2023 Optibike Argon Review

The Argon from Optibike is a super lightweight Ebike, especially considering the battery capacity here! It has a road/gravel feel to it and is very simple and easy to use. It has a 500W motor, a torque sensor, a 518Ah Samsung battery, and a belt drive. Need we say more? Well...if you want more, check out the full list of specs then!

Video Review

Written Review

The Optibike Argon is a super lightweight road Ebike that is as simple to operate as the streamlined design. It is a bit on the pricier side, but is it worth the money? Well, that's what we'll be exploring today. Let's get into it!

Optibike offers a competitive 2-year warranty on the battery and a 5-year warranty on the frame. You can check out their entire warranty info here.

Online Ordering & Assembly: Easy assembly, standard packaging, ready to roll in minutes

Optibike operates as mainly a DTC brand. If you're interested in what you can expect when your Argon arrives, you can check out the Argon Assembly Video.

Comfort & Ride Feel: Nimble, lightweight

The Argon has a pretty unique look to it. Optibike definitely wanted to keep this thing minimalist and light. You can see that with the carbon front fork, single-speed belt drive, minimalist display, torque sensor, and thinner road tires. Despite not having any traditional suspension, the carbon forks and 1.5" tires did a great job of dampening a lot of the typical road vibrations you'd experience on a similarly specced Ebike.

The Argon offers a slightly more forward-feeling riding position, but nothing too aggressive. If you're used to road bikes, or some gravel bikes, then you'd probably say it's an upright ride. However, for us over here that tend to review cruisers and other consumer-level Ebikes that offer a virtually straight-up riding experience, I would say it's a bit more forward. Still comfortable, and nothing that requires you to hit up the chiropractor after a few 20-mile rides.

The Medium-Large frame should fit riders between 5'7" and 6'0". When you see a company give such a narrow range in rider height, that's usually a good sign that it will be accurate. At 5'10", I would agree with the stated rider heights from Optibike. From a consumer perspective, when you see accurate information online from the brand, it's usually a good sign that more of the information will also be accurate.

Utility: It focuses on one thing, and does that one thing well

The Argon doesn't come stock with a rack or fenders, so it doesn't quite fit the mold as a commuter. This is a bike that would be great for someone looking to do some pedaling around town, or even be a great exercise bike. If you threw a rack and fenders on here, which you could easily do, then we'd have a decent commuter on our hands. The battery isn't removable here, but it only weighs 37 pounds, so if you wanted to carry it up a flight of stairs, again, you could avoid the chiropractor.

Although I would feel fairly confident taking this on some tight-packed gravel roads, I would try to stick to pavement and bike trails on this one. Even though the carbon components do a good job dampening the cracks and such, I wouldn't want to push it by taking it off-road.

Safety: Great braking, not ready for all-night rides

You could probably get away with V-brakes on the Argon, but Optibike opted for Shimano hydraulic brakes, and we thank them for that. I don't know if I've experienced the amount of control you get with high-quality hydraulic brakes, paired with this lightweight frame. The 160mm rotors stop this bike in a hurry. As far as safety features go, these brakes shine pretty brightly!

What doesn't shine as bright is the front light. Don't get me wrong, this is a standard Ebike front light, but with the other high-quality components presented here, it feels like we should be seeing a brighter light. It's bright enough to get safety points from a being-seen perspective, but I would recommend a brighter light if you plan on doing much night-time riding.

We don't get locking grips, but that being said, they didn't move, or shift during any of our testing. The throttle isn't incredibly torquey, which is to be expected, given the demographics here. We do get a small bell, which can help us communicate with other riders, so that's a nice little bonus.

Power & Performance: Smooth power curve, range-optimized performance

You know how I feel about Class 2 Ebikes...so with that in mind, let's chat about the power and performance.

It goes 20 MPH, which for some of you may be your legal limit or your personal speed limit. My personal speed limit is a bit higher, but if 20 MPH is what you're looking for, you can achieve that with both the throttle and the torque sensor pedal assist. The rear hub motor sits at 500 nominal watts, which is a good power output for an Ebike like this. It provides enough power and torque for the type of riding you would most likely be doing, while not sucking more juice than needed, which you may experience with a higher-powered motor.

The battery has about 518 watt-hours, which should provide you anywhere between 30-50 miles. Now, you gotta be a bit on the lighter side, and do a heavy amount of pedaling if you want to achieve the top range of 50 miles, but I think for the average rider, doing average rider-type things, 30 miles is a solid expectation on the range.

Closing Thoughts: Not much to complain about

Overall, the Argon is such a lightweight Ebike, that some of the complaints just don't matter if a lightweight Ebike is what you're after. The experience is fun, and simple, and comes across with a high-quality feel. It's a bit on the pricier side, at just north of $2,700, but it's a difficult bike to compare against to see if it's worth the money. What do you think?

If you do upgrade to fenders and racks then you really open this platform to the possibilities.

If you guys have one of these bad boys and would love to share your experience, let us know how you're liking the Argon in the comments below.

We appreciate the continued support and engagement in this growing community, and we'll catch ya on the next one!