Road Cycling - Aegis bikes opinions

I'm considering an Aegis Aro Svelte. Would appreciate any opinions/experiences. Thanks

Originally posted by rhafe
I'm considering an Aegis Aro Svelte. Would appreciate any opinions/experiences. Thanks

I absolutely love mine. Aegis is very price competitive. The workmanship is functional while at the same time very beautiful. Unless you're in New England, an Aro Svelte is a rare bike to see. On many organized rides I never see one, and if I do, it is usually just one. At RAGBRAI I came up on a fellow with a yellow Svelte. Aside from mine, his was the only Aegis I saw for the whole ride and that included at least 15,000 riders.

I've owned two of them. The company is extremely customer oriented. I had a (what turned out to be) paint problem with my first one. I had sent it back to them (we suspected cracks in the frame, but it turned out to be cracks in the paint at a frame splice area. They have fixed that manufacturing process and all is well with that problem). While I waited for Aegis to inspect and repair the problem, the company called me direct (at my home) to let me know what was happening with my "baby". Not odd you say? Well I was working through my LBS to have all this done, and they were handling all the details with this issue. I was totally impressed with this extra mile effort on their part.

I would have to say the only real short coming with my current Aegis is that although the paint job is awesomely beautiful, it does "chip" easy. I get around this by being very careful about how and where I place the bike.

Here's a picture of mine during this years RAGBRAI:

I have a 2001 Aegis Aro Svelte. It's about a year and a half old now and has just over 6000 miles on it. Although I've only owned one roadbike (low-end Specialzed Allez about 10 years ago) in the past (been pretty much an MTBer until recently), I tried out many before settling on the Aegis and have ridden a few others since just to gain experience with different bikes.

The construction on my Aro Svelte is remarkable. The frame finish seems flawless which I hope means that Aegis has improved their quality control because several reviews I've read about past years' bikes complained about paint finish problems. OTOH, I got the natural carbon so there was no paint involved. The bike rides like steel in that it doesn't feel dead as some others have claimed about other roadbikes. Two years previously, I decided to get a new MTB to replace my old steel fully rigid Nishiki Ariel and went out testing bikes. I ended up with a carbon full suspension bike that rode a lot like steel but was able to smooth out buzz and slight vibrations. When I looked around for a roadbike, I was interested in much the same kind of ride. I also was not interested in how Al rode so it was either Ti or CF. This of course was based on my opini0ons of Al MTBs and not Al RBs so maybe I should have done a bit more research but in the end, I was happy with my decision.

While it was a little harder to tell the difference between my old steel MTB and my current CF MTB probably due to the fact that MTBs have more air and rubber to mask the subtleties of frame material, I could definately tell the difference between my old steel RB and the Aegis. The Aegis was definately smoother and the lighter weight and steeper geometry combined with the swept back angle of the seatpost made it very responsive. It handled and accelerated much better than the Allez but then again it was almost 8 times the price and about 5lbs. lighter. My only issue which is one I can't really fix no matter what high performance frame I pick is that of toe overlap. I didn't encounter this on the Allez and of course have never encountered it on any MTB. I ride a rather small frame (48cm... but the Aro Svelte's seat tube puts you in a smaller frame than normal... drop 2 or even 4 cm) and the short wheelbase of the Aegis combined with 700C and 170mm cranks means I need to be careful of pedal position during slow speed tight turns. The one thing I would definately recommend with any carbon frame is nice stiff wheels. The frame will soak up the vibrations and the rigidity of the wheels will give you excellent acceleration and handling. I ordered my Aegis through my bike shop as a frame-up job and rather than risk having the wrong things ordered, I quickly wrote a webpage (http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/cycling/bikes/Aegis/2001-Aro_Svelte/) and just pointed them to it. Since getting the bike, I've added a few pictures. I have been meaning to add commentary... someday.

I have the Aegis Swift (for small people) and absolutely love it. I've had it for 2 years and am as impressed with it now as I was when I bought it. My bike shop also ordered it for me. I loved working with the company, they answered all my questions and helped me with the most agonizing question of all, what color to pick!.
I too have to be very careful with it because it chips very easily.
My shop put Mavic Open Pro wheels on it.
When riders on al. frames complain about rough roads all I feel is a slight tingle in my toes or fingers.
My little Swift is an awesome bike and I'm sure the Svelte is too!:


love:

Of my many top end bikes, my AEGIS is the favorite. Have had it for about 8 years. You cannot go wrong with one.