Look (production bikes)

[swoop]

I thought i'd try a production bike. The graphics and proportions aren't my cup of tea, but that said.. i'm riding the thing and not marrying it (and i'm not so easy on the eyes either). Its stiff and nimble... particularly up front and there's no quirks.... so I like it. Its much better than the six13 I raced on a few years ago (which felt like two different bikes stuck together but was fun regardless).
It's a different conversation than the one that goes on with the Speedvagen or the Seven...more like hanging with a 19 year-old men's magazine model rather than... say.... an iconic beauty that has a dark side (vagen) or an F1 car (elium race).... but I like it more than i thought.... its a race bike. But not a race bike like the vagen.
Its my first all carbon ride.. and it just makes me wish I could swing for a Crumpton or a Parlee the way I like it. Its not dead, it evokes steel but communicates less of the details, and its stiff as shit.

What it does best.... so far... is lean over and go where you point it when you're in over your head. Production bikes have gotten really astonishingly good.

that's my take!

[GrantM]

Sharp bike.

I like that the seat mast thing is horizontally adjustable.
Did you also consider a Time? Or was it a bang for buck dealio?

-g

[swoop]

Time's are too slack from my short ass dwarf inspired femurs. And this cost exactly what i got for the wheels and the ti bike I sold.. so it was a zero loss situation...

I wanted to try a protour bike before I get too old and slow to ask anything of it.

[GrantM]

Time's are too slack from my short ass dwarf inspired femurs.

same here.

what size is that frame?

[swoop]

small.
130 stem.
74.5 sta.. but the post is adjustable (really clever)... and i've got it kicked to about 75.
53 top tube.
72 head tube.

saddle at 71.5 with 172.5 cranks.

etc....


i can't wait to see you bike set up. i really wish i had one.

[MIN]

nice ride. i've spend some time on a 585, look makes amazing carbon rigs - the ride is so muted but you can still get a sense for what is happening beneath the rubber.

have you ridden a slightly larger bike with a slightly shorter stem? curious about your preference for the frame size with relatively long stem for a 53. not a challenge, just wondering.

[swoop]

a larger bike would be too big. the 11 hoods kick my hands back a hair and the head angle is slack... so this is about 1/2 cm more reach than i usually go with.. but well within the norm for me.

i'd rather go smaller than larger for how i like a bike to feel.

but this is the shortcoming of modern production bikes... the limitations of sizes.

a quick look at team cofidis bikes showed me that half the guys have theirs set up identically. so we're good to go in my book.

[petitelilpettit]

a larger bike would be too big. the 11 hoods kick my hands back a hair and the head angle is slack... so this is about 1/2 cm more reach than i usually go with.. but well within the norm for me.

i'd rather go smaller than larger for how i like a bike to feel.

but this is the shortcoming of modern production bikes... the limitations of sizes.

a quick look at team cofidis bikes showed me that half the guys have theirs set up identically. so we're good to go in my book.

Bike looks good, swoop!

Even Samuel Dumoulin has a longer stem, and he's the shortest guy in the peloton!

[coloclimber]

Having had three Looks I can attest that the 595 (origin) rocks as a no- nonsense agile racing machine. It is still one of my all time favorite framesets.

595 design is a quite a few years old but still as current with "feautres" and raced at the Pro Tour level. Larger HS bearings, ISP, variable thickness tubing in each size, internal cables etc. It is very nimble climbing and descending and has a real connected feeling when you are putting on the power in a cross wind. I imagine the ultra will be even better.

Try playing with the three elastomers too. They make a difference.

Man I miss that frame in all white-

[swoop]

its an ultra... stiffest elastomer too. i like stiff. let the wheels and tires mitigate the road and not the bike. love the original white.

[Saab2000]

This is my Look. It is one of the best bikes I have ever owned. Handling is razor sharp without being unstable. And the slack seat angle and slightly longer TT are just my thing. It's not super duper stiff, but hardly a noodle either. Very comfortable ride. Communicative in it's feel without being harsh and muted without feeling wooden.

It's the bike I've raced on in the only two races I have done in the past 10 years.

The brand spanking new Zanconato was based on this bike. I like it that much.

I would love to get a 585 or 595 but I think their geometry is now a bit more standard and I really do like the greater setback of the previous generation.

Please, no comments on the tape. It's going to get replaced soon enough. But right now the bike is on 'injured reserve' with a tweaked rear Nucleon...:frown:

[swoop]

femurs and feet are like noses, we all got em, they're all reasonably the same... but one dude's can be twice as long as another's and still make sense.

[jim d]

cool bike swoop. super record?

on a serious note. we need a swoop section on the vsalon. like the jerks but all swoop all the time. pictures and words. serious.

jim

[ty-ro]

Nice Swoop. I like it. I've been researching production carbon bikes as well, and the 595 is at the top of the list. I've never owned a carbon bike before either, so it should be interesting. Mine will have 7900 on it, though the Campy looks sharp.

[swoop]

production bikes are lovely these days. that being said.. if not for the moment, the friend that owed me a favor, and the timing... i can't imagine a better production bike.. only as good...
i'd still prefer a handmade bike in any material.

and even just after a quick two hours today... if i only had vagens to ride the rest of my life... i'd never want for any production bike.
same goes with gaulzetti, crumpton, erichie, zank, goodrich, hampco, parlee, even another all ti seven or moots, pegoretti, zullo, in the geo i like, etc....

i wanted to see if i was missing something by not riding a protour bike... in terms of cutting edge materials or whatnot.. and the answer is.. no, not at all.

not to take anything away from the look. i think look and time are tops at what they do. but what they do isn't more advanced than what the nahbs guy do. seriously.

[swoop]

the first millisecond work bounces back.. assuming it does bounce back... call is going out to Crumpton. i hope work bounces back. Carbon is a great material.

[redturbo]

Race bike!
You know bikes are like bj's, never had a bad one.

[swoop]

remind me to talk about Sophia.
*the Look as an awesome bike. really.

[GrantM]

I thought Time pedals on there would make the bike explode...

Sort of surprised the new Look pedals don't seem to have caused
much web buzz yet... they look cool. The pedal threads are
a couple of mm's longer so you can add washers (like I do, how'd they know?)

-g

[Chooey]

Me on my 585. A size 'L' with extra long seatpost and 130 stem.