# First ride on my new 585



## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

My 585 frame and assorted parts have been sitting in my living room for a couple of months waiting for some final additions, including wheels (2006 Eurus) which never arrived. I have been getting very frustrated as it has been perfect summer riding weather (here in Sydney) and I have been compelled to use my ancient (two year old) humble Trek OCLV/Dura Ace/Ascent II instead. I love the Trek, and reject the frequent suggestions that it feels "dead", "old technology" etc. However, I am aware that the Trek is at the less aggressive end of the road bike spectrum, and have been looking for something that offered a contrast, with sharper handling and a more aggressive ride, but without giving up the relative comfort of carbon fibre. I also wanted a bike that looked good. Enter the Look 585. After months of trying to find one in stock anywhere, I discovered an online store in Ireland that had a black 585 frame in my size, in stock ... and _on sale_. When I discovered this, my credit card was whipped out at lightning speed and I bought the bike immediately. Even after shipping costs, it was still only half the cost it would have been locally. I then picked up the Record groupset (new) on ebay and ordered the wheels and other components, and have been waiting patiently ever since. The frame arrived first, then the groupset, the bars - but the wheels never arrived. It seems the new Eurus wheels are rolling out of the factory very slowly. No problem, however, I just ordered my alternative set of wheels: DT Swiss 1450s.

The complete build is as follows:

585 frame, 51cm in Black
Record groupset (with alloy cranks - I think they look better than carbon)
DT Swiss 1450 wheels
Cinelli Neo Carbon bars (the red and white lettering _exactly_ match the colours of the lettering on the frame, and they are nicely shaped bars, as well)
Thomson X2 stem
Deda Magic Stick seatpost (I also have a Thomson Elite with no setback which I would have preferred to have used, but unfortunately setback was necessary. I didn't want to use the Thomson setback post - which I have on my Trek - because I think the angle of the seatpost would be aesthetically displeasing with the sloping TT; and the deda carbon post suits the frame perfectly)
Fizik Aliante saddle 
Ergobrain (not yet installed; currently using an old Cateye while I wait for the Ergobrain to arrive)
Look CX-7 pedals (I bought some Keos, but they caused knee pain - the main reason I went to the adjustable CX-7s to begin with - so have gone back to the CX-7s. Great pedals, but about 80g each heavier than the Keos. I may experiment again with Keos and some Lemond Wedges in the near future.)
Elite carbon bottle cages (on order - currently using the Bontrager carbons from my Trek)
Michelin Pro Race tires.

It looks fantastic. I will post some pictures in the next few days.

I picked the bike up from the store at 7pm (they went overtime building it) and got in an hour's riding before it started to get dark. Initial impressions: light (of course!), razor sharp, fast and _tight_. Even when headed straight ahead, the bike seemed sharp and precise, like a knife edge. To use the old analogy, it was like driving a responsive Ferrari compared to the comfortable but (comparatively) sluggish Trek Mercedes. I didn't get to do any serious descents, but in the short downhills I did do, the steering was crisp and precise, without being "nervous" or "twitchy" in the slightest (something I disliked when I test rode a Cannondale). In fact it was an interesting combination of razor sharp handling combined with reassuring stability. For example, I cannot take both hands off the bars of my Trek for more than a second or two without losing control - even on the first ride on the Look, I felt encouraged to try taking both hands off the bars and the bike held its line with much more solidity than the Trek had.

Compared to the Trek, the ride is noticeably stiffer, with more road feel and, as noted above, sharper and more precise handling. However, I expect there will be times when I will want to have the more comfortable ride and more relaxed handling of the Trek (which I am keeping). 

A note on the groupset: this was not only the first bike I have owned with Campagnolo components, it was the first time I have ever ridden a Campag equipped bike. I was impressed. Adapting to the shifters and the thumb levers only took a few minutes. I often had to think before a gear change, but then I often have to with Dura Ace as well, and I've been riding on that for years.

The shifting of the Record groupset was (no surprise) precise and, if not quite as smooth as Dura Ace, gears engaged with a satisfying "clunk". I was worried that the braking would not be as powerful as current Dura Ace, but the tests that I did (admittedly not in a crisis situation) suggested that the Record brakes are perfectly satisfactory. The shifters felt comfortable (although rotated a little too far forward for my tastes - I will have to get this corrected) but then so do the DA shifters. So far I am glad I finally went with the Record gruppo but I haven't yet formed any bias in favour of one or the other.

