Argon 18

Argon 18 was founded in Montreal in 1989 by Gervais Rioux, a Canadian road racer with over 150 career victories who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The brand’s name comes from the element Argon — number 18 on the periodic table — and from the start it’s been shaped by Rioux’s racing background: built by a racer, for racers.

The defining moment came in 2008 with the E-114, the first triathlon bike on the market with a fully integrated cockpit — a front-end system later refined into what Argon 18 calls its “ONEness” philosophy, which still defines the brand’s triathlon range today. That year alone, Argon 18-sponsored athletes won three world titles across Ironman 70.3 and ITU long-distance racing. The brand made its Tour de France debut in 2015, and its track programme has produced Olympic medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Today Argon 18 is the official bike of Cycling Canada, a partnership that runs through to the LA 2028 Olympics.