Competitive Cyclist

LOOK 586 ORIGIN

The 586 is both old and new in the Look frame line-up. They experimented with monocoque frames early on, back in the 1990s, but ultimately decided to drop the design from their offerings because they felt they couldn't tune the ride as well on a one-piece frame than they could using a more traditional, though equally high-tech, tube and lug construction. Their conclusion back then was the monocoque building method limited their ability to design the frame to ride the way they wanted a bike to handle and feel.

The monocoque design came back to the Look stable with the 586 because Look designers felt they finally could offer a bike that rode like a Look. An added benefit to the design is they could build it featherlight and still offer a ride the way they wanted it. None of that "light but rides like a board" business.

The Cofidis cycling team, Look's ProTour squad, allows each rider to choose whichever frame they want for every race. The 586 comes out for the hilly one-day races and mountainous Grand Tour stages.

The choice is striking. That they'd choose the lightest frame offered (940g in size S with uncut seat mast) is no surprise. More telling, perhaps, is the fact that the 586 has a slightly shorter top tube and taller head tube in comparison to the 595 and 585. Its geometry emphasizes a bit more all-day comfort and stability than super-touchy handling at high speed. When, like the Cofidis riders, you have back-to-back-to-back races that take five to seven hours apiece, a little extra comfort can go a long way. The comfort is in more than just the geometry; it's also in the stays, which are designed to increase lateral stiffness while allowing vertical compliance. They do this by shaping each seat and chainstay with an area that is flattened on the vertical plane, with increased width on the horizontal.

The E-Post seat mast is one of the many places where a close examination shows that Look is giving serious consideration to every detail of their frames. The mast has 3cm of vertical adjustment build in, so you can fine-tune and adjust for different saddles. The setback of the seat clamp is adjustable as well, from 15mm back to 45mm. The shape is not round, but oval-ish, so you can't put the saddle in wrong. And then, to really separate their work from the rest, Look offers three different durometer elastomers to fine-tune the road vibrations felt (or not) coming from the frame to the saddle. The whole E-Post assembly is made of carbon and weighs 213g.

Since Look manufactures both the frame and the fork, they also have a unique way to set the fork in the frame. The fork has a short stack of threads on an aluminum collar locked into the steerer tube via a pin that the threaded cap screws into. The cap is adjusted via a bottom bracket tool. This removes the weight (40g) and the stress of an expander plug inside the steerer tube and the vagaries of human error when adjusting the headset and/or replacing the stem. Here you can see they are saving both weight and reducing the chances of human error and mechanical failure. The cap itself is designed to fail before the fork does.

The fork, the HSC6, is a monocoque fork designed to work with the Look 586 and 595 frames only. It is one structural unit from the steerer to the compressed carbon dropouts, as all of the fork components are molded at the same time. The result is total integration of the resin and fiber throughout and tremendous strength. It weighs a svelte 350g uncut. The steerer tube tapers from 1 1/8" diameter at the top to 1 1/4" at the bottom for light weight and greater stiffness. The bearings for the headset are from FSA.

The compressed carbon fiber rear dropouts, molded as one with the rear triangle, have a replaceable derailleur hanger. The same thinking goes into the front derailleur "braze-on." The mount is actually riveted and replaceable; it is there so people can't over-torque their front derailleur clamp and crack the seat tube, it also saves weight, can be repaired in case of disaster, and allows frame designers more flexibility when designing frame shapes.

The Look 586 comes with the Look E-Post Ti, including spacers and three sets of elastomer blocks. Also included are matching cable housings, in-line cable adjusters, and a black bike cover. Look warranties the frame for five years; the paint and finish have a one-year warranty. The bottom bracket is English threaded.

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2010 Look 586 Origin Pricing

2010 Look 586 Origin Geometry

Size	Seat Tube c-c	Seat Tube c-t	Actual Top Tube	Effective Top Tube	Head Tube	Seat Angle	Head Tube Angle
49	42.5	49.0	50.7	52.0	10.9	74.75	71.5
51	46.0	50.4	51.9	53.0	12.7	74.25	72.0
53	49.5	52.0	53.0	54.0	14.9	74.0	73.0
55	53.0	55.0	55.5	56.0	15.7	73.75	73.0
57	55.0	57.0	57.1	57.5	17.9	73.0	73.0