For 2012, Look is introducing two new mountain bikes aimed at the xc race community – the Look 920 Full Suspension and the Look 986 Hardtail.
The standout design feature for both bikes is the integrated stem and headset Look are calling the A-stem. The new head tube/stem arrangement has divided opinion in the mags, but there’s no denying both the hardtail and the full suss bikes look fast and ready to race.
Look 920 2012 full suspension carbon mountain bike
The 920 is aimed at pro xc riders and mountain marathon racers. With 120mm of travel front and rear the 920 is also a very capable trail bike, even flirting with all-mountain terrain.
With the integrated A-Stem, the 920 certainly has personality – lean and mean, poised and ready to race, and the bike definitely looks fast, if a bit too futuristic for some.
The integrated design reduces the height of the pivot, giving the bike an aggressive, race-ready riding position whilst still providing generous travel and decent handling.
One advantage of the A-Stem integration is that you don’t need to use spacers. Height and reach is adjusted by changing the stem to one of four available lengths and flipping over a reversible bracket to give a +/- 5mm variation in height. All stem sizes meet the head tube in the same streamlined way and the Look 920 also benefits from a tapered head tube.
The front triangle and swingarm are made of VHM 3K carbon. The rear suspension linkage on the top end models also employs a composite construction but the entry level bike substitutes carbon for aluminium here which adds 50 grams. A stainless steel plate protects the down tube from impact. The cable guide on the bottom bracket is heavy duty enough to
protect from flying rocks and a chain slap is potected against with an aluminium guard.
Looking at the bike side on reveals a nice clean design: single pivot rear suspension and a damping curve suported by a rocker link. The axles are oversized (12 and 15mm) and the bearings are fitted with dust seals.
Removing a pivot point, saves weight and reduces maintenance and improves lateral ridgidity. The rear shock travel to spacing ratio is a standard 120mm to 190mm conforming to rear shock market standards – handy if you ever need to swap the shock. The pivot point at 71mm above the axis of the rear wheel creates a smooth transition throughout the compression of the shock, so according to Look, there’s no break jack.
The new Look 920 is chomping at the bit to be let loose at your next xc race. For a 120mm bike the Look is incredibly light; in fact the top end model with Carbon Kit and full SRAM XX weighs in at just 10.26kg (22.62lbs).
Look 920 2012 specifications
Weight: 2.4 kg for the carbon frame kit (inc. shock, seatpost and pivots). 2.5 kg kit for the aloy frame (inc. shock, seatpost and pivots)
Available from: Slane Cycles
Sizes: XS, S, M and L
Price : 2999.99 GBP (carbon frame kit)
Look 986 2012 hardtail carbon mountain bike
A carbon hardtail mountain bike designed for racing, Look has used its road bike heritage to design a super fast mountain bike. A complete build can weigh as low as 9.2 kg, so it’s a really efficient bike when it comes to climbing. The use of carbon has meant that Look can deploy what it’s learnt from road bike design and add ridgidity where necessary, for instance in the rear triangle, but flex elsewhere through the frame for high speed off road.
The hardtail version of Look’s head turner will take 100mm forks and is available in standard seatpost (Regular Seat Post) and integrated (E-Post). The integrated seatpost (borrowed from triathlon bikes), is isolated from the carbon frame using specialised rubber inserts which also add some forward and rear flex to the saddle.
The front triangle of the carbon frame is identical to the Look 920 full suspension bike. Compared to the previous model, you’ll notice that the tubes are much beefier. The Look 986 has the same protection from impact and uses the same BB30 bottom bracket as the 920 which allows a reduction in weight whilst improving the transfer of power through the cranks.
Look 986 2012 specifications
Weight: 1.2kg (RSP), 1.3kg (E-Post)
Availability: January 2012
Sizes : S, M et L
Price : 2,199€ & 1,999€ (frame only), from 2,999€ to 6,529€ (complete bike)
For more information, head over to lookcycle.com.
