With the gravel-directed reorganisation of its clipless pedal range, Look has been thinking very hard about what gravel is, because let’s face it, it’s one blurry genre. Now unveiling its new C85 Cezal platform, the brand claims the bike tears up the rule book with another that blends the characteristics of road and mountain bikes.
When designing the C85 Cezal, Look had a few goals, as every brand does. It wanted to create a bike that is fast yet playful, one with ‘perfect’ geometry, one that’s versatile, and one that’s ‘bold’. With that in mind, Look says that the bike should appeal to the gravel racer, all-rounder, and bikepacker, so the C85 could well be the one bike to do it all.
To hit all of those notes, the C85 Cezal is built around a carbon frame and fork, and offers tyre clearance for up to 57mm wide, or 2.25″ up front, while the rear gets slightly less space. If you’re running a 1x drivetrain, you could pop in a 50mm rear tyre, but if it’s 2x, that gets slimmed down to 45mm. Within that frame is a downtube storage space, and of course, there’s internal cable routing that runs through the bar. Joys.
That carbon frame benefits from Look’s 3D Wave System. It’s basically a pair of wavey-shaped seat stays that, we’re told, produces 15% more flexibility than a regularly curved tube. With modern gravel going over rough terrain, any increase in compliance is certainly welcome.
Corrected to run a suspension fork with 60mm of travel, Look has gone for a geometry that balances response and confidence, just by looking at the numbers. A medium frame gets a 70-degree head tube angle, a 74-degree seat tube angle and a 425mm chainstay length. While Look doesn’t provide any numbers, it states that it has chosen a shorter wheelbase to encourage a responsive feel. The stack is then graced with a range of settings… so the bike’s steerer tube is long. This has been done to add a tonne a flexiblity to choose your riding position. You can slam the stem for pro aero steeze, or raise it for a more upright and comfortable stance.
Speaking of aero, the G85 Cezal is available with a choice of two cockpits. The stock cockpit consists of Look’s LS3 stem combined with Deda’s Superzero Gravel bar. Throw in another €790 (ouch), and you can go for the Look Aero Carbon stem and bar. Both feature full internal cable routing but the aero bar gets a -13 degree rise and a more aero profile. If you’re looking to go racing, this may be the option for you, if you have deep pockets, of course.
Prices and spec
The G85 Cezal line up is made up of three bikes, with a frame and fork option available for €2,490. The range of builds starts at €3,490 for the Shimano GRX 820 1×12-equipped machine that rolls on Fulcrum Lite GR 2WF wheels.
Up the spend to €5,730 and you’ll get Shimano GRX Di2 shifting and Fulcrum’s recent Soniq Carbon 2WF wheels. The range then tops out at €6,490, which’ll land you with SRAM’s Force XPLR 13-speed groupset and Fulcrum Soniq Carbon wheels. All of these bikes get Hutchin Toureg tyres, apart from the GRX 820 bike, which is wrapped with Schwalbe G-Ones.
None of these gets the fancy aero cockpit, so if that’s your bag, budget for an extra €790.
