# Look Ride Melbourne



## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

Hey Guys 

Went for a ride witht the loal importers of Look here in Melbourne today. With special guest the International sales manager from Look in France. Here are some photos and I will have some more to come. My KG 86 got to meet the lastest 695 and i did get to ride one to YAY


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## sp3000 (Jul 10, 2007)

Wow, I would have popped down to Melb to go on that ride! I want to see more close ups!


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## Chris Keller (May 19, 2008)

how was the 695?? Was it the SR version?


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

Chris Keller said:


> how was the 695?? Was it the SR version?


Ok Unfortunately it was only a quick ride 4 or 5 min, the seat post was way to high so couldn' sit on it properly. I dont htink it was the sr version as it didnt seem overley stiff 

It was responsive but not harsh it seemed to soak up the minor bumps on the road in a similar way to my 585. But it was quite a bit stiffer. I was chatting to the first person in Australia to take delivery of one, (apparently "he doesnt need a good road bike") and he said it was very responsive and awsome in the hills and amazing on the decents. 

It had the new blade pedals on it and I loved them they are awsome in out crisp and clean no inbetween and not hesitaion and have added them to the list of upgrades lol 

Over all it was a great morning and I hope they organise one again soon I may even talk to them about making it a regular thing 

More photos soon 


Twiggy


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

Ok as per the request i got to ask one of Maximums questions in the limited time i had with the Look Rep
it was 

What is the reasoning behind the 585 and 595 going away? Why did they downsize their line-up? 

His answer 
It was a very hard decission to drop the 585 and the 595 especially the 585 as it has been their number one bike for so many years but the market demands inovation and new technology and new products. Look has spent a lot of time developing the new technology for the 695 . I asked if there was more models in the works using this technology? HE said that there is always something new lol. so i guess we will have to wait and see what they come up with next year lol 

He also said that the day he had to hand back his company 585 was a very sad day. he loved it. 

Sorry i didnt get to ask any more questions but he was in high demand as you could imagine.


Twiggy


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

awesome twiggy! :jealous:


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

Thanks for asking and posting the response. I buy about half of it, however.


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

maximum7 said:


> Thanks for asking and posting the response. I buy about half of it, however.



We will have to wait and see i guess and see what happens 

Twiggy


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## SaddleTime (Nov 23, 2009)

That's kind of a strange response in this case. If any company has a product that is CURRENTLY popular, there has to be more of a case made for discontinuing the line than simply that the market likes to see innovation. From an economics-of-manufacturing-and-sales standpoint, replacing two popular and well-selling models (585 & 595) with new technologies/models involves having to design the new technology, reorganize manufacturing processes, work through inevitable teething problems with new models, sell an unknown entity to the public, etc. If it was me I'd love to keep selling the older, loved, models until they're no longer selling in enough volume to warrant using up part of my manufacturing capacity. I have yet to hear anyone lament that the 585s and/or 595s suffer from poor performance, poor reliability or being out-dated versus their competitors... 

After all, there aren't many currently-sold bikes that have had so much face time at the top levels of the sport (ie TdF, Giro, etc.). Cervelo is still using and selling their highly successful R3, RS, P2 and the long-term performer S1/Soloist that is still in production after more than 10 years on the market. If it works and people like it, stick with it.

The owner of my LBS said that he has heard manufacturing is being moved from France/Algeria to the Far East and his personal (and admittedly unconfirmed) suspicion is that, because the lugged construction of the 585 and 595 requires more skilled hands-on work, they're being cut in favor of the remaining LOOK lines that will not require these skills in their manufacture.

I'm not saying that I necessarily believe this, but I guess it's possible.

Sorry about the rant. Just my 48 cents-worth.


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

> The owner of my LBS said that he has heard manufacturing is being moved from France/Algeria to the Far East and his personal (and admittedly unconfirmed) suspicion is that, because the lugged construction of the 585 and 595 requires more skilled hands-on work, they're being cut in favor of the remaining LOOK lines that will not require these skills in their manufacture.


This is exactly what I am thinking as well. 
The mono-block frames are easier/cheaper to make. They must be having to tighten their belt over there in France. 
What's sad is that the replacements are either way more expensive or, not on the same level performance-wise. 

I also don't understand why Look doesn't grow it's presence in the US. I think they are really missing the mark over here.


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## flying (Feb 17, 2004)

If that is true they should re-think their policies..

Change for the sake of change does not mean a thing.

Also if the rep loved his 585 so much he should have just said he wanted to buy it :thumbsup: 

We will see............My 585 has legs yet to run....But if & when I need/want a new frame if they do not have a lugged cf frame I will have to look
( no pun intended) elsewhere. I hope not as I have been loyal to Look since 2002 with my KG381 & now my 585


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## varian72 (Jul 18, 2006)

Gonna find me an 08 585 ultra somewhere. Has to be new though. Purely economics is the reason. No other reason to discontinue and shrink. Poor strategy IMHO. Thru could have tweaked the 585 and made it "sexy" if they'd wanted. Sales may have been waning as well.


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## maximum7 (Apr 24, 2008)

I don't know how much stiffer the 695 is compared to the 595. I also don't know how many people can plunk down $5500 for a frame either. 
Also from what people have said, the 585/595 were stiffer than the 586. That doesn't leave customers with a lot of options if they need a stiff bike. 

From their website it looks like they may have changed the carbon lay-up on the integrated 586 so maybe it can compete with the 5-8/9-5.


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

the 585 and the 586 were / are already being made in tunisia africa at looks own factory and have been for many years 

the 695 is an amazing ride, but it is true not many ppl can fork out 8k for a frame (aud) 
although the guy i was riding with did say he didnt need a good road bike thats why he got the 695 sr ??? (work that out)

apart form the 566 all bikes are still made by Look even if it is in another country they still own the factory. and the 695 technology has been honed and perfected for the last 5 years 
so the are they arent really selling an unknow product but it is unknown to us. 

It will be interesting to see what they have up there sleeve? Can they come up with another cult classic like the 585??? that remains to be seen and will take years to find out. Lucky for me it will be years before i am looking for a new ride so i might be lucky lol 

Twiggy


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## SaddleTime (Nov 23, 2009)

twiggy - did the 695 come out 5 years ago? I understood the 595 came out 5 years ago as the replacement for the 585 at the top level, and the 695 took over this year. 

My biggest issue with the "new technology at all costs" mentality is the number of major proprietary items on some of these new bikes: don't like the new crank (or you want to put a SRM power crank on)? Tough: the LOOK crank is your only option because it is the only one that'll fit in the BB hole. Don't like the fork (or you break one and can't easily get a replacement)? Tough: the head tube only accepts the specific and unusual taper. Don't like the LOOK stem? Well, that's what works here.

I'm not arguing that the technology isn't good or that it won't hit the mainstream in a couple of years, but that's a pretty expensive speculation, especially when the choices that current prospective LOOK buyers have are good quality but offer a lot of alternatives, parts- and support-wise. 

Who knows - maybe I'll end up eating my words and owning one of the new models in a few years. That I should be so lucky...


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## twiggy73 (Jan 19, 2010)

What i meant was that Look have been working on the 695 for over 5 years its not new to them. Look have never really made a terrible bike so there would have been alot of testing before this was released to the market 

there are other options for the crank with an adapter not sure about the stem. 

but from the short ride i had I would have one if i had the money lol but that would mean divorce lol 

Twiggy


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