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All-new Look 795 Blade RS aero road bike cuts through wind, bumps & tradition

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike tech features specs and overview
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First shown to the public at Eurobike along with an upcoming gravel bike concept, the all-new Look 795 Blade RS aero road bike was on display but with no tech info, specs or details available. Now, they’re ready to unveil the goods on their first full aero disc brake road bike. There’ll be a rim brake version, too, which gets a surprisingly similar look and feel considering the different braking loads placed on the frame.

The 795 Blade RS is both designed and manufactured by Look in France at their own factory. It’s an all new frame from the ground up with the goal of being aerodynamic, comfortable, and versatile. Here’s how they put it all together…

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

At the back is their 3S Design (stands for Smooth Sword Seatstays), which use aero shaped tubes that have compliance built in. It’s a bi-arched design that allows for vertical flex, which is enhanced by losing the seatstay brake bridge, even for the rim brake model. They say this offers 23% more compliance than the prior models that had straighter tubes and a seatstay bridge.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with rim brakes

An extended arm provides the rim brake calipers’ mounting point, leaving the seat stays completely free to flex as intended.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

The disc brake bike gets 12mm thru axles front and rear, using the Mavic SpeedRelease axle system for quick, secure wheel changes.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike has a clever hidden seatpost binder

Those new stays top out at a unique seatpost junction that appears to fall off in a rearward slope, but actually hides the clamping mechanism. Not only is the look of this dramatically different, it’s also a normal (albeit proprietary) sliding seatpost as opposed to the fixed seatmast on the 795 Light. Another unique feature is the post’s head, which can be swapped to create four different positions with just two parts. This allows effective seat angles from 71.8º to 73.8º to 76.3º to 78.4º. The latter is very steep, making this a great short-course bike for “recreational” triathletes that want a single bike that works for their regular road rides the rest of the year.

Compared to the 795 Light, the seat tube is much steeper, too, which is how they get the more forward seating position, yet it can also be set up to match the same rearward “roadie” seating position as the 795 Aerolight RS.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

A small hole on the seat tube provides a quick check for minimum seatpost insertion. If you can stick a paperclip in there, the seatpost is too high.

Look 795 Blade RS carbon frame cutaway shows the internal cable guides and ports

The hidden “clamp” is fixed inside the frame and uses bolts to push the wedge against the seat tube, in turn pushing it against the frame to hold it in place. The oversized wedge provides a big contact patch so it’s more secure and won’t create small pressure points that could end up damaging the carbon.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike uses an integrated yet standard stem and frame design to hide the cables

In addition to the seatpost, the stem is also somewhat more traditional, using a proprietary aero shape that nests into the frame, but uses standard two-bolt mounting system. It holds a new aero handlebar, which has aero flat sections on the top that include mounting spots for their aero extension and arm rest kit. It also has entry and exit ports for all manner of hose, cable and wire, letting you start your clean cockpit before it even gets to that new stem.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike uses an integrated yet standard stem and frame design to hide the cables
Note the unused port just before the edge of the tape, offering more ways to get cables and hoses inside the bar, regardless of which brand shifters and brakes you’re using.

Cable routing was kept easy and intuitive, yet also nearly fully internal. Things pop out of the front of the handlebar, then run directly under the stem and into the frame. This keeps it very streamlined, yet still allows for full adjustment of the stem height with up to 50mm of spacers without needing to undo any cables. This does lock you into using their stem, but it’s still an easy-to-use system. They say design also keeps the steering moving freely compared to some internally routed stem-and-frame combos that can feel like they’re binding slightly.

Look 795 Blade RS carbon frame cutaway shows the internal cable guides and ports

Inside the frame are guides that can be pulled out during install to help you feed the cable/hose through them. The end result should be smooth, straight, rattle free lines that are kept out of the wind.

It’s covered by a plate that doubles as the Di2 junction control mount.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

Down below, it uses a BB386 bottom bracket and comes standard with a Token thread-together bottom bracket to maintain better alignment and creak-free performance compared to the typical pressfit BBs found on many bikes.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

It’s a massive bottom bracket junction, which should provide perfectly stiff and efficient power transfer. Below are cutaways showing how the internal routing works, and it’s all sent outside of the BB shell for easier swaps and maintenance without needing to remove the BB. Cover plates and cable stops make it all very intuitive and secure.

Look 795 Blade RS carbon frame cutaway shows the internal cable guides and ports

CARBON CONSTRUCTION

Compared to traditional carbon frames, Look says their construction method uses more layers of carbon per tube, between 10 and 20 depending on the tube or part, with a blend of six different fiber types.

Look 795 Blade RS carbon frame cutaway shows how its made

This lets them better tune the ride characteristics than brands that may only use five or six layers, which doesn’t offer as many opportunities to orient the fibers since each layer would be asked to do more work. In total, there are 163 pieces per fork, 503 pieces per frame. Frame stiffness changes as frame sizes change, as does the fork.

Claimed frame weight is 950g (rim brake, middle size), and 300g for the fork.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike uses an integrated yet standard stem and frame design to hide the cables

AERODYNAMICS & RIDE QUALITY

The frame’s aerodynamics started out in CFD, then moved to the Belgian wind tunnel to prove the truncated air foil shapes they chose for the head tube, down tube, and seat tube. They tested it across a wide range of wind angles, and compared the results to their other bikes. The prior 795 Light aero road bike measured as needing 124 watts to travel at 45km/h. The new 795 Blade RS rim brake model drops that slightly to 122 watts, and the disc brake Blade RS matched it at 124 watts.

So, it’s aerodynamic, but, in their words, “there are a lot of aero bikes out there. What’s hard is making an aero bike that’s a joy to ride.” And that’s where their focus is.

