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TECH NEWS

Tour de France 2015 Bikes: Bretagne-Seche Environnement’s Look 795

It's an aero bike with some interesting features, but the looks divide opinion

The Bretagne-Séché Environnement riders race on Look bikes, their road bike of choice being the 795. This particular bike belongs to Anthony Delaplace.

Judging by the comments below our story covering the release of the 795 last year, the appearance of the Look 795 divides opinion, but that’s hardly the point; this is a bike designed to be fast rather than to be pretty.

The 795 uses tube profiles based on NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) airfoils to reduce drag. These profiles are used for the head tube, down tube, seat tube, extended seatmast, seatstays and fork legs. The seat tube is cutaway around the leading edge of the rear wheel to manage airflow in that area, as you’ll see on most time trial bikes and many other aero road bikes these days.

The Aerostem monobloc stem, made from hollow high-modulus carbon fibre with hidden stainless steel clamp screws, integrates with the frame. It sits in a step that’s cutaway at the top of the head tube with a rubber shield filling the gaps.

The junction box of the Shimano Di2 electronic shift system can sit internally – there’s a little hatch at the front end of the head tube  – but Bretagne-Séché Environnement prefer to zip-tie it to the side of the stem, presumably so it’s more accessible for easy gear adjustments.

The composite handlebar is Look’s too, the tops shaped for aerodynamics.

The 795 comes in two versions: the Aerolight model with a front brake integrated into the fork and a rear brake mounted behind the bottom bracket, and in a Light version with conventional brakes. The pro riders race on the 795 Light because it makes it easier to fit wheels coming from neutral service during an event.

There’s not a lot of external cabling to disturb the airflow, just the front brake cable running outside the frame.

The seatpost is Look’s E-Post 2 which incorporates elastomers that are designed to dampen road vibration.

The bike is fitted with Look’s Zed 2 Monobloc carbon cranks which are length adjustable. As far as we know, this Zed 3 aero version hasn’t been released yet.

The Bretagne-Séché Environnement team measure power with Look/Polar Kéo Power pedals.

Chainset aside, the groupset is Shimano Dura-Ace Di2. Shimano actually supply components to 17 of the 22 teams in this year’s Tour de France.

The wheels are Carbon 58 Tubulars from American Classic with bladed spokes. The 58 refers to the rim depth in millimetres.

The tyres are Challenge Strada tubulars in a 25mm width. These are 300TPI and come with latex tubes.

That bit of tape just above the bottom bracket is to keep the front mech Di2 cable from getting rubbed by the rear wheel where it comes out of the frame.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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10 comments

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arckuk | 9 years ago
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Each to their own tastes, I suppose, but it looks to me like it's been beaten more than once with the ugly stick. The frame just seems so awkward. Photographing it in front of the bus in that shade of green doesn't complement the Mondrian colour scheme much either!

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jackh | 9 years ago
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Pretty cool in a kind of quirky French/Citroën way.

Remind anyone of the CX?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_CX#/media/File:Citro%C3%ABn_C...

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Jimbomitch | 9 years ago
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Why make the stem so aero, and then zip tie a junction box to the outside? I get the ease of access, but if you are doing that, don't go for the Gucci stem.

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I love my bike replied to Jimbomitch | 9 years ago
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I don't think they had any choice but use their own Look stem, but they could have put the box on the non-drive side & used double sided tape - much less visible.

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sponican replied to I love my bike | 9 years ago
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I love my bike wrote:

I don't think they had any choice but use their own Look stem, but they could have put the box on the non-drive side & used double sided tape - much less visible.

Or used the internal compartment in the stem as described in the article.

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Danger Dicko replied to Jimbomitch | 9 years ago
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Jimbomitch wrote:

Why make the stem so aero, and then zip tie a junction box to the outside? I get the ease of access, but if you are doing that, don't go for the Gucci stem.

If you look the Di2 control box is zip tied to the side of the stem so it will be in the air pocket created by the handlebars.
Most other teams have the control box underneath the stem in the airflow. I thought this was an great solution.

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Jimbomitch replied to Danger Dicko | 9 years ago
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Danger Dicko wrote:
Jimbomitch wrote:

Why make the stem so aero, and then zip tie a junction box to the outside? I get the ease of access, but if you are doing that, don't go for the Gucci stem.

If you look the Di2 control box is zip tied to the side of the stem so it will be in the air pocket created by the handlebars.
Most other teams have the control box underneath the stem in the airflow. I thought this was an great solution.

Good point, but the article states that the screws are hidden, I'm guessing for aerodynamics, so if you are chasing these 'marginal gains' why ruin it with a zip tie across the stem disrupting the airflow?

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adamthekiwi | 9 years ago
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The profile is slightly reminiscent of a dog - granted, a greyhound - having a dump...

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ibr17xvii | 9 years ago
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That is the business  16

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Chris James | 9 years ago
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What on earth is that saddle?

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