LOOK Bikes Launch New 785 Huez
We can't wait for our new 785 Huez to arrive but while we are tapping our fingers and refreshing the delivery information here is what is getting us excited.
785 Huez - Every climb, every time
LOOK describes the new 785 Huez as a tribute to climbers and the mountains, reflecting their vision of a performance climbing bike. It promises to be light and responsive, ready to take on the steepest slopes with ease. The 785 Huez is the choice companion for when the road goes up, providing comfort and efficiency on long climbs and mountain challenges, as well as performance in daily training.
So what are we most excited about for the arrival of the new 785 Huez?
It's the bike that most people would want to ride, it competes with the Time Alpe d'Huez, Giant TCR or Trek Emonda for example, and it is priced very competitively.
LOOK are normally known for really fancy engineering but this design is incredibly sensible - it will make the lives of rider's and their mechanics (that's us!) much more simple. On this model LOOK are using a standard 27.2 seatpost and a standard T47 internal bottom bracket for durability. The semi-integrated cables - same as the 765 Optimum -give the slick clean lines of fully integrated cables but if you want to take the stem off to pack your bike into a box for travel it is very easy to do.
In the LOOK line up it falls between the 795 Blade and the 765 Optimum but in our opinion it is much closer to the 765 Optimum than an all out race bike like the Blade. It has very traditional road bike geometry and styling with the standard 73° / 73° geometry rather than the slacker wheel base of the 765 Optimum. It looks really smart. There is only one frame version of the 795 Blade which will make it far easier to make your buying choices, LOOK is dropping the RS version for all except the Blade.
At £2400 the LOOK 785 is a very competitive price for the frame set - we (or rather Jake) did some virtual shopping and this makes it one of the best buys amongst its direct competitors. Its impressive. You can hear his full debrief in the podcast.
LOOK have a range of fully built bikes you can choose from but we think we can make a custom build that will compete on price and quality. Our target is the mechanical Shimano 105 version in Pro Team White which will retail at £3,690.
We are going to set ourselves the challenge to create our own build when our test bike arrives. Watch the video and tell us your suggestions for what we should put on it.