Tomorrow is the first major group ride on the new bike (85km of rolling hills at an average pace of 32km/h) so it will be the real test (if it doesn't rain!). I will also try to take some pictures.


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## ico (Feb 6, 2005)

*words, only words*

but gives us pictures!!


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

Okay, for those with attention deficit disorder  , here are some hastily taken pictures. 

  

The pictures are pretty bad - it's raining outside (so no group ride, and you get some bonus shots of my messy apartment) and I don't really know how to use my camera (or image shack) - but I will take some more outside when it brightens up.


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## windcheater (Sep 18, 2005)

*Congrats - Am doing the same...*

My 585 will be done tomorrow - also have had a hard time waiting to get it all done. It sounds like we have almost the same set-up. Different bar and cranks (carbon) but full record set-up. Put red/black conti 4000 tires on my ksyrium ES with red hubs - red look bar tape. Just got the look carbon fiber cages which are even nicer in person - should be the perfect finishing touch... will get some pics later in the week and hopefully a ride report as well....


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

Here are a couple of (marginally) better pictures, before the battery in my camera gave out.



















Windcheater, I'll be interested to hear the detail of the build on your 585 and see the pictures. What sort of bars did you get? I also have some red GP4000s and Pro Races but decided to go with basic black to start with. It should look good with the Ksyriums. I wavered over the Look bottle cages and seatpost but decided to go with the Elite cages because I prefer their sharper lines to the rounded Look cages; ditto with the Deda seatpost instead of the Ergopost (and I already had the Deda post). I will be very interested to see how yours look. I have also decided to replace the Thomson stem (even though it's only been on the bike for one day) with the Cinelli Neo XL to match the bars. The Thomson stem is great but the faceplate exposes the centre of the bars which should really be hidden.

Looking at the second picture, does anyone else think that the shifters are positioned a little too low?

The weather cleared up briefly today so I managed to get in a 50k ride between sub-tropical thunderstorms. Initial impressions of a fast, sleek, sharp handling bike are confirmed, although it's definitely a harsher ride than the Trek 5500.


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## nnewton123 (Oct 13, 2004)

Sweet bike! I'd love to take one for a spin. That is about exactly how I have my bars/shifters positioned. I find the slight downward angle to be very comfortable when I'm resting my forearms on the bars straight behind the shifters. If you ride more upright most of the time you may prefer to have them level. Just personal preference really.

Wheelset looks great on there. Any comments about those? Are you still getting the Eurus'? That should give you some nice options for wheel selection!


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

nnewton123 said:


> Wheelset looks great on there. Any comments about those? Are you still getting the Eurus'? That should give you some nice options for wheel selection!


The wheels are great so far, but because I have never ridden them before I'm not sure how much of the ride quality comes from the frame or the wheels. Certainly they roll smoothly and quietly and are very stiff. I'd like to try some Easton/Velomax Ascent IIs with the 585, since they have a fairly soft quality (without compromising stiffness or ligthness) but I'll have to wait until Easton produce a Campag compatible version. I still have an option on the Eurus when they arrive, but I have also ordered some Velocity Aeroheads for everyday riding, and I'm not sure I can justify three pairs of wheels (in addition to the two on my Trek). My apartment already looks like someone set up a bike and hi fi business in the middle of a bookshop. But who am I kidding? - I'll probably end up with the Eurus anyway!


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## rensho (Aug 5, 2003)

The levers do look just a touch high. Lovely ride. Looks like how i would fit on a 51cm.

Someone is a closet audiophile. What speakers are those? I thought i see PSB written on the tweeter.


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

> The levers do look just a touch high.


 High? Really? They feel a bit too low to me - I would like to move them further up the bars. Perhaps I'm just used to the Shimano shifters.



> Someone is a closet audiophile. What speakers are those? I thought i see PSB written on the tweeter.


 Sadly, you're right - that's my other expensive hobby. The speakers are Spendor S2/3Es (Scan speak tweeters). After a long, long search costing many, many thousands of dollars and over a dozen pairs of speakers (some much more expensive than the Spendors) I am finally happy with these speakers.


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## BugMan (Feb 16, 2004)

rossb said:


> High? Really? They feel a bit too low to me - I would like to move them further up the bars. Perhaps I'm just used to the Shimano shifters.


They look too low to me, too - not because of their position on the bar, but because the bar itself is rotated too far forward. Try rotating the bar back so that the ends "point" towards the rear axle and see if you like that better. You might still need to back up the shifters on the bar just a smidge to level out the hood tops/bar interface.


