# 'Look' - Keen but Concerned



## Originalyappa (Aug 20, 2007)

Hey,
I am in the market for a new bike, i am tossing up between a few manufacturers, Look being one of them. 
I hear a lot of postive feedback from different about the ride quality of the Look. Even bike shops who don't sell look, have good things to say about them.

My only concern is that as i scan over the Threads in 'Look' there seems to be quite a few problems with the workmanship of the frames, ie, cracks, squint seat post, paint issues etc. This has unsettled my enthusiasm on getting a Look.
Yeah i hear alot about Chas and how great he is in assisting people with their problems, but a) i am not in the USA, b) there shouldn't be any problems in the first place, especially when you are forking out $$$ on top market frames. Isn't that one of the reasons why they cost so much.... the workmanship should be top notch. 
and c) i don;t want to spend $$$ to then send the frame off for several weeks (leaving me without a bike and hoping that it will be covered by the warranty )
Has Look had a change in managment in the manufacturing or quality control departments?

Can anyone out there persuade me to trust in the workmanship of Look after hearing about all these problems, especially when they are the '07,'08 models?


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

Originalyappa said:


> Hey,
> I am in the market for a new bike, i am tossing up between a few manufacturers, Look being one of them.
> I hear a lot of postive feedback from different about the ride quality of the Look. Even bike shops who don't sell look, have good things to say about them.
> 
> ...


Look makes fine bikes.
Here is my response to your question,

a) Where are you?
b) At times there will be some issues even if you pay a ton of $$$ for any items you buy.
For example, once in a while even a Lexus has to be taken in for the unschedule service...
c) If you don't want to pay $$$$ for a Look frame then your question b) is kind of doesn't needed to be answered?

Anyway, I think Look has been building the CF frame for a long time and their product is superior (IMO).

Have fun shopping for a new bike!


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*thoughts...*

If a company sells hundreds of good frames and one bad one, you'll hear more about the one bad one than all of the good ones. I think you're drawing a conclusion without good information about the percentage of problems. If you don't live in the USA, you need to look up the location of your nearest dealer or importer. 

I have the opposite impression. I've owned three LOOK frames - an older KG381, a KG 461 and now a special edition red/carbon 585. All have been great. The paint on the 585 is one of the best I've ever seen. I won't hesitate to buy another.


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## jm3 (Mar 22, 2003)

One thing you should keep in mind is that there's no other manufacturer monitoring these forums that will answer any and all inquiries/issues that their customers have. Look does, and so you hear about warranty issues. It's a chance they're willing to take when all others would rather hide warranty problems from the general public. Also keep in mind that Look has what I believe to be the most generous warranty policy in the industry. Put those two things together, and what you should come away with is that Look, as a company, backs their products like no one else.

I'm sure Look doesn't enjoy having warranty issues exposed and discussed on what is likely the most popular cycling community on the web, but they deal with them in a quick and professional manner, and they're open about known issues that come up. While other manufacturers duck and deny construction issues, Look is up front and personally involved. It's a perk that comes with the ownership of a Look frameset - in other words, all the more reason to feel secure about your purchase.


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## toonraid (Sep 19, 2006)

I have a couple of Look frames and a couple of colnago frames. From time to time certain models suffer a design flaw with every manufacturer what is important is how do they deal with it? Look are pretty good at sorting out problems - 5 yr warranty should give you extra assurance and they are good to their word unlike Italians (read italian forums to see how they deal with problems). My 2 frames are both older carbon frames from 2000 and 2004 and they have held up my 220 lbs which you expect from a frame manufacturer with 22 yrs experience in carbon frames.

Now on to their problems - 595 seatpost seems to be creating a lot of problems;

1st - there is the ongoing paint cracks which we have been told by chas was an issue with early 07 model that has been sorted but I have seen a couple of 08 models suffer the same problem here.

2nd - there was a case of misaligned seatpost on 595 which was apparently due to a faulty batch.

As far as I know there has not been any real problems with any other model so for extra assurance buy 555 or 585 and you will be very happy with quality. Having said that 595 is getting rave reviews for being one of the best handling bikes out there and forum member are still buying it or thinking about buying one (like me).


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## Originalyappa (Aug 20, 2007)

*Some good points*

Some very good points raised, your comments have assured me. I am thinking about the 595 or the 586. 
I am in the UK, does anyone know who i would contact 'if' i had any issues? Would it be the lbs i bought it from? What if i bought it from an online shop, could i go directly to the distributor?

Cheers


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*info...*

http://www.lookcycle.com/corporate/distributeurs/v2/pages_distrib/angleterre.php


http://www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk/publ...frames/lookframes/index.html?action=page&id=2


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