Curious about the sizing. I am 5’11 and have long legs short torso (short and tall) From what I understand I can fit on the (s) (m) and (L)??? but the small and large are the tri frames?
I am on a 54cm p3c now, just curious what size LOOK might suit me.
The 596 comes in XS, S, M and L. I’m 6-3 and will be on the large, which, I’m told is about a 56?
Rappstar seems to have a pretty good grasp on this bike. Perhaps he will chime in. He’ll probably want to know your stack and reach numbers though. I think the reach number is important for sizing with this bike between the various sizes in particular.
I have had a little experience fitting these so far, and I am going to go ahead and guess that if you are on a 54 P3C, you can probably rule out the large. If I had to guess simply by the bike you are currently riding, I am going to guess Small. I seriously doubt it would be the XS, maybe Medium.
Again, since you have no fit numbers posted, this is all a guess. I am 6’4" and ride a large, doubt that same bike would fit you. Also, the reach on the XS is pretty short, probably not that one either.
Good luck, great bike.
I’ll likely be at Look USA HQ later this week with my tape & crosshair laser to make a few of my own measurements to size one for a client. It gets interesting b/c the bike really has a range of effective stack heights (and a smaller associated range of reach values). Anyways ping me later this week and I’ll hopefully have some “equivalent” S&R numbers, if noone else has any posted yet.
Assuming he’s willing, I’ll let Karl be my stand in for the moment. I’ve sent Karl most of what I’ve generated in writing, and I am confident that he understands the nuances of the bike. But I’ll do my best to answer when I can.
i’m 5’10" (and some change) with long legs and i’m riding a SMALL. the stem is cranked up a bit higher than i’d like (that’s just me being vain with the look rather than function). but, if i went any bigger, the reach would be too far for me. you can see pics of my ride on here (the white one with the EC90 wheels)
the medium is a bit taller in the stack…with only a slightly longer reach. but again, i couldn’t really afford to have any more reach.
hope that helps man…
thought i would add that i didn’t cut the seat mast at all. it was actually perfect out of the box. if you happen to be longer-legged than me, then you might have to go with the MEDIUM for saddle height.
Best Bike I have ever ridden!!!
Love that kinky top tube.
5’7 riding XS.
: )
I am also 5’11" with very long legs and a comparatively short torso. My new 596 is size small. We had originally thought a medium was the correct size but as soon as I got on it, the guys at R&A were like, “that’s not the right size for you.” Ordered a small and everything feels good. I would try to get on one befroe you order anything. Once your bike comes in, make sure you DO NOT cut the seat mast until you are certain it’s the right size. Once they cut it, you own it.
Karl,
Unless you posted it elsewhere, did you make it to Look and determine the S & R measurements for the 596??
The 596 in the latest Triathlete mag (R&A ad) with the Hed Blackdog bars and Hed3C deeps wheels is absolutely gorgeous
I’m so envious of you guys and gals who are taking delivery of yours right now
.
R&A has an ad coming out in the next Inside Triathlon tat is going to be really, really cool. Al was telling me about it when I was up last weekend getting my 596. Very clever. I’ve put about 150 miles on my 596 and it is amazing. I still can’t get over how comfortable this thing rides paired with my HED C2 wheels. So cushy.
Regarding the stack and reach… Unfortunately LOOK isn’t very helpful here. I asked if there was an optimal stem angle range for the bike. They said that there wasn’t but that makes no sense. Surely there is. But until you know this then you can’t really figure out the stack and reach since there are 3 different sized stems that can be mounted in 2 different locations on the headset. I think any stack and reach numbers are going to have to make a few assumptions about stem placement to be valid. LOOK will tell you that you can achieve pretty much any fit with their front end but I know that STers like Jordan and Dan will have their own thoughts on this. For instance, Jordan wrote me the following regarding stem angle:
I think you’d want to keep the bike within the “normal” range of stems, which would mean, from my perspective 28 degrees up from horizontal (that’s a +10deg stem on a 72deg HTA) and 0degrees (parrallel to the ground). That’s what I’d deem “acceptable.”
I’d consider optimal to be a -6deg stem to a -17deg stem → 12deg up from horizontal to 0deg from horizontal.
hi everyone
Been MIA this week with “real” work & family visiting, sorry bout that. I did spend some time with the Look folks last week and ran some calculations of my own, using my own sense plus some of the stem angle assumptions Jordan & I traded notes on which I’ll post tomorrow when I’m back in the studio & have access to my numbers.
thanks
Did you also take into account all 3 stem sizes availabke when trying to figure this out. Stem size would obviouslky effect these numbers.
OK, back at the office…
First a little on methodology. My main goal was to come up with a way that users (me & consumers) could easily get a feel for how the 596 compares to other bikes. This is a bit risky, since the degree of adjustability on the 596 is significant, but nevertheless it’s needed. It’s up to the user to add the necessary intelligence and common sense to the numbers to arrive at a good frame selection.
So…my goal was to device “equivalent stack & reach” numbers that would result in the same fit if you were to start with a “normal” frame, drop on a stem at -17 deg and the same legnth as the 596 stem options (80, 92.5, 105. 117.5mm) and clamp on a pursuit bar. I wanted to work backwards from the bar clamp and get S&R numbers that gave an apples to apples comparison between a 596 and a bike that takes a normal stem.
This means that each 596 has TWO equivalent S&R pairs since there are 2 clamp points for the stem. Since you can adjust the stem to any angle (including vertical, which at least one pro racing for Look is doing) this really provides a starting point for frame selection, not the end story. Nevertheless, here’s what I came up with. Overall, this looks like a very long & low bike, but when you account for stem adjustability, it can set up much different, and I’ll give an example.
ES = Equivalent Stack, etc. “1” means for the top clamp location of the stem. 2 is the lower clamp, I’m still double checking those numbers.
XS ES1 = 493 ER1 = 426
S ES1 = 495 ER1 = 443
M ES1 = 527 ER1 = 454
L ES1 = 527 ER1 = 470
These take into account the typical stem clamp stack (I use 40mm).
So…how do you make the bike set up like a taller bike? You angle the stem at 45 degrees up. FOr example, with a 105mm stem this adds 74mm of vertical stack under the bars (105/square root(2)). It also results in a effective stem length of 88mm - i.e., the horizontal distance from the steering axis to where the bar is clamped (105/sqrt(2) + 48*cos(HTA))). 48mm is the offset from the steering axis to the line through the stem clamp location points. It’s perpendicular to the steering axis, hence the cos(HTA).
As Jordan had suggested in our emails, I used a -17 degree stem equivalent to set up the ES&R numbers since that makes the stem horizontal, or very close to it (HTA being close to 73).
Ok, enough trig for today, gotta run. I’m sure someone will help shoot a hole in some part of what I’ve done, or ask a question I did not think of, that’s kinda why I’m posting it here…
Cheers,
FYI, I don’t see the numbers for the lower stem position.
I feel you may be over complicating things. But it depends on what type of numbers you’re trying to generate.
From what Jordan said about the front end I calculated stack and reach of the pivots (in High and Low positions on 2 larger frames). To work out the centre of the bars is very simple. No need to worry about stem equivalence, this is much easier than a normal bike.
And I understand that you are trying to find a way to compare frames. But I don’t think that is the best way to do this, especially with non standard designs like Look and Felt. If you compare bar coordinates there is no fudging for negative reach or question about what a few mm difference in S or R will do.