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## rensho (Aug 5, 2003)

rossb said:


> High? Really? They feel a bit too low to me - I would like to move them further up the bars. Perhaps I'm just used to the Shimano shifters.
> 
> Sadly, you're right - that's my other expensive hobby. The speakers are Spendor S2/3Es (Scan speak tweeters). After a long, long search costing many, many thousands of dollars and over a dozen pairs of speakers (some much more expensive than the Spendors) I am finally happy with these speakers.


 Sorry, i'm feeling a little backwards. Yes, a little low.

Spendors are so very nice, and great value. Scanspeak drivers are the tops. I dabbled in building speakers for about 10 years. Not any good, but learned lots playing around. I settled on Contours myself. 
Audio got way too expensive for diminishing returns, so onwards to something else...


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

Thanks for the comments. As it turned out, the bars needed to be rotated this morning anyway, since they started to rotate forward every time I hit a pothole on this morning's 100km ride. By the time I got to the turnaround point, the bars had rotate about 30 degrees - very uncomfortable (although on the plus side, it helped me figure out that they should be a little lower).

On the way home, I stopped at the LBS and had them rotate the bars back (along the lines BugMan suggested) tighten the bolts, and drop the stem about 1cm. My photography is still not great - see below - but the hoods feel a little more comfortable. Does this position now seem more "normal"? I may still have the shifters moved a couple of degrees higher up the bars, after a week or so in this position.

I should add that the bike handled beautifully on the ride.


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## BugMan (Feb 16, 2004)

Your bar position looks a lot better, but (at least in this view you post) it also looks like the shifters still need to come back a bit on the bars. I would try to make the "notch" of the hood be in the same plane as the bar section behind the hood.


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## chasman7381 (Nov 23, 2005)

Awesome looking ride!!
Other than the front being exposed how did you like the Thomson X2. I am considering one for my next stem with the FSA K-Wing.


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

> Your bar position looks a lot better, but (at least in this view you post) it also looks like the shifters still need to come back a bit on the bars. I would try to make the "notch" of the hood be in the same plane as the bar section behind the hood.


 I think you are right. I will take the bike in to have this done next week, when the Ergobrain is installed.



> Other than the front being exposed how did you like the Thomson X2. I am considering one for my next stem with the FSA K-Wing.


 There's not much you can say about a stem, other than that it performs its function without attracting attention to itself. I like its understated and functional appearance and it feels very solid. Like the seatposts, it is a work of engineering art. I think I might keep it and cancel the order for the Cinelli stem, especially since the Ergobrain will hide the front of the stem.


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## luke66 (Oct 12, 2005)

Hey Rossb , 

Nice bike ! 
I got a new 565 titan just finished to build 1 month ago and i love new color and graphics for the 2006 model . 
Sorry , but i don't understand just one thing on your building . 
Why do you keep the top of the fork out of your bar ? 
All the LBS in Italy cut off the rest of the fork , probably just a matter of fashion . 
Anyway , congratulation for your 585 !


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## ChristianB (Jul 27, 2004)

You shouldn't cut your fork until your completely sure you have the right amount of spacers for an optimal fit.. I added and removing spacers for over 2 months, until finally conlcluding it was better without any and then cutting it...


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## luke66 (Oct 12, 2005)

You're right Christian ! 
I wish you great rides on your beautiful country !!


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## ChristianB (Jul 27, 2004)

Thanks. 

Have you ever visited Denmark? If you have, you'll know it's nice, but cold and rather flat


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

For the many of you wondering what a Look 585 would look like with Velocity Aerohead wheels and red GP4000 tires, here is the same bike as above.



















I rode the Aeroheads for the first time today - these were bought as cheap training wheels - and although they cost about a third as much as the DT Swiss 1450s, they are much nicer than I expected. Very smooth and comfortable (they are, I understand, the same rims that Velomax/Easton use on the excellent Ascent and Orion wheels), and while I'm sure the hub cannot compare with the DT Swiss hub, I was very happy with the ride, and did not notice the extra 200 or 300g compared to the DT Swiss wheels. The GP4000s are also sweet tires.


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## rensho (Aug 5, 2003)

Rossb, I like that waterbottle. Where do i get one of those?


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## rossb (Oct 11, 2005)

I had the bike built at Cheeky Monkey Cycles in Sydney, who also sold me the DT Swiss wheels and threw in a couple of free bottles. I'm sure they would be shocked and thrilled to get an overseas order for some water bottles!


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