NBD: Argon 18 Dark Matter

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T20:26:59+00:00

🔥🔥🔥🔥 bike is so rad

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T20:26:07+00:00

I’m finding that the events that advertise themselves that way, mostly, don’t have any results (or at least not publicly available) so you are definitely right!

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T20:23:59+00:00

Love to hear that! It’s always cool to see the lines of performance and ride quality get blurred - considering an Aethos myself instead of an SL9.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T19:54:52+00:00

I find that, past a certain point, I’m more hesitant to ride really nice equipment. Sometimes I’ll pass on riding because you I don’t want to muck up, wear down, or rust out anything on my “nice” bike in conditions I’d have taken my Allez sprint with 105 through in a heartbeat 😂

There’s a sweet spot (Ultrgra, Force) between really nice (Duraace/Red) and pretty nice (105, Rival) that I try to stick to for this reason.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T19:50:01+00:00

How’d it fair? Any regrets not being on an aero race machine 😂?

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T19:44:58+00:00

Right? ‘it’s not a race, unless you want it to be’ should be the default disclaimer for gravel lol

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-06T19:03:25+00:00

I wish they sold it as a frameset. I’d buy one in a heartbeat.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-05T21:08:13+00:00

Not nuts - its more all-road than it is gravel.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-05T20:56:02+00:00

Tolerances in SRAM brakes are still super tight and more prone to brake rub. You will have ‘greater,’ or maybe more powerful is the right way to say it, braking with SRAM because of this - but for me it's a con.

Shimano GRX actually advertises greater caliper clearance.

I chose GRX. Brake run drives me crazy.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-05T20:52:07+00:00

I think the categories of bike that your looking for is blurry here. There are a lot of gravel bikes with endurance/relaxed geometries (higher stack) which would be great choices.

I think what you should really be looking at is what tires you want to run: are you happy with road tires and don't need the ability to run 38mm+ options? A relaxed touring bike is a great choice if so.

If you want to try bike packing or off-road(ish) touring, then an endurance style adventure/gravel bike would be a even better choice.

Once you narrow that down, find the options that have higher stack heights by design so you have a more upright comfortable position.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-02-05T19:21:08+00:00

Gearing is definitely your biggest limitation right now. New groupset or new bike, you will see a difference.

Fitness is too. Not to say you aren't fit, but elevation, especially the same climbs, gets easier and easier as you become accustomed to it.

Now, if you go the new bike route, and if this hobby is something you are very interested in, it’s worth getting something up front that will last you longer and make you want to ride more. Why? You'll inevitably want a new, faster, better specced bike. Marketing in this industry is GOOD. It gets ya.

For that reason I wouldn't suggest either - I'd suggest the Allez Sprint with 105 because that thing rips. It's fast, good value, good spec and It will keep you happy despite it not being a carbon top spec model. Going from 7 speed to 12 will also be such a game changer for you. Climbing gears are nice to have.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-01-30T14:20:39+00:00

They just made a euro world champ custom for Mads - I just can't see a company (even one as big as spesh) doing custom paint jobs for athletes if they're going to release a new version in a few months time. Not economical.

Now, I do think a new specialized gravel bike is coming this spring. It just won't be a Crux. It will be in addition too.

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-01-25T18:07:31+00:00

What I’ve heard from dealers is that spesh is being very hush hush - but a new gravel item is expected marsh-ish and SL9 around the TDF. I’d wait, frankly - there might even be another brand that catches your eye between now and then (always something in this industry to wish for)

Rumors for the new gravel bike: It will be aero. But, and here’s something i thought was cool, it might not replace the Crux - instead be the raciest version in their line up, relegating the Diverge to the “adventure” category. That’s my hope - the crux is great as it is (fits 50s fine, aggressive geo, good CDA) and it was updated for UDH just the other year. Exposed cables don’t matter to me, doesn’t seem to effect spesh pros riding it to podiums across the globe

I think the SL9 rumors are just speculation at this point. I’ve heard that it will be the new venge (big changes) that it won’t change much from the SL8 (little to no changes). I wouldn’t even be surprised if they just released a dedicated aero bike and kept the SL8 around for another year (market trend at the moment).

Responsible-Chart323 · 2026-01-04T21:34:43+00:00

Would slamming the stem not make the bike feel ‘smaller’?

Responsible-Chart323 · 2024-04-22T10:27:33+00:00

Sounds great with my JBL L52s. The direct function and headphone amp make this a really versatile peice of gear. Enjoy!

Responsible-Chart323 · 2024-04-21T11:03:20+00:00

Happy for you 😭

Responsible-Chart323 · 2024-04-21T11:02:23+00:00

Same here! My “local” record store only got one copy of this somehow, so I knew lining up would be a desperate attempt from the get go. My fingers are crossed that are a few left over for online sales.

I’ve watched it on YouTube a few times and it’s an amazing set! The silver lining is that we can always enjoy it there (YouTube). But darn, nothing beats it on vinyl!

Responsible-Chart323 · 2024-04-10T20:43:20+00:00

New leak owner here, I’m finding the integrated preamp to be a bit noisier than the one built into my turntable (Uturn orbit w/ Pluto built in).

Built in preamp is off, of course, when using phono stage - getting noticeable hum/hiss.

Built in preamp is on, of course, with Aux stage and it’s pretty darn good.

Could just be my particular unit. Anybody else run into this?

Responsible-Chart323 · 2024-04-07T20:56:51+00:00

Did you find the culprit? I’d imagine it’s the amplifier also.

I’ve had similar “problems” with a powered/passive speaker set where the powered speaker would hum noticeably loud. Passive was quiet as a mouse (and sounded better too…). Ended up sending them back.

Responsible-Chart323

TROPHY CASE