8-1-07 // Online Exclusive: Look's MTB Pedals and XC Bikes

Meet Quartz

Look has been a leader in road bike and pedal technology for more than 20 years, but aside from a brief foray into mountain biking with the S2S and S2R pedals in the mid 1990s, and its more recent 4x4 design, the French manufacturer has basically avoided the dirt. That’s changing now, as Look launches a new line of mountain bikes and mountain bike pedals for 2008. Bike recently attended Look’s 2008 product launch in Los Gatos, California, and while much of the focus was on its high-end road bikes, we zeroed in on the dirt offerings. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming from Look:

QUARTZ PEDAL
The old Look S2R pedal was a big, bulbous contraption that, although short-lived, attracted hard-core devotees including cross-country legend Tinker Juarez. But for all its attributes—large, stable platform and bomber durability among them—the S2R was too heavy for most tastes. It took a while for Look to come up with the new Quartz design, but a peek at the prototypes indicates that Look is serious about its efforts. Three models of the Quartz will be offered—the Quartz Carbon Ti (about $400), Quartz Carbon (about $200) and Quartz (about $100)—each with the same basic design.

Although we weren’t able to ride the pedals in Los Gatos, the prototypes we examined have a clean, simple design. The Quartz offers a fairly large platform and weighs about 230 grams per pair, which would be lighter than its main competitors in that price range. And Look feels its simple, open design makes the Quartz an excellent mud shedder.

One of the reasons the Quartz is so light is that it has no coil spring. A possible drawback to the design is that it doesn’t offer adjustable tension. We’ll know more when the pedal is released in a few months, but pro racers including Laurence Leboucher and Miguel Martinez have been testing the Quartz for nearly a year, and Look says they should be available in October.

LOOK 986 XO AND X9
There’s no doubt that Look is sticking to its racing heritage with the introduction of its new mountain bike line. The 986 is a lightweight carbon climbing machine. And like it or not, it’s also one of the first mountain bikes to utilize the integrated seatpost trend that has become common in road bikes. With a monocoque front triangle and “tube to tube” rear triangle, this is a no-nonsense package aimed at burning up XC courses. Like the Quartz pedal, the 986 has been undergoing testing by pro racers in France. Riders including Leboucher and Martinez have had input with the design.

The 986 will be available in two build kits, the SRAM XO (about $5,500) and the SRAM X9 (about $4,500). The frame will be sold for about $2,500. A medium 986 frame weighs about 1,200 grams, and the XO complete bike is around 21 pounds.

Besides the fact that it’s a hardtail in an era of full-suspension, the most obvious departure of the 986 is its integrated seatpost. The seattube extents upward beyond the toptube/seatstay juncture, and is then cut to fit. The E-Post (the E stands for elastomer) then attaches to the frame and offers 3 centimeters of vertical adjustment with spacers. In addition to added stiffness, the elastomer bumpers are said to offer a bit of compliance and vibration dampening. The elastomer blocks come in three different durometers for varying levels of dampening. Once you measure and cut the seat mast, there’s no slamming the saddle all the way down to navigate steep, fearsome drops. But if you’re looking for a no-holds-barred XC speed machine to add to your stable of bikes, keep your eyes peeled for the new 986.

“One could argue that the carbon hardtail segment of the market is pretty small,” said Ming Tan, vice president of marketing at Look. “But we think the people who have ridden our road bikes will be interested in them.”

Time will tell...

The Look 986 X0 (top) and X9 (bottom)