{"id":1942534,"date":"2026-05-18T20:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1942534"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:55:13","slug":"48-hours-with-argonaut-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1942534","title":{"rendered":"48 Hours with Argonaut Cycles"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Argonaut_inline_1-2.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Brian Higgins<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 18, 2026 05:55PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Cruising along scenic roads beneath the tall pines surrounding Bend, Oregon, is an experience any cyclist will appreciate. Whether you\u2019re climbing into the sky on mountain passes or escaping deep into the forest, riding here evokes a special kind of freedom that\u2019s at the heart of cycling. It\u2019s a feeling<\/i>.<\/p>\n

48 Hours with Argonaut Cycles in Bend, Oregon.<\/span> (Photo: Tory Powers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Argonaut Cycles, based in Bend, is on a mission to give that feeling to its customers, with road and gravel bikes engineered to create a completely unique riding experience for each person. \u201cI think there\u2019s this moment when they\u2019re cycling where everything kind of falls away,\u201d says Ryan Taylor, Director of Sales and Marketing at Argonaut. \u201cIt\u2019s this kind of magical moment that feels really close to what it would feel like to fly. With Argonaut, we\u2019ve found technological ways to help people experience that more often.\u201dIt all happens in Bend, where Argonaut manufactures no more than 200 bicycles each year. We recently spent 48 hours at the Argonaut facility to get a glimpse at this commitment to craft and witness these custom bikes in action on the roads and trails of the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

What Makes This Carbon Special<\/h2>\n

When Ben Farver founded Argonaut in 2007, he originally worked with steel. Those early bikes shared a commonality with the Argonauts of today\u2014they looked great. But aesthetic was the main focus, and Farver eventually grew disillusioned with the process of chasing form over function. \u201cI wanted to make a bike where I could say that this bike rides better, it\u2019s made better, it is<\/i> better than anything you could get off the shelf, and that just didn\u2019t feel like it was fully possible with steel,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Argonaut makes completely custom gravel and road bikes.<\/span> (Photo: Tory Powers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So Farver turned to carbon. \u201cCarbon provided an opportunity to make a bike that rode wholly different and better than the steel bikes I was making,\u201d Farver says. But he didn\u2019t just upgrade the material. Argonaut developed a special manufacturing process that gets maximum benefit from carbon and ensures consistency of quality for every bike leaving its doors.<\/p>\n

Argonaut achieves that through the brand\u2019s patented High Pressure Silicone Molding process, which lays carbon over a rigid silicone mandrel rather than an inflatable bladder, which is the standard for many in the industry. This unique molding process\u2014done by hand in Bend\u2014is designed to ensure uniform pressure throughout the cure process, resulting in cleaner fiber consolidation and no voids between layers.<\/p>\n

The rest of the building process aims to deliver that same level of care. From design to assembly, each bike is built entirely in house. That means that every person who touches the frame understands the process and their role within it so they can build the best product for the person who matters: you.<\/p>\n

To make custom bikes, Argonaut also implements custom carbon.<\/span> (Photo: Tory Powers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Custom Fit<\/h2>\n

Everything follows fit. To determine a customer\u2019s unique fit, Farver and team start by identifying a rider\u2019s ideal contact points on the bike. They use those details to design the geometry underneath those touchpoints, aiming for maximum power output, pedaling efficiency, and comfort.<\/p>\n

When customers begin building a bike with Argonaut, they have several ways to get their fit. They can use one of Argonaut\u2019s worldwide authorized fit specialists, or if needed, use contact point data from their current bike. But the best way to get fit for an Argonaut bike is in person, in Bend. Customers are invited to come do their fitting face-to-face, where they can see the process in action and use Argonaut\u2019s Guru Dynamic Fit Machine to dial in the details.<\/p>\n

Each Argonaut bike is specifically tailored towards each rider.<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Tory Powers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bikes are available with both fully- and semi-custom frames, built around the basic platforms of the RM3 road bike and GR3 gravel bike. There\u2019s also the hyper-limited Supernaut series, a collection of unique bikes built with artists, designers, and engineers to be a truly one-of-one ride. Getting a Supernaut is like going to a world-class restaurant and letting the chef make all the decisions: Supernaut customers (of which there are only a handful per year) step back and trust the vision of Argonaut\u2019s builders and collaborators.<\/p>\n

Built in Bend<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine a better place to test the Argonaut vision than the endless network of roads outside Argonaut\u2019s doors, with forest roads and scenic byways branching off in all directions. \u201cBend is a great place to test product. We have a really wide variety of riding here,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cLiterally two minutes from here, we can be on dirt and not see pavement for hundreds of miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argonaut uses their homebase of Bend, Oregon as a proving ground for their bikes.<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Tory Powers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plenty of companies \u201ctest product,\u201d but few get to do it quite like this, with world-class road and gravel riding outside their door and a bike built with quality in mind at every turn. \u201cI truly believe the bike has helped me to be a better rider,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cThat feeling of having the bike really work with you\u2014you really look forward to the next time you get to ride it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re truly a part of the process of building your bike. \u201cOur customers have a real emotional connection with their bike,\u201d Farver says.<\/p>\n

When your bike is in tune with you, when it responds to the effort you\u2019re putting in, it becomes natural to follow new roads to places you didn\u2019t think you were capable of going. Wherever you ride.<\/p>\n

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Founded in 2007 by Ben Farver, Argonaut Cycles designs and manufactures the world\u2019s best custom carbon bicycles in Bend, OR, U.S.A. Argonaut makes purpose-built bikes to heighten the riding experience. Leading the industry with their patented HPSM (High Pressure Silicone Molding) manufacturing process, Argonaut is redefining ride quality and performance of carbon bikes, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the pursuit of perfection. Argonaut bicycles are available worldwide at argonautcycles.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brian Higgins<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated May 18, 2026 05:55PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Argonaut_inline_1-2.jpg”] Brian Higgins Updated May 18, 2026 05:55PM Cruising along scenic roads beneath the tall pines surrounding Bend, Oregon, is an experience any cyclist will appreciate. Whether you\u2019re climbing into the sky on mountain passes or escaping deep into the forest, riding here evokes a special kind of freedom that\u2019s at the heart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1942534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1942534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1942534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1942534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1942534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}