Look Bicycles

Look is based in France, where top cyclists can be revered as gods. It's such a great place to ride it's almost sad to think of Look's engineers being stuck inside at their desks. It's a good thing for us, though, because Look isn't just another bike company. They're true innovators.

Look was an early adopter of carbon fabrication and now offers things like carbon nanotubes and full-carbon dropouts that other companies are struggling to copy.

So what? Well, in addition to being lighter than bonding aluminum to carbon, it forced Look to invent the processes that create carbon so strong and crushproof that you can really crank down on your skewers without any concern whatsoever.

Understanding carbon the way they do allows Look to design amazingly light yet incredibly strong bikes. But what really sets them apart is how they ride. 3RDnature owner, Michael McTigue, feels that after his custom Parlee Z1, the Look 595 is the smoothest riding bicycle out there. It soaks up bumps and road chatter so well it will spoil you forever.

But it doesn't flop around like a wet noodle to accomplish its amazingly comfortable ride. Nor does it use excess resin or goofy gel inserts that exist purely to compensate for bad design. Look sculpts its frames out of carbon like an artist inspired by the beauty of stone. These are very handsome bikes that get attention wherever they go. But you won't need compliments to make you smile because the ride is just so spectacular.

No need to take our word for it. Take a bike for a week and see what you think. Then find a way to break it to your current ride gently.