XXX road bike action from Giant, Scott, Argon 18, Stevens and Fuji

We spent last week in Germany at Eurobike, the world’s biggest bike expo, and here are some of the coolest-looking road bikes we saw.

We’ve limited this selection to road bikes with calliper brakes. We’ve already had a look at disc brake road bikes and we ran a story covering nine stylish Italian bikes too. 

Giant TCR Advanced SL 0

According to Giant, the newly updated TCR Advanced road racing range offers the best stiffness-to-weight performance in its class. Giant’s argument is that although something like the Scott Addict SL is a little lighter, the TCR Advanced SL wins when stiffness is added into the equation. 

We took the bike out for a First Ride a couple of months ago and were impressed by the frame’s efficiency and super-sharp cornering. 

www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/

Argon 18 Nitrogen Pro

We first spotted Argon 18’s Nitrogen Pro being raced by the German Bora-Argon 18 team in this year’s Tour de France. It’s an improved version of the existing Nitrogen, made from a lighter carbon composite to shed 130g. The official frame weight is 833g. That’s for a medium frame with paint and clearcoat. The frame hardware adds 52g. 

The other key feature is the new AHB5000 aero handlebar that will also be available aftermarket for use on other road bikes. Argon 18 says that the bar offers up to 30% drag savings over a standard round bar.

www.argon18bike.com
 

Scott Foil

Scott recently updated its Foil aero road bike with a new frame that it claims is lighter, stiffer, more compliant and more aerodynamically efficient than before – naturally!

One of the key changes is a redeveloped head tube because that can be a large source of drag. Scott has also smoothed the transition area between the fork crown and the frame by lowering the down tube around the rear of the fork.

The seatstays are lowered and meet the seat tube much further down than previously. Scott says this improves airflow in this area.

www.scott-sports.com

Fuji SL 1.5

Fuji has recently launched its new SL with a claimed frameset weight of just 695g, 237g lighter than the Altamira it replaces.

How has Fuji achieved this dramatic weight loss? It has halved the number of bonded joints, from eight down to four. Other details like injection moulded cable stops (mechanical and Di2 compatible) also contribute to the weight saving.

Fuji has incorporated reinforcing ribs which run the length of the fork blades for added stiffness.

The new bike is debuting at the Vuelta a España with the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team.

Look out for a First Ride on road.cc soon.
www.fujibikes.com

Stevens Arcalis

Stevens first showed the Arcalis at Eurobike last year but we’ve never covered it on road.cc before, so here it is.
The Arcalis’ frame is designed to be aerodynamically efficient with tube profiles shaped to reduce drag, an integrated fork crown, and seatstays that join the seat tube low, reducing the frontal area.

The aero seatpost is cutaway towards the top to become much slimmer, and the gap that’s left is filled with an elastomer shock absorber. The idea, of course, is to add comfort.

The brakes are direct mount, the rear one tucked away behind the bottom bracket.
www.stevensbikes.de