Gallery: Looks classic bikes CyclistGallery: Looks classic bikesIf you dont master manufacturing, you dontgrow. If youre just a designer and sending some drawings to a company youre hardly involved with, you lose your soul and lose the reason you areSo said Jean-Claude Chrtien, general manager of French bicycle manufacturer Look and part-time philosopher, when Cyclist visited the companys frame manufacturing plant in Tunisia back in 2015.Its a sentiment that comes to mind on Cyclists latest visitto Look, this time at its headquarters in Nevers, a commune in central France.Were here to discover the embodiment of thatmastery of manufacturing the historic bikes fromLooks collection that reveal the development of thebrand and demonstrate its commitment to innovation.Many of the bikes are beautiful, some are baffling, butall of them are groundbreaking in their own way. And it all started not with cycling, but with skiing. Look formed in 1951 as a ski-bindings manufacturer.The founder of Look, Jean Beyl, got the idea from his hospital bed after breaking his fibula skiing for the second time, explains Audrey Sogny, head of communications.Look would later sell its ski-bindings division toSkis Rossignol but, in 1984, it applied that spring-loaded binding technology to the world of two wheels, inventing the worlds first automatic clipless pedals.In 1985 Bernard Hinault became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France using a pair of clipless pedals, and a year later the company entered the world of bicycle manufacturing, going on to make some of the most successful and eye-catching bikes in the history of the sport. Related Posts Look 795 Blade RS review Wilier classic bikes pictures All the Tour de France team bikes, tech and kit 2024 Gallery: Pinarellos classic bikes Gallery: Cinellis classic bikes A history of Bianchis classic bikes Look track bike, 1994Mike Massaro / CyclistThis was a prototype, so wasnt a commercial offering. That said, the French track team used it for a while, although it didnt gain long-term traction because it lacked rigidity, says Gilles Moutarde, Looks after-sales service manager who has been with the companyfor 30 years.What inspired its development? Partly the summer of 1993 when world records were sent tumbling thanks to the effortsof Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman.French track rider Philippe Ermenault [Pursuit World Champion in 1997 and 1998] and his team were convinced it was the design of the bike that was making the difference.So Ermenault explained what he expected from the bike in detail. Jacky Mourioux, the national coach, guided our work, and aerodynamicist Maurice Menard helped us realise an exceptional coefficient of penetration through the air. From the first tests the times were prodigious, and Ermenault went on to win a competition in Aquitaine.As for its construction, its a carbon frame that lacks a traditional seat tube. But its the forks that really stand out. The designer had a background in the car industry and he felt this design would behave well at speed. It was also a test of what might work commerciallyand what wouldnt.Look KG 196, 1990Mike Massaro / CyclistThe KG 196 was a frame of firsts it was our first monocoque carbon frame, our first integrated fork and first adjustable stem, says Moutarde. That monocoque frame was a true groundbreaker.By forging a manufacturing process where you could create a carbon frame in a single mould, we increased rigidity, comfort and, of course, could produce a variety of shapes, which was key to aerodynamic evolution.That aerodynamic edge tipped over to the forks, too, which resulted in better handling characteristics while giving us the ability to narrow the frontal profile.Mike Massaro / CyclistYou could also change the angle of the stem depending on your flexibility, and a final first for Look: internal routing throughout, rather than solely in the top tube as seen on previous models.Also note the Mavic Zap electronic groupset the forerunner of Shimanos Di2 which provided electric changing on the rear derailleur only and featured on models post-1992.The front remained mechanical using a cable. Sadly, this didnt prove a success for Mavic, unlike the bike, which enjoyed great commercial success for us, so much so that we produced it from 1991 to 1998.Many professional teams used the KG 196 including Once, CharlyMottets Novemail team and Festina.Look KG 86, 1986Mike Massaro / CyclistThis is Looks first-ever carbon bike. In fact, its Looks firstever bike, made here in this factory in Nevers.In the early 1980s we produced steel frames using Reynolds tubing but not beneath the umbrella of the Look brand. Instead, they were branded for teams like La Vie Claire, who became synonymous with Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond.Both riders used this bike at the 1986 Tour de France, with LeMond riding it to victory, though not everyone on the team used it maybe two or three others because it was a minimal production run and some of the riders were also reluctant to switch from steel or aluminium.Mike Massaro / CyclistAfter its success, allthe La Vie Claire riders were riding it the following year.We used TVT carbon, creating the tubes by wrapping carbon sheets around a sort of balloon and applying high pressure. Wethen assembled the frame by hand, joining the triangles via aluminium lugs.Carbon was rarely used in any sector in the 1980s, and almost never in France, so we worked with a Belgian engineer who specialised in carbon. He worked on this project for two years.We also used Kevlar to increase comfort.Look KG 296, 1996Mike Massaro / CyclistBefore the UCI brought in its 3:1 tube profiling and non-structural components rules, there were some radical machines being built.The KG 296 CLM was one of them. It was especially for the time-triallist Alex Zulle through our sponsorship of the Once team, and he won the 1996 World Championships Time-Trial on it.The frame was actually made of round tubes but with added titanium fairings to improve aerodynamics, further heightened by a frontal cross-section that came in at 28mm and a frame thickness of just 19mm.You could also choose from several wheel options including 650c.Mike Massaro / CyclistToday we have wind-tunnels and CFD software but back then we didnt really use any of that. OK, there was the odd wind-tunnel session but it was very expensive.Now we use the wind-tunnel at Magny-Cours on a much more regular basis. Todays bikes are also the result of a much more collaborative process than the 1990s, with riders more involved.These were the early days of aerodynamics.One final point about the bike is the logo on the inflated seattube. Its of a blind person walking