Manufacturer... Archery Research
P.O. Box 5403
Tucson, Arizona 85703
(800) 385-5046
www.archeryresearch.com
Model .....AR-34
Axle-to-Axle Length.... 34 inches
Brace Height..... 8 inches
Riser Geometry .....1 7/8 inches Reflex
Draw Weights..... 60#, 70#
Draw Lengths..... 26-30 inches
Mass Weight..... 3.7 lbs
Riser..... Machined Aluminum
Limbs..... AR Compression Molded Limb
Eccentrics .....AR RAM Cam
Letoff..... 70%
Grip..... Wood Side Panels
Finish..... Mossy Oak Break-Up

One of the biggest hits of the 2003 ATA Archery Trade Show was the sudden appearance of a new compound bow line named AR. “AR” stands for Archery Research. The brand, and the three remarkable bows in the new AR line, really turned heads.

To fully understand AR, you must first understand the modern business concept of branding. Branding is a move by a parent company to clearly differentiate a specific set of products (a brand) from all other products, including the other products (or brands) of the parent company itself. When done properly, a company can successfully offer multiple brands. But to do so, a number of things must happen. First, the products of each brand must genuinely be different.

Frequently, the products are so different that each brand is sold to a different category of customer. Second, each brand must have its own distinct identity. The company must resist the temptation to give its brands a family look. Each brand must stand on its own. Lastly, the most successful brands are narrowly focused. The brand Nyquil is only a nighttime cold medicine. Rolex is only expensive watches. Tide is only laundry detergent.

Where does AR fit in all that? AR is a new and unique dealer-only bow brand being offered by parent company PSE. Actually, AR constitutes the third brand in the PSE family. The first is the original PSE brand, one of the strongest brands in archery. The PSE brand is a full line of archery equipment offered to a broad spectrum of archery wholesalers and retailers. The company’s second brand, which PSE purchased in recent years, is Browning Archery. Browning Archery products are designed for, and primarily sold through, gun shops nationwide. Its bows are very different from PSE brand bows. Different still, is the new AR brand.

“Archery Research is an entirely different and separate pro shop-only archery equipment brand,” PSE founder and President Pete Shepley told me recently. “AR will offer the finest bows possible to selected archery pro shops, who will be granted protected territories. We’ve even gone so far as to create a separate AR design team made up of young, energetic engineers and researchers who also happen to be very serious archers. Their goal has been to create unique bows that are significantly better than anything else available today. AR brand bows will be high-end, cutting-edge bows designed to be sold in the best archery pro shops in the country.”

A new and innovative brand of bows, with its own unique identity, purpose and outlets is always of interest. A new brand backed by one of the largest and most trusted companies in archery is doubly interesting. For 2003, AR is offering three very distinctive bows: the AR-31, the AR-34 and the AR-37. The numbers refer to axle-to axle length. The AR refers to state-of-the art innovation.

I recently received a new AR-34 for testing and evaluation, and I must tell you that I had an absolute ball shooting this new bow. It’s unique, distinctive, is packed with innovative features for serious of archers, and proved to be a wonderful-shooting new bow. If this bow is any indication, I suspect that AR will quickly establish itself as one of the leading pro shop-only bow lines in the country.

KEY SELLING POINTS
• Distinctively Sleek and Progressive New Look
Too many of today’s new bows look like yesterday’s bows: basic risers, basic limbs, basic eccentrics and so on. Boring. Unimaginative. The energetic design team at AR, on the other hand, has created something quite new. They’ve innovated a distinctly sleek and progressive new look, beginning with a bold new riser design featuring futuristic machining techniques. Also incorporated are ultra-trim limb pockets, parallel-mounted limbs, and racy riser-matching eccentrics. All three of the new AR bows are daring and courageous. That sleek and progressive new AR look will stand out on any bow rack.
• Vibration-Dampening Riser and Limbs
However, it should be noted that the sum of those distinctive new components is more than just cosmetic. The riser, limb pockets and limbs have all been carefully engineered to significantly reduce shot vibration and noise. In shooting the new AR-34, I definitely found that to be the case. The unique AR riser has a broad- beamed, ultra-stiff configuration that stops vibration cold. Each trim limb pocket also incorporates a specially-formulated insert that provides superior limb fit and effective vibration dampening. Parallel-mounted limbs further suppress shot vibration by counter-canceling limb jump. Instead of recoiling forward, as conventional limbs do at the shot, parallel-mounted limbs tend to rebound up (top limb) and down (bottom limb) to counter-cancel each other. The net result is an unusually vibration-free and quiet bow.
• Forgiving Grip
The design of a grip can make or break any bow. The best-shooting grips, in my opinion have a somewhat flat and narrow back for consistent bowhand positioning, a narrow-throat to reduce torque, and are designed to allow the archer’s bowhand to ride up reasonable close to the arrow. When all of that comes together, like it does in the grip of the new AR bows, the effect is an unusually forgiving setup. I love the grip in the AR-34. My bowhand positions itself with uncommon constancy and comfort, and rides up perfectly to the bottom of the bow shelf.
• Doubly Forgiving Rest Position
A further aid in getting the archer’s bow hand closer to the arrow, is a lower-than-normal positioning of the arrow rest mounting hole on the AR-34’s riser. I loved that too. With a rest in place, the center of my arrow was barely 5/8 inch above the bow shelf. That same measurement on most other bows seems to run from one inch to one-and-a-half inches. Combined with a great grip, this distinctive lower-than-most rest position yields a bow that points and aims like an extension of your bowhand.
• Smooth-Drawing, Powerful RAM Cam
The RAM Cam on the new AR-34 builds weight and stores energy quickly. But it rolls over with unusual smoothness, and then locks into a solid-feeling wall. It’s an excellent blend of high performance and avery nice feel.
• Innovative Sight Mounting System
Rather than following the conventional approach of drilling and tapping a single set of sight-mounting holes, the AR design team incorporated three vertically-arranged sets of such holes in the AR riser. That allows the archer to position the sight body up or down to the best location for his or her particular anchor point. Absolutely brilliant! This is one of those simple, yet startling design breakthroughs that make you wonder why I didn’t think of that, and why all other bows aren’t configured this way. I use a relatively high anchor point with an index finger release, and so will utilize the lowest sight-mounting position. If I had a lower anchor point, I would move the sight to a higher position.

CLOSING THE SALE
The new AR-34, by Archery Research, is a distinctive-looking, high-performance bow with a host of innovative and pleasing features.
The grip on the AR-34 is ideally shaped for consistent bow hand placement,a reduction on shooting torque, and comfort.That grip also naturally positions the archer’s bowhand up against the bottom of the bow’s shelf, and therefore very near the arrow. Combined with a lower-than-normal rest position, this makes the new AR-34 a wonderfully natural bow to aim and an unusually forgiving bow to shoot.

As each customer draws the AR-34, point out how smoothly the bow breaksover. At the shot, mention the AR-34’s quiet and vibration-free nature. Highlight those tendencies by explaining the advantagesof the AR-34’s space-age riser design, unique limb pocket inserts, and parallelmounted limb geometry.

Wrap things up by discussing the bow’s excellent speed and ground-breaking sight mounting system.
AR is off and running. Its new bows look great and shoot even better. Its branding focus on distinctive and innovative bow designs, and a dealer-only distribution plan are sure to be home runs with serious archery pro shops. AR has arrived.