Look 785 Huez 105 Di2

The latest version of the Look 785 Huez boasts a stunning ride quality and geometry that makes for a race-orientated performance on all kinds of topography. This Shimano 105 Di2 model comes at a premium price, though, when compared with some very impressive competition.

> Buy now: Look 785 Huez 105 Di2 for €4,941.00 from Cicli Mattio

Check out our guide to the best road bikes for more options, from aero to endurance.

Look 785 Huez: Ride

Look knows a thing or two about creating a high-quality carbon frameset, and this latest 785 Huez is no exception. I've ridden a few Looks over the years (including the RS version of this bike's predecessor) and all of them have impressed me with their ride quality.

It's easy to make a frame stiff, or compliant, but to do both takes a bit of skill. To then deliver a bike with both of those attributes, and one that gives a ride quality akin to that of a high-quality steel or titanium frame, is a masterclass in both design and manufacturing.

This bike really is just a joy to ride, even on UK roads.

The 785 Huez range is designed primarily with climbing in mind, and while the weight isn't exceptionally light – it's 8.2kg on our scales – it's still decent for a build with a mid-range groupset and an alloy cockpit. After riding hundreds of bikes over the last 20 years, though, I can assure you that the weight on paper often has little bearing on how a bike actually responds in the real world – especially for amateur riders.

The Huez is a case in point. It felt impressively responsive when I gave the pedals a dig thanks to the stiffness through the lower half of the frame, and the smoothness of the ride means the Look feels planted as you are trying to get that power down.

It's the same on the descents. The Huez frameset has huge amounts of feedback, it's a really 'talkative' setup, which allowed me to push the bike hard through the tight and technical corners on my favourite test hill and to really let it go on the open faster sections.

The road surface on this descent has certainly deteriorated over the winter, and with the recent heavy rain washing a lot of grit onto the racing line the conditions were certainly challenging. The Huez felt so stable, though, that I could deal with whatever the surface dealt me without feeling tense or not confident that the bike was going to do what I asked it.

The geometry (I'll touch on the numbers in a bit) is proper road racer aggressive, with steep angles and a short wheelbase, which definitely gives it a nimble feel without coming across as flighty or a handful to ride.

It's a bike that responds very well indeed to your inputs, which makes it a real rider's bike. If you are like me and like a bike that highlights every single little detail that is going on, and – cliché alert – you want a bike that feels like a part of you as you hammer along on it, then this Huez is definitely worthy of some serious consideration when it's new bike time.

It'll come as no surprise that with the impressive ride quality I've mentioned, this is a very comfortable bike. It's as if Look has managed to isolate any high-frequency vibration buzz from the road to your contact points to such a point that even on long rides I felt no fatigue in my wrists or lower back.

Some very slender seatstays no doubt contribute to the rear end plushness, and that's with the standard 25mm tyres fitted. With most road bikes coming in for review these days with 28mm and 30mm tyres as standard, it's not that common to see rubber this thin, but it's certainly not to the Huez's detriment.

Summing up the ride, I'd say the Huez covers everything expected of a high-end race bike, and thanks to the excellent ride quality it shows that performance doesn't have to come at a cost to comfort.

Look 785 Huez: Frame & fork

Look made its first carbon fibre frame in 1986, and as I touched on above, the company definitely knows a thing or two about creating a frameset with an excellent ride.

The 785 Huez uses high-modulus carbon fibre nano-tubes which build into a frame weighing around 980g for a size medium. The tubes' wall thicknesses are tweaked depending on the size of the frame, so thicker for larger frames and thinner for smaller frames, to keep a consistent ride quality.

The fork adds 390g.

It's a clean-looking setup, with fully integrated hoses and wires, and the inclusion of just two bottle cage positions in terms of bolt-ons.

This latest version is running a T47 bottom bracket, a switch we are seeing on a lot of new road and gravel bikes as it marries the benefits of a press-fit system's larger diameter for stiffness with the reliability and ease of fitment of a threaded system.

Tyre clearance is good, too, at 32mm.

Personally, I think it's a good-looking bike and after a quick look inside, the Huez looks to be well made and the paintjob is also proving to be robust.

Five sizes are available, from XS to XL. Top tube lengths range from 509.3mm to 576.3mm.

