raising your handlebars slightly,
well, you're not actually going lose anything,
in terms of stiffness and comfort, according to Argon 18.
Now, what stem do we have?
We've got an FSA OS-99, in 120 millimetres.
And then, we've got a pair of
FSA carbon fibre handlebars, too, in a 42 centimetre width.
What I really like about this,
is they've used a little bit of white paint
to basically indicate where the handlebar will sit.
Where it matches up with the stem, there.
So, if it does require any dismantling,
they know exactly the position
where it's going to be fitted.
And, then fitted onto these handlebars is a pair
of Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 Di2 brake stroke gear levers.
And, of course, these handlebars are wrapped
with some Prologo handlebar tape,
which has a nice, sticky, grippy feeling.
And then finishing off,
a little bit of a pro touch there,
just putting on some Prologo logos there
on the end of the handlebar.
And then on the front of the actual handlebar tape,
we've got FSA and their logos, too.
Just maximising that sponsorship opportunities
for the TV cameras.
Braking, well the callipers on this bike
are the Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 model,
and inside of the brake shoes
are some red, carbon-specific pads from Corima.
So, those Corima brake pads, naturally,
they are going to stop a pair of Corima 47 WS wheels.
Forty-seven?
Well, that's the depth of those wheels.
Now these hubs, inside of these Corima hoops,
are fitted with ceramic bearings,
and they do seem to roll for a very long time.
I must also give a little shout out
to these Corima quick-release levers.
They are really fancy looking.
And a nice little bit of carbon fibre inserts there, too.
I do like a cheeky bit of carbon.
The tyres, well these tubular tyres,
I've never actually seen a pair in the flesh.
These are from a company called Wolfpack, and, basically,
I can't give you anymore information on them,
other than, they're a pretty slick affair,
with a little bit of, kind of, a gritty feel
on the outside of the tread, on the centre of the tyre,
if that makes sense.
But, as of when we find out some more information,
I'm sure we will let you know on the GCN tech channel.
Well, let's talk about the gearing then, shall we?
Well, the derailleurs, they are
the Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 Di2 Electronic Max.
Instantly you will see, though,
this big old Ceramicspeed oversized pulley wheel system.
So, the idea behind that is it does, in fact,
reduce the effort required to pedal.
So, in effect, you are going to be
saving yourself a couple of watts.
How does it do that, then?
Well, you're not having such a tight bend on the chain,
so essentially freeing up the chain to do its job
a little bit easier.
As well as those pulley wheels actually having
ceramic bearings fitted, too.
So, as you can see, nothing has been left
to spare in the detailing there.
Now, I must just say actually,
that Ceramicspeed aren't actually a sponsor
of the Astana Team, so presumably,
Fuglsang, he's gonna have spent his pocket money
on one of these systems, as he's seen the benefits,
or heard about the benefits behind it.
And we have seen other riders this year
using the same system, so there we are.
There's a few riders on Astana,
obviously looking for a few marginal gains.
The cassette, 11-28 Shimano Dura-Ace 9100.
So, a pretty much standard cassette these days
with riders in the world tour.
Chainset, we've got ourselves an FSA K-Force Light,
and that is integrated with a
Power2Max power metre on there, too
Chainrings, well Fuglsang, he's opted for 53/39,
and then the pedals, he's got himself some
Look KEO Blade Carbon.
And they have got a 60 Newton metre blade
in there for the release tension.
The crank length, well, we're looking at 172.5 millimetres.
What about the measurements, then?
Well, from the tip of the saddle,
to the centre of the bottom bracket is 76 centimetres,
and then from the tip of the saddle
to the centre of the handlebars, 61.5 centimetres reach.
That's probably the longest reach
I've seen so far on a pro bike.
Could well be aided by the fact that
he does in fact have a short saddle.
And the drop actually from the saddle
to the handlebars is in fact 11 centimetres.
On the handlebars, we've got ourselves
a K-Edge CNC machined mount there for the actual GPS device.
And then the Di2 cable, it's spirally bound
with some really neat looking bit of kit, here.
And that's actually onto the rear brake cable
before it enters the top tube.
We've got the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 junction box,
which is mounted onto the stem.
A pair of Tacx carbon fibre bottle cages,
and then finally, one of the real pro touches to any bike,
is the race number holder here,
which is fitted where the rear brake calliper fits
onto the bridge across the frame, there.
Tucked away, underneath the non-drive side chainstay here,
is just a little bit of grip tape.
What's that for?
Well, that is to make sure that the race transponder
doesn't come loose or wobble around, anything like that,
because even with the greatest strength or force
in the world pulling on some zip ties,
they still can move around a little bit.
So, by using that little bit of grip tape
it's going to stay nice and in place.
And the weight of the bike,
it comes in at just over 7 kilogrammes,
which is pretty light for...
Well, it's not been tricked-out with all of the
super-lightest components there are out there.
Now, we're gonna have a listen to the freehub sound check.
I've got a feeling that this drivetrain
is gonna move pretty freely, though,
because there's not a lot of friction
between the ceramic bearings on all of these components.
Anyway, let's have a listen to that freehub.
(light spinning)
Right, I do hope you've enjoyed
this look at the Argon 18 Gallium Pro,
belonging to Jakob Fuglsang of Team Astana.
What I want to know, though, are you a fan
of custom paint, or, well, are you not?
Should they all get the same bike?
As ever, let me know down there in the comments.
Now, do remember, as well, to like and share
this video with your friends, too.
Make sure you give me a big ol' thumbs up,
after all, it's a pretty cool bike.
As ever, as well, remember to check in at the GCN Shop at
shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com
where we have a whole heap of goodies for you,
both riding apparel, as well as casual apparel,
and not to mention those accessories and gadgets, too.
And now, for another great video,
this time another pro bike,
click just down here.