because the sponsor Onceis the Spanish foundation Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles, which provides services for the blind and peoplewith visual impairment.Look KG 171, 1994Mike Massaro / CyclistThe KG 171 proved incredibly popular with professional and recreational riders alike, and was the bike that Laurent Jalabert recorded his 100th professional victory on. Luc Leblanc also wonthe 1994 World Road Race Championships aboard this bike in Agrigento, Italy.Like all bike brands, we always see a spike in sales if a professional wins a high-profile race, and the KG 171 was no exception. It was the successor to the KG 96 and weighed around 1kg, the aluminium forks and lugs adding a little weight to the carbon frame.Mike Massaro / CyclistA plastic pipe in the top tube added a few grams, too, though was a cute innovation as it prevented the cable within rattling and making an irritating sound.The multi-directional carbon tubes were joined to the aluminium lugs via thermal bonding. It might not have been a monocoque design but it still produced a lively, comfortable and reactive ride, and it was part of a new faction of the company called Look Design System, which was essentially a forum for innovation.Look Design Systemis now the name of the factory in Tunisia where we manufacture carbon bikes.Look KG 381i, 2002Mike Massaro / CyclistLooks KG 381i was the bike Laurent Jalabert finished his career on in 2002 when racing for CSC-Tiscali, although Laurent didnt use this specific bike as he preferred matt black over the streaks of red.Jalabert enjoyed great success in his final season riding the KG 381i, winning the mountains classification at the Tour de France for the second year in a row as well as winning a stage of Paris-Nice en route to finishing third overall.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe frame is virtually all high-modulus carbon. We manipulated the fibre orientation and shape of every part to favour either comfort or power transfer, with the carbon tubeset mated to alloy lugs. Once again, it won a bike of the year award in France.Its components are primarily Look, including the seatpost which featured a healthy amount of setback to soak up more road buzz. The crankset, the stem and, needless to say, the pedals are also Look.Corima supplied the wheels. We were in partnership with Corima at the time and now its part of Look Cycle International our official company name after we bought it in 2016.Look KG 396, 2000Mike Massaro / CyclistWe developed this carbon time-trial bike solely for the French pro team Crdit Agricole, and it was used by the likes of Bobby Julich and Stuart OGrady.The team wanted a bike fitted with all-in-one triathlon handlebars so we adapted the steering fork and worked with a set of bars from Vision.It featured internal cable routing, a fully adjustable integrated stem that gave a crazy amount of position options, and it had rear-facing track-style dropouts.Mike Massaro / CyclistThese meant that not only could the rear wheel could be positioned as closely and safely as possible to the contoured frame for maximum aerodynamics, but also that it could be converted to a fixed-gear bike, which is how I hear Julich usedit in training.Chris Boardman used a bespoke aluminium version of thisbike when racing for Crdit Agricole. The customised geometry he wanted simply wasnt possible in carbon because of its prohibitive cost.His bars were positioned beneath the headset and on the end of the forks because Chris wanted an extreme aerodynamic position to help him cut through the wind.Incredibly, he was able to sustain power output in that position, but you had to be incredibly flexibleto ride Chriss version.Look KG PKV Atlanta, 1996Mike Massaro / CyclistThis bike proved to be a star of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where it picked up six medals: four gold and two silver.It was all about rigidity and aerodynamics in my opinion no other bike had these characteristics at the time but this came at the cost of weight, with the frame more than 3kg even though it was carbon.But it had to be strong, especially around the bottom bracket, which experiences significant forces notably from a standing start.Mike Massaro / CyclistAlso, beyond performance, it needed to be safe. We didnt have the multitude of torque measurements and tests we have today so we erred on the side of caution.Nowadays we can test here in Nevers at what pressure a frame might break. This bike did undergo velodrome testing, partly, of course, because thats where it was designed to be raced.Bourgs the closest one to us now but hadnt been built back then, so we had to use the one near Toulon, about an hour east of Marseille. We also tested this bike in the Roubaix velodrome.Track bikes were always important to Look and still are. Grgory Baug won two silver medals at London 2012 aboard the Look L96, and were developing a bike for the 2020 Olympics that will be used by France and other nations including China, Russia and Japan.Look 595, 2006Mike Massaro / CyclistThe most visible technological leap with this bike came in the form of that integrated E-Post seatpost, for which Look took out a patent a big part of how Look protects its inventions.From a riders point of view, the integrated seatpost with elastomer provided a more stable and comfortable ride.That was because a one-piece unit meant fewer vibrations compared to a traditional seat tube and seatpost combination.One less obvious quality of this bike is that practically no other material was used besides carbon. Only the gear hanger, bottom bracket threads and the bottle bosses were alloy.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe carbon forks were also innovative, featuring an oversized crown and wider fork blades, which combined for extra stiffness.The BB lug was unique because to produce a lug in carbon thats lighter than aluminium with the same stiffness we had to develop a new technology: VHPC or Very High Pressure of Compression.The piece was compressed during production to make it lighter.Cofidis used the 595, as did Crdit Agricole. Thor Hushovd enjoyed great success aboard the Look 595 when racing for Cofidis, winning the points classification at the Volta a Catalunya and Paris-Nice in 2008, as well as a stage of the Tour de France.This article was originally published in Issue 78 of Cyclist Magazine Related Posts Look 795 Blade RS review Wilier classic bikes pictures All the Tour de France team bikes, tech and kit 2024 Gallery: Pinarellos classic bikes Gallery: Cinellis classic bikes A history of Bianchis classic bikes The post Gallery: Looks classic bikes appeared first on Cyclist.
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