The medium model we have here has a 543mm top tube, and stack and reach figures of 567.3mm and 385.6mm respectively, so fairly typical. The head tube is 140.7mm and sits at 73 degrees, while the seat tube is 530mm and 74.5 degrees.

Moving on to the fork, we're talking a length of 368mm and an offset of 43mm.

Look 785 Huez: Groupset

The 785 Huez is available in a range of builds, with this model specced with Shimano's entry-level electronic road groupset, 105 Di2. It's a great groupset (as you'll see from my full review of it), offering quick, precise shifting and plenty of braking power.

To fit in with its climbing aspirations we have a 50/34-tooth compact chainset and an 11-34T cassette, which gives a lowest 1:1 gear of 26 inches and tops out at 120 inches when running the 50x11T. That gives plenty of spread for all kinds of terrain.

The brake rotor is a 160mm up front and a 140mm rear, which I think is pretty much the perfect setup for this kind of bike; they'll provide all of the stopping power you'll need.

Look 785 Huez: Finishing kit

Look provides all of the other finishing kit. Its alloy LS3 Aero handlebar comes in different widths depending on frame size, as does the alloy LS3 stem's length.

The LS2 carbon fibre seatpost is a standard 27.2mm round design, which gives you the option to upgrade it with an off-the-shelf model should you so wish. Look even provides the saddle, its Short Fit Dynamic model. I got on well with the shape and found it very comfortable.

In fact, I'd say the same about all of the finishing kit – it's not overly flash, especially for a bike at this price, but it's functional and works well.

Look 785 Huez: Wheels & tyres

The wheels are the R 38 D Carbons, with 38mm-deep carbon fibre rims and a mere 20 spokes front and rear. Overall, their performance is very good, which doesn't really come as a major surprise; Look owns Corima wheels, which happens to make some excellent wheelsets.

Their weight is decent, and as for lateral stiffness, I found that to be impressive when riding hard out of the saddle.

The Fusion 5 tyres from Hutchinson have been around for a while now (we reviewed them in 2020) and while they aren't as supple as some on the market, they roll well and offer good levels of grip in most conditions.

Look 785 Huez: Value

This 105 Di2 model has an RRP of £5,690 and sits second in the line-up, one below the Ultegra Di2 model which costs £6,490.

Two cheaper models are also available, which drop the carbon wheels in favour of alloy offerings, with the Rival eTap AXS build costing £4,990 and a 105 mechanical model priced at £3,390.

If you like to build your own bike, then Look sells the frameset, including the stem, for £2,490.

When you look at bikes designed for a similar purpose as the 785 Huez, there are many that look to be much more competitive in terms of pricing.

Giant's TCR is a great all-rounder, for instance, and so good we chose it as our bike of the year – light enough to be a good climbing machine with some aero tweaks for the flat sections. The Advanced Pro models are the mid-range options, with the Advanced Pro 1 Di2 coming with a similar build to this Look, as in 105 Di2 with carbon fibre wheels. It's much less than the 785 Huez, at £4,899, although the Ultegra Di2 Advanced Pro 0 model is similar in price to the Ultegra Di2 Huez at £6,499.

Merida's Scultura is designed as an all-round race bike, and all of the models I've reviewed have performed very well indeed, both in terms of ability and comfort. They are very well priced, too, with the Scultura 8000 costing £4,800 – and that's with an Ultegra Di2 groupset, carbon Reynolds wheels and a carbon cockpit. That model does use Merida's lower grade CF3 frame, though, whereas the Scultura 9000 with the same finishing kit but the higher grade CF5 frameset jumps to £5,800.

The ride quality of the 785 Huez reminds me of the Fara F/Road, a bike that can also accept 32mm tyres. You can spec your own build or choose an off-the-shelf option, like the F/Road Performance which comes with Ultegra Di2, an integrated carbon cockpit and Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels for £5,890.

Look 785 Huez: Conclusion

There is no arguing that the 785 Huez does struggle against the competition in a like-for-like build, and while I'd be tempted to say that it's worth paying the premium price if ride quality is the most important thing on your list, when I look back at the list above, they all have great ride qualities.

That said, I'd still definitely recommend you consider the Look as it's a beautiful bike to ride; I just don't know if I'd personally pay the extra cash for it.

> Buy now: Look 785 Huez 105 Di2 for €4,941.00 from Cicli Mattio

Verdict

Stunning bike to ride, but at a premium price