We first saw the new Look 795 Blade RS at this year’s Eurobike. Now Look has officially launched its new top of the range aero machine. As well as road racing, it’s designed to convert easily for time trial use and Look will sell a TT variant.
But Look says that the 795 Blade RS isn’t just about aerodynamics, with a class leading stiffness to weight ratio and a rear triangle designed to keep the back wheel’s road contact.
This uses what Look calls its 3S tech – basically a bridgeless, bowed shape to the seatstays and a carbon lay-up that adds vertical flex to the rear, while maintaining lateral stiffness. Look says that this allows it to use a stiffer aero seatpost, for more efficient pedalling without sacrificing ride comfort.
The rim brake caliper sits on a central spur to allow for the extra compliance of a bridgeless seatstay design
(Image credit: Jean philippe Ehrmann)
The Look 795 Blade RS comes in disc and rim brake variants. On the rim brake version, there’s a central spur from the top of the seat tube to support the brake caliper, that’s not attached to the stays.
Unlike many aero road bikes, the seatstays meet the seat tube at its top, rather than being dropped. Look says that its design adds over 20% more flex than designs with a bridge or straight stays. The bowed design is carried over to the fork blades too.
Improved aerodynamics
Among the bike’s aero features are a shielded seatpost clamp and an aero cockpit with a flat stem and concealed shifter cable routing. Disc brake hoses are also routed fully internally.
Look has worked with a Formula One aerodynamicist to hone the 795 Blade RS’s aerodynamics. It’s tested the design using a combination of CFD and validation at different wind yaw angles at the Flanders Bike Valley wind tunnel.
On the disc brake 995 Blade RS, all cables and hoses are routed internally through the bar and stem
(Image credit: Jean philippe Ehrmann)
Another new feature on the Look 795 Blade RS is a flippable seatpost head. This allows the effective seatpost angle to be altered through four different positions between 71.8o and 78.4o. This means that the 795 Blade RS can be set up with an aerobar in its most upright seatpost position and used as a TT bike.
The frame is made from 506 different pieces of carbon fibre, with a mix of moduli and, like the Look 765 endurance bike includes flax fibres in some areas to improve vibration damping.
Look has moved away from its proprietary Zed crank system in favour of a more conventional BB386 bottom bracket, pressed into an alloy sleeve. It’s worked with Token Products to develop a threaded pressfit system specifically for the 795 Blade RS.
As with many newer road bikes, there’s additional clearance for wider tyres: 30mm for the disc brake and 28mm for the rim brake frames. The top spec disc brake bike gets Mavic Speed Release axles for quicker wheel changes.
Model range
The Look 795 Blade RS will be offered with rim brakes in Dura-Ace Di2, mechanical Dura-Ace, Ultegra Di2 and mechanical Ultegra specs.
The disc brake bike will come with Ultegra Di2 or mechanical Ultegra, There’s also a disc brake TT version with Ultegra Di2 and a Look Aerobar. Prices are yet to be announced by UK distributor Zyrofisher.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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