The Electron Pro is the bad boy that came out of nowhere and helped propel the Danish team to a Bronze Medal in the Team Pursuit at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. This was a collaborative project: Argon 18 worked with the Danish team, analyzing their needs, from stiffness to aerodynamics to power output. The result is an incredibly fast bike that tracks well when you’re flying around a banked oval millimeters from your teammates or competitors.

The Electron Pro was decorated as a pursuit bike in its first international outing. The shapes are designed for cheating the wind. The head tube extends far back. With the bayonet-style fork, the shape is virtually a perfect air foil. The downtube is pretty low, allowing for a smooth air transition from the front wheel to the frame. Likewise, the large bottom bracket shell, housing a threaded English bottom bracket, starts to shroud the rear wheel early. The seat tube furthers that job and the low seat stays are also aerodynamically-shaped. The frame allows for 23mm tires, front and rear, regardless of rim shape. At the top, the long, aero seatpost has a sliding rail at the top, which allows for 9cm of fore-aft adjustment. And, because pro track riders are brutally strong, the clamp is overbuilt, so that it can be torqued into place, and won’t move, even with the most violent efforts.

However, the Electron C has a geometry that while steep in back, has a longish front-center, so it is stable. But not too stable. It is designed to be raced in mass start events as well. With a notch between the top tube and the head tube, you can get your stem really, really low. While this is great for pursuiters, track races aren’t terribly long, so swapping to drop bars, even with a stack of spacers underneath the stem, is easy. And with the fork attacking  to the head tube both under the lower race and above the upper race, there is quite a bit of additional rigidity built into the system.

Thinking of massive efforts, Argon 18 spent a goodly amount of time designing the dropouts. The rear fork tips are carbon, thanks to the manufacturing process. However, they are protected by stainless steel covers so that it’s nearly impossible to over tighten them. To further the security of the wheel position, they also include adjustable chain tensioner bits, which allow you to set the wheel position before you clamp down on the axle nuts.