Looking at Argons, 116 or 118.
Aside from the less than awesome brakes & the ugly routing of the front brake cable, any thoughts on either bike, positive or negative?
I’ve read the thread on the 116 vs the Tm02, which pretty much applies to me as well, but the price of the Argon framesets is pretty decent.
I prefer the 118, but if I’m understanding correctly, there are only two stack positions, either quite low or quite high, with nothing in between that 10cm move??
I’m quite happy with my E-118.
Not sure where you got the stack numbers from as that’s just turning the bars upside down. There are spacers that come with the bike that go under the pads/extensions and allow for up to 5.5 cm of extension that is adjustable in 1 cm increments (there is also a .5 cm spacer). So plenty of stack adjustment (watch the video on Argon’s site about the adjustable front end).
I’ve found the front end to be super adjustable, possibly to adjustable on the E-118 … but if you get a fit, you should be able to fine tune it to your liking for both power and aerodynamics.
As for the brakes … I’ve found them plenty strong, every bit as strong as my road bike (CAAD10 with SRAM brakes). The front brake cable routing isn’t the greatest, but it’s direct and likely isn’t going to be the difference between winning or losing any positions in a Tri or ITT.
I’ve also found plenty of room for wider wheels out today. I’m running Flo wheels on my bike right now with 24.4 mm rim widths. The rear wheel has approximately 5 mm of extra room to spare on each side of the chainstay. No rubbing at all, though some brake pad modification took place to keep the brake arms inward and out of the wind took place.
The frame it’s self is comfortable and has plenty of BB stiffness for accelerations and out of saddle climbing. I have found it’s handling to be a little quicker than previous Tri/TT bikes I’ve had, which isn’t a bad thing … just different.
The only part of the bike I’m not fond of is the seat post clamp. It’s not as easy to get micro-adjustments in seat angle as on other bikes. It’s also pretty large, but since your legs are going to to be creating a lot of air turbulence there, it probably isn’t a big deal. The seat post clamping mechanism could also be designed a little better.
Overall … a nice bike with a lot of adjustment … Which I need since I actually need a Long/Tall bike (short legs/femurs, long body, short upper arms).
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b174/Wookiebiker/Argon%2018/ArgonSide.jpg
Thanks for the thoughts. For some reason I thought that the 118 had two stack positions (lots of drop, and very little drop), necessitated by flipping the bars over. I didn’t realize there there was fine tuning with spacers, so that makes it much more adjustable than I realized, as long as you can make do with the 65 or 95mm stem options. Thanks!
I rode an e114 for a few years and loved it. I now have an e116 and I am quite enamored with it. I chose the e116 because I feel as though it is a little easier to work on since it doesn’t have the integrated front end.
I will say that if you live in the US (which I think you do) that you have to handle all warranty issues with Sinclair imports instead of going directly to Argon. And if you have ever dealt with them in regards to warranties than you will know why I would rather eat a poo sandwich than go through the hassle of working out warranty issues with them. I got my e114 warrantied (had a crack in the dropout that is welded to the frame) but it just seemed like they dragged their feet and tried everything to not honor the warranty. i.e. having picture issues, not returning calls/emails, etc.
But all that bitching aside the bike was fast and felt great. Can’t ask for much more
I’ve a 116 and would buy another (got a 2011, the White one)
Brakes, yes the routing could of been done better on the front, but hey I can live with that and it’ll stop me quicker than on the Road bike so I donno where you have heard the brakes are bad ?
Seat post clamp, yes agree it ain’t the best but it does the job, where it fits inside the frame could also of benefited with a few more hours designing going into it but once the post height is set you shouldn’t need to move it again
Adjust-ability, when I had a Retul fit done it was the 1st time the fitter had worked on a 116 and he remarked how the 3D head tube etc was a neat idea and how it added flexibility to the bike to fit to someone (Or something along those lines)
One big niggle for me was the rattle of cabling inside the frame due to no internal paths for them to go, but I got round this in the end but only as it annoyed the crap out of me (The newer ones may be different, I don’t know)
Someone will come along and state there are faster frames out there and all that, but I bought this bike as I liked the look of it rather than it saving me 2 Watts or whatever
FYI the only thing the 8 has over the 6 is the front end, the main frame is the same if you did not already know, in case budget is relivent and besides you have to be quick to own a 118 
Hi Cula,
How did you solve this issue ?
One big niggle for me was the rattle of cabling inside the frame due to no internal paths for them to go, but I got round this in the end but only as it annoyed the crap out of me (The newer ones may be different, I don’t know)
Tx,
Ced
I’ve bought an E-118 in April and have done a couple of triathlons on it, including one ironman distance. I do like the bike very much but since it’s my first tt-bike I can’t compare it to other tt-bikes. When I compare it to my road bike I’m not that fond of the brakes though, so I’m a bit surprised you point this out as a strong point. Since I’m planning to do Mallorca 70.3 and IM Nice next year the brakes should be perfect. I’ve had the bike serviced twice and specifically asked to check the brakes. I’m riding Mavic Cosmic Carbones at the moment, so maybe it’s the wheels?
Hi Cula,
How did you solve this issue ?
One big niggle for me was the rattle of cabling inside the frame due to no internal paths for them to go, but I got round this in the end but only as it annoyed the crap out of me (The newer ones may be different, I don’t know)
Tx,
Ced
Would you mind PM’ing or posting how you did this? I have a friend up north with the same issue on his Argon and he is going bat crap crazy. Thanks
I have a 2012 E-116 and am very happy with the bike. I previously had a E-112 and upgraded to the E-116.
Both bikes are extremely stable at speed and thus allow you to relax when riding (especially descending) (versus riding white knuckled). I have demo’d numerous brands and quickly noticed how stable the E-series frames are. They are not the lightest frames but definitely reward the riders later in the IM distances.
I find the brakes plenty powerful and have never thought I needed more stopping power.
I recently upgraded to Utegra Di2 TT (absolutely love it), new TT bars and and Quarq PM. My rig is now dialed in and I am loving it.
Hi Cula,
How did you solve this issue ?
Tx,
Ced
I stripped out the inner cables leaving all the outers in place, zip tied the three together where they insert into the bung behind the Stem, then pulled them all out together.
Then cut up a flat sponge into smallish strips long enough to fit around all three cables by about 1/2" and Ziptied these onto the cables at about (from memory) every 4-5" tight enough as the sponge “boldged” (sp) out so the sponge will touch and not the ziptie, cut the ends off tight, then just re cabled as they were before lastly remove the 1st Ziptie. Crude, effective, cheap and no rattles 
RE: Brakes, I came from a MTB downhill background so any Road bike brakes aren’t going to be any good compared to 4 pot Hydraulics on a 105mm disc!! so my road bike ones might not be the best also I’ll have to say I use these from the hoods, but imo the Argon’s are better, FYI I’m running Planet X 82 Carbon Tubs with Planet X supplied blocks, granted they do squeal now and again but setup with 1-2mm (ish) clearance running the Argon supplied TRP levers I’d rather a car pull out on me on the Argon, than the Road bike
(I’d rather no car at all pull out on me at all mind and also I’d rather be in a crash with the road bike than the Argon, but you can get what I mean!)
Hope this helps
http://i50.tinypic.com/23l1ic8.jpg
My 116 is amazing.
Thanks for your time Cula !!!
After selling my E112 a few weeks ago, my new warrior, the E118 (2013) should arrive within the next 14 days … :o)))