2019 Look Blade RS aero road bike with disc or rim brakes is made for comfort and speed

SPECS & AVAILABILITY

At launch, the new 795 Blade will only come in the RS level, which is their top version that uses a lighter layup. In typical Look lineups, the RS models are about 10% lighter and cost about $1,000 more than the standard models. Look for rim brake models with Dura-Ace Di2 and Mechanical, and Ultegra Di2 and Mechanical, groups with either Corima or Mavic wheels. Disc brakes versions will have two Ultegra Di2 builds, one with a TT cockpit build and one with a traditional drop bar, and one Ultegra mechanical build. Pricing ranges from $5,200 up to $10,000.

Each bike ships with a complete kit of spacers, extra derailleur hangers and any special tools or small parts you’d need to adjust and use the bike. Different stem lengths are available separately, too.

What you may have noticed on the two bikes we photographed is that they’re painted with both more modern colorways as well as Look’s traditional white or black with blocked yellow, red and blue squares. You’ll see both options, including a bold red paint scheme, which should help them appeal to a broader audience.

LookCycle.fr

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18 Comments
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blahblahblah
blahblahblah
5 years ago

dingus?

Blacksmith Cycle
5 years ago

Actually pretty stoked about this. Dig the geometry. Dig the focus on comfort. Let us know how it rides, but great tech round-up on a bike with little info out there!!

iiwas
5 years ago

Can someone enlighten me why I should by the 795 Blade Disc instead of the existing 795 Areo Light model, which is supposed is a lot lighter? This articles cites identical power requirements at 45 km/h for both.

Antoine Martin
Antoine Martin
5 years ago
Reply to  Tyler Benedict

I have a 795 aero light and i can understand why look make this bike. The 795 was criticized a lot for being different (esseintialy design wise). They need sale so they made a more regular bike but to me it’s a miss. The actual 795 is just so cool. You say the new one has improved comfort but the old one has an elastomer seatpost. It really works ! I never rode a more comfortable regular road bike. The old one could fit the ZED Crank which is the most amazing crank money can buy. 65mm carbon axle, one piece design, compact and regular crank compatible, 3 arms length on a single crank, lightest crank out there but clavicula but with much better reliabilty. Also old aero-stem was just so cool, you have to mount it to understand how cool it is.
What is true is that the cable routing is painful on that bike. i had to change a rear derailleur housing and it was just horrible. But apart from that, to me, old 795 is best road bike money can buy, too bad it did not have the success it deserved. It was as light as a climber bike, comfortable as a “roubaix” bike and quite aero. The price was on par with taiwanese produced brand (spesh trek…). Market can be unfair i guess.

TimE
TimE
5 years ago
Reply to  Antoine Martin

The old 795 could not fit anything larger than a 25C tyre. That right there will kill it the mainstream market. The 795 Blade can accomodate 28C tyre easily

Nuccio123
5 years ago
Reply to  Antoine Martin

The 795, especially the Aerolight version, wasn’t criticized for being “different”, but rather for features that really made it to be a pain in the ass for the owners. The flexy stem, the unreliable Zed 2/3 crank, being difficult to install, service and not being suitable for riding in wet weather, the unrealiable lock ring crank locking system, the failing seatpost clamp, the super complicated cable routing, spare parts unavailability, inability of the owner to do any part replacements on their own under the threat to void the warranty, and many, many more.

Ric Liang
Ric Liang
5 years ago

That looks terrific. Much more conventional geometry than the current 795. I have a 695 and if I ever bought another LOOK, it wouldn’t be the existing 795, it’s just too strange for me.

Jim E
Jim E
5 years ago

Nice looking bike but I can’t see how that drop down arm for the rear rim brake won’t lead to chatter. With that much leverage It’s going to flex quite a bit no matter the modulus of the carbon.

Rodegeek
Rodegeek
5 years ago
Reply to  Jim E

Jim E, my thoughts exactly about the rear brake, especially on the larger frame sizes. Guess I’ll go for the disc brake version.

TimE
TimE
5 years ago
Reply to  Jim E

I doubt its going to be a problem. LOOK tests their bikes extensively before releasing them into the wild. That said It would look prettier if the brake mount was fared into the seat tube

Gillis
Gillis
5 years ago

How big of a tire can you fit?

M
M
5 years ago

Trek may want to take notes. This bike does what they couldn’t do with the Madone. It looks incredible, too.

pm732
5 years ago

super clean. bonus points for showing the cutaways of the frame

JRF
JRF
5 years ago

I’ve built and dealt with a ton of 795s over the past several years, and I’m pretty stoked for this update. Looks like they’ve addressed some of the biggest problems with the older design: seatmast, that stem, cable management. Also, that metallic blue-green paint is rad!

BH Bikes Fan
BH Bikes Fan
5 years ago

Wow, nice bike! Although I do like the old 795 frame design better, regardless of the polarizing looks and opinions of the purists (probably because the shape reminds me of a more aero version of my slammed-stem XXL BH Quartz), the move to the BB386EVO bottom bracket standard is awesome, as it’ll definitely increase power transfer and stiffness at the BB.

charles jonas
charles jonas
4 years ago

I purchased the 695 Aero light and I’m still riding it. The funky stem has been an issue a couple of times. The fork brakes have been awesome and never had issues with them or the crankset. The bike as you know has many proprietary parts so if your unhappy with it just sell it. I purchased mine from BellatiSports. The frame was shipped here via Kennedy Airport. I did not puchase the offered insurance and really sweated out the 2 weeks at customs. I paid around 2000.00 dollars thru Bellati less than what I would have to pay here in the states. They make an adapter for changing the crank out but not sure why anyone would want to. They make pedal power meters which are on par with the crank arm versions. I did not like the original 795 bike. The RS Blade looks a lot better. Just my thoughts on Look.

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