Review of the Look 785
The Look 785 HUEZ RS was designed to do two things well - Be Stiff and Be Light.
My oh my does it do both well. I rode the bike on the shop ride, on the 1st Oct. It was my first demo bike to take out. It look all of 1 mile to know it was something special. As this is Look's top of the range climbing bike, I was expecting it to be a good. However out of every corner it was amazing. It's one of the few bikes I've ridden that felt like it wanted to be constantly pushed harder.
It is by far the stiffest bike I have ridden. All my power went to the ground. This was helped by the Corima 32mm in it's tubular format. There was no flex in the frame or wheels, and weighing in at less than 6kg for a full bike it is very impressive.
I also liked how the bike accelerated. At the slower, high power moments on the steep climbs, the bike didn't ever feel stressed. The handling never changed.
My demo bike had a spec comprising of Sram Red Etap. This was amazing, I had no issues with it at all. So simple.
The day I rode the bike the weather was a bit wet. On the carbon rims I was nervous descending, braking early and at one point I even had my foot out ready to use it as a foot brake. This was not a fault of the bike but more of the wheels. The model of the Look 785 HUEZ RS I tested was built onto tubular wheels. This made me a little nervous riding a route which was so far away from home. The other build choice comes with Di2 and a set of deep section clincher wheels, and the bike does come as a frame set only as well.
All in all, an amazing bike where the frame can't be faulted. However the component choices could have been thought through or at least extended to more than two options.