First ride review: Riding the Look G85 Cezal gravel bike to see if there's a place for an all-rounder in today’s gravel world

Look has launched its new G85 Cezal gravel bike today, and I've managed to test ride one already. While gravel bikes are increasingly differentiated into gravel race and gravel adventure specialisms, Look aims to offer a generalist that can be used for everything from racing to gravel adventure rides and light bikepacking.

Can one bike span the range of modern gravel riding? I rode the G85 Cezal in Tuscany to try and find out.

All boxes ticked – except one

Look claims that its updated gravel geometry, with a 70-degree head tube and 50mm trail in size M, offers stable handling but without losing playfulness.

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At the rear, the seat tube angle is 74 degrees, and the seatpost has a 5mm offset. Look claims these figures ensure maximum pedalling efficiency.

For comparative purposes, a size M frame has a 590mm stack and 380mm reach.

Look claims a 1,090g frame weight for the G85 Cezal’s carbon frame in size M, painted. It includes Look’s 3D Wave shape to the seat stays, which it claims offers up to 15% greater compliance than a straight stay.

Gravel tyres are trending ever wider, and Look has engineered the bike's clearance for a 50mm rear tyre into the new gravel bike, despite keeping the chainstay length down to 425mm. The fork has 57mm clearance, allowing a mullet tyre configuration with mismatched front and rear tyres.

There’s the usual array of mounting points, a UDH rear hanger, a T47 bottom bracket, and in-frame storage. A removable front mech hanger allows Look to sell two 1x and one 2x specs. You can swap in 650B wheels and fit a wireless dropper post too.

All of these features could be considered almost mandatory for a gravel bike launched today.

What Look doesn’t claim are any aero features. While adventure gravel riders probably don’t care, gravel race bikes often include aero frame features, as many brands claim that speeds in gravel races are now sufficient to warrant aerodynamic considerations.

Handling for tricky gravel race stretches

Despite the all-rounder design, Look claims that the G85 Cezal's handling gives it the edge over a dedicated gravel race bike in technical sections of courses.

Privateer gravel pro Russell Finsterwald won the Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona on the new bike’s first race outing.

Look claims that the bike’s handling contributed to him making up time in a technical singletrack section close to the finish, catching Andrew L’Esperance, who was four minutes ahead at one point, and beating him in a sprint to the line. Surely a nice marketing story, and a win is a win, but I was keen to see how the bike rode for myself.

The G85 Cezal’s geometry is suspension-adjusted, with a short head tube, and compatible with a suspension fork with up to 60mm travel. That’s more than a standard gravel fork, which now typically has 40mm travel, up from 30mm for first-generation gravel forks. Is this a sign of things to come?

Finsterwald says that he’s experimenting with different suspension vs rigid fork options, along with different tyre widths and mullet tyres to see which offers the best handling and performance in races. He reckons that 50mm is the sweet spot for tyre width, while 2.2in is good if there’s more singletrack on a race course. He also believes that the 50mm clearance will be an advantage if Unbound is muddy this year, which is probably something most would agree with.

If you do want to up the aero quotient for racing, Look has two different cockpits available for the bike, both with internal routing. The standard build has separate Deda bars and a Look stem and is compatible with extensions. For €790, you can upgrade to a one-piece Look aero bar/stem with a 200g claimed weight, and the G85 Cezal is also compatible with Look’s aero road bars.

Look G85 Cezal specs and prices

Prices for the G85 Cezal range from €6,490 with SRAM Force XPLR AXS and Fulcrum Soniq wheels, via €5,730 with 2x Shimano GRX 825 Di2 and Soniq wheels to €3,490 with 1x Shimano GRX 820 mechanical and Fulcrum Lite GR 2WF wheels.

The top two specs share the same Deda SuperZero Gravel alloy handlebars, Look x San Marco Shortfit Off-Road saddle on a carbon Look seatpost and Hutchinson Touareg 45mm tyres.

The entry spec keeps the bars and saddle, but subs in an alloy seatpost and Schwalbe G-One Perf 45mm tyres.

There’s also a frameset-only option, priced at €2,490.

Look G85 Cezal first ride

I test rode the Look G85 Cezal gravel bike in its top spec with SRAM Force XPLR AXS and Fulcrum Sharq wheels (replaced by Fulcrum Soniq Carbon wheels on the bike as sold) with 45mm Hutchinson Touareg tyres over two circuits of a gravel loop of just under 17km, with 365m of ascent at the launch event in Tuscany.

The bike was also fitted with Look’s new X-One G single-sided gravel bike pedals, designed to offer lower weight and a larger pedal platform than many gravel pedals.

The circuit started with a bang on a tarmac road that reared up to 20% gradients, rapidly gaining altitude as it snaked up into the hills to the west of Massa Marittima.

The Look’s reach is quite short, so it’s easy to get over the front wheel for extra leverage to haul yourself up the hills, while the bike’s modern features make for a planted ride feel.

There was a bit of squirm from the 45mm Hutchinson mm tyres run at around 30 psi / 2 bar when climbing on the road.

Stopping to check directions, I also experienced the downside of the single-sided pedals – at least when unfamiliar with the design – as I found it significantly more difficult to clip back in on the steep gradient than with a dual-sided pedal. After a few days using them, I was comfortable with clipping in, though, even on a hill.

I soon hit the first sections of gravel, but the climbing didn't stop, and the bike came into its own. Here, the tyres offered great grip and rolled over obstacles on the remaining gravel ascent. I could also feel the extra foot stability afforded by the wide pedal platform of the X-One G pedals, which did feel as if it allowed me to push more power.

The Look G85 Cezal felt stable and planted on the long, fast gravel descents back into the valley, too. The shortish reach, as mentioned, makes it easy to push your weight back behind the saddle on steeper sections, and the rear centre was short enough and agile enough to navigate around obstacles at speed.

My loop finished with a fast descent on tarmac back to the launch venue. Look seems to have judged its geometry well, as although short in reach, there’s enough to get into the drops and hunker down to reduce wind resistance without feeling cramped.

I did find I was spinning out in the 44x10t top gear offered by the SRAM Force XPLR AXS groupset, while I was defeated on the steepest slopes in the 46t lowest gear. Look does fit a 40-tooth chainring to the commercial spec, lowering the gearing a little more.

The single-sided X-One G pedals offer significantly greater foot stability than most double-sided designs and are lighter too. The wider platform does require that any knee-out riding you need to balance the bike has to come from the ankles, rather than from any significant tilt in the shoes’ soles, unlike pedals with a narrower platform.

If your gravel riding doesn’t involve much hike-a-bike, the pedals are a good alternative to traditional gravel designs, although if you need to clip out more frequently on your rides, a double-sided pedal such as Look’s original X-Track Race may still be a better option.

The Look G85 Cezal has a lot to offer the gravel rider, with plenty of versatility, the clearance for modern wide gravel tyres and reassuring handling.