out after the frame has been baked?
That is the closely guarded secret.
All of LOOK’s lug expertise
was not ignored during the 695’s
construction. Instead of using carbon
overwrapping to attach the rear of
the bike, LOOK engineers relied
on their internal lug technique. The
results are clean, but with distinct
joints in the rear mono stay and
directly behind the bottom bracket.
The bike’s visual signature is a kink
in the top tube just behind the head
tube, and this aesthetic has many roles
to play. It offers a little aerodynamic
help by cleaning up airflow behind the
stem and more importantly, it allows
some front-to-back compliance to take
the edge off the 695’s new fork, the
very stiff and light HSC- 7.
A feature the 695 would seem to share
with other bikes is the integration
concept, but in practice and spirit the
integration LOOK has created with
the 695 sets a new standard. Where
you interact with your bike, the cranks,
the seat, and the cockpit, LOOK has
designed wholly new components,
laden with inventive features.
The new C-Stem is a massive carbon
block, at once ugly and beautiful,
but always profoundly strange in
appearance. While it is not the lightest
stem in the peloton, a respectable 140
grams for the 90mm, it does deliver
adjustability no other stem in its weight
class can match; 20 degrees of angle
adjustment and a centimeter of length
adjustment in all five stem sizes. It can
also be swapped out for a standard
stem if so desired.
LOOK
695
CLOSER
the system adds to the bike is a nice
feature and a step ahead of even
the cleanest bolt-on mast topper.
At the seat mast, instead of a bolt-
on topper, LOOK has created the
E-Post, a carbon insert allowing up
to 3 centimeters of adjustment. The
E-Post also comes with three different
elastomer inserts, from very stiff, to
quite elastic, to fine tune the bike
to each individual rider and each
individual ride. The slick aesthetic
The real revelation of the 695’s
integration is the Zed 2 crank set,
born from a single mold. Crank
arms, spider, and spindle are one
continuous molded piece of carbon
fiber, which is then inserted through
the massively oversized 65mm bottom
bracket. The Zed 2 has reached a
higher stiffness to weight ratio than
any other production crank set on the
market. Each crank set is also highly
adjustable, able to accept standard
or compact chain rings and lengths
from 170, 172.5 and 175mm. As with
the stem, the option to run another
manufacturer’s crank set is available;
it just requires a LOOK adapter.
Ferocious Attacks and Descending
on the Ragged Edge
From the standpoint of features,
adjustability, aesthetics, and
construction, the LOOK 695
continues to represent the unique style
