Bike geometry for an unusual bike

Equipment
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I’d like to pick your collective brains regarding bike geometry: I’d like to replace my commuter and am doing research. Right now, I have a very light XC hardtail (9.6 kg) that does the job. I unfortunately live in a flat area (think the Netherlands, although I’m located near Berlin now), so I don’t need a mountain bike, and I am thinking about a fast gravel bike with flatbars. What I would like is an aggressive geometry so I am more aero — and because I tend to like bikes with quicker handling. Most of the time it’ll be on roads or paved paths, but there is plenty of gravel here. I’d opt for 40–45 mm tires since I regularly pull a trailer and the extra tire helps me brake. I regularly reach speeds in excess of 30 km/h without issue.

One candidate is Nicolai’s Argon GX, which seems to tick all the boxes: sturdy, aggressive (according to reviews), lots of attachment points. The frames are quite affordable (1,200 € if they are on sale, 1,600–1,900 € if you buy them at regular prices), and Nicolai will even make custom geometries for about 700 € extra. On my XC hardtail (Merida Big Nine from 2014) I am on a size L, my road bike is 56 cm/size L as well. According to Nicolai’s support team, I should pick XXL (+1 size for flat bars, because of my long inseam (89 cm) for my height (1.78 m)) or perhaps size XL.

I have plugged them into Geometry Geeks (I couldn’t find the 2014 model of the Big Nine, so I picked the 2018 model as a stand-in). Since I am comparing apples to oranges, I am unsure what to look for. Any advice?

I’m open to other bikes/frames, too.

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The Argon has pretty run of the mill gravel bike geometry.

It would be helpful to know what length stem you are running on your Merida. And are you looking to be a bit more stretched out on the Argon compared to the Merida, or do you like your position as is?

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100 mm and the geometry feels spot-on. The stem also points downwards.

Yeah, a bit more stretched and I’d like handling akin to an old-school XC mountain bike (steeper head angles that what is standard now, etc.). I feel the position right now is a bit too upright for the riding I do.

Another alternative is to simply replace my current XC hardtail with another one and perhaps a rigid fork.

@eddiegrinwald
That seems even more upright than what I am riding now. But it is directionally what I am looking for.