Look 795 Blade RS: Much improved aerodynamically, a joy to ride, and French but in a good way

We are lucky here at Cyclingnews to regularly test the best road bikes at the forefront of the technological arms race. Every bike is more progressive than the last, with bold new advances in frame geometry (see the Ridley Noah and the Factor ONE) and aerodynamics (See the Factor ONE again, if you didn’t do it the last time).

The new Look 795 Blade RS doesn’t have one thing I can point to as being a progressive feature. In actual fact it’s perhaps the most ‘normal’ race bike I’ve ridden in some time, perhaps since the last Giant Propel (a bike it bears a striking resemblance to, it must be said), but I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all as it has done everything I’ve asked of it with supreme competence and with a front end in particular that makes it absolutely sublime.

Whether it’s flat miles, protracted climbs, or my boundless appetite for a punchy hill sprint, it’s eaten it all up and asked for seconds. It’s also been an excellent test bed for some of the fastest aero wheels from our latest LABS test, which made for a convenient excuse to hold onto it for a while longer.

Image 1 of 6

Design and aesthetics

As you might have gathered from the opening, I am quite fond of the 795 Blade RS. I’m not, however, overly enamoured with the aesthetics. It’s not a bad-looking bike by any means, but, insofar as a great many aero bikes now look almost indistinguishable, it looks like a generic aero bike.

Slap a Giant logo on, and you could convince me it’s a Propel, and maybe if I wasn’t paying too much attention you could do the same with a Merida logo and goad me into believing it was the old Reacto 9000. It’s also (shocker!) pretty similar-looking to the old one, just a little fuller in the tubes.

Still, with the Scope Artech wheels in, and in the matte black, mostly paintless pro spec finish, it does have a certain menace about it that cuts through the generic silhouette. I have warmed to it, but turning up on group rides it doesn’t turn heads like other machines can; perhaps that’s just down to the fact that it isn’t as hyped of a brand as many others that spring to mind.

The old Look Blade, according to our own wind tunnel testing, was a bit of a brick in aerodynamic terms. Look makes big claims of a 15-watt saving, which is frankly enormous, and also an unusually specific claim of a saving of 2 minutes and 27 seconds over the course of stage 19 of the 2026 Tour de France, which was the big hilly one with the murderous Col de Sarenne, a climb you should definitely do if you’re ever nearby. This stage was, unsurprisingly, won by Tadej Pogacar, a full 6 minutes and 33 seconds ahead of Ion Izaguirre, the fastest rider on the Look Blade on the day. Lucky he wasn’t on the old one, eh?

We have wind tunnel tested the new Look Blade 795 RS, and at the 40km/h we tested at, I think the claims of a 15 watt difference are somewhat fanciful. Despite this, however, the new Look Blade is among the fastest bikes we’ve tested now, especially with a rider on (how most bikes are ridden). If you want the full monty on how it performed then go read our in-depth write up, but considering the old Blade remains the slowest road bike we’ve ever tested as a bike only, and third from slowest with a rider on, it’s quite an astounding turnaround in aerodynamic terms from the French outfit.

In geometric terms, it’s pretty spot on for a race bike. Compared to the latest Cannondale SuperSix Evo, as I have reviewed that recently, it’s a little more compact in the frame, but with the same chainstay length, an ever so slightly (1.8mm) shorter reach and a significant 15.8mm lower stack height. The new SuperSix already has quite a low front end, and even with a couple of headset spacers fitted, the Look felt slammed. Peruse the geometry charts for yourself, but ultimately it’s bang on for, on paper, an excellent handling package, even if you might need the number of a good chiropractor.

As a coddled media darling, I had to make do with the top spec machine, complete with Shimano Dura-Ace (not long for this world now we’ve spotted the new one), and the extremely fancy, extremely expensive (a £2,500 upgrade), and by our reckoning extremely fast Scope Artech wheels.

All in all it’s a £12,000 bike ($12,960) or at least a tenner shy of that magic figure. You do get a pretty healthy degree of customisation at point of sale. Choose your groupset, paint, and wheels, and you can select your stem length and bar width independently as the cockpit is technically a separate system.

In an ideal world I’d have had the in-line seatpost, and a 36cm bar, not a 38, but if I was in a position to drop £12k on a French superbike I could have those options at no extra cost. There aren’t any options for crank length, however, and none of the groupset options come with a power meter; this is perhaps a blessing with Dura-Ace - generally regarded as being a little inaccurate, but certainly a frustration for those opting for SRAM Force. Red, at least in the UK, is off the table.

A final note on the cockpit, as I did break it… As I often do when a bike arrives, I simply pushed the levers in a bit (because the UCI has no jurisdiction over this maverick) and rode it home from the office. As it turns out, this was an error, and the hoods managed to bore their way through quite a bit of carbon in an hour, meaning I had to replace them.

This was very much user error, and I should have done it properly and used a torque wrench, but I didn’t, and I paid the price. This is basically just a cautionary tale. The flip side is I got to take the cockpit apart to replace the bars, which was beautifully easy; four big M6 bolts hold it all together, and swapping the bars in total took less than half an hour. More than that, the computer mount itself integrates into these big bolts, and while I am not always a fan of proprietary integrated mounts, this is a very good example, and I’d be much happier slinging a big heavy light or action camera off the bottom of it than I would with many others.

On my scales, with no cages or pedals but with the slightly overbuilt computer mount, it weighs a very respectable 6.95kg, and that's with a healthy glug of sealant in each wheel rather than the scant breath of pink fluid most test bikes are supplied with to cheat the inevitable weigh-in. That's good going for a very aerodynamic bike, and sporting 65mm deep wheels. Swap them out for a set of Hunt 5AM Limitless, and you'll have a setup that should be just as aero, but basically on the UCI weight limit.

In this spec, the gearing is a respectable 52/36t chainset paired with an 11-30 cassette. Bristol and the surrounding area are beset by short, steep climbs (it’s like Flanders, but with better food), and I could have done with a 32 or a 34, and this is something you can’t change at the point of sale. C’est la vie.

Image 1 of 6

Performance

There are certain bikes that excel in one particular area. The Ridley Noah, for example, was astoundingly good in a race-cosplay scenario for the benefits of testing. Likewise, the Factor Elara on gravel has that mad fork, aero, and progressive geometry, but both felt like their race focus was both a strength and a detriment in some ways.

The new Look Blade falls, in my mind at least, into quite rarefied company alongside the Cannondale SuperSix and the Pinarello Dogma F, as a beautifully dialled all-rounder, at least in handling terms. The Dogma was close to perfect, while I think the spec choices of the SuperSix let it down, but all three have a poise and balance across nearly every scenario that is hard to ignore. Jacks of all trades in the best possible sense, and here at least there’s also a very compelling aerodynamic package to complement the handling.

It doesn’t have quite the same lightness of touch that I found the Dogma had. It’s less deft, and a little less refined, but the differences are pretty marginal. The rear end isn’t hyper-short in a way that can leave a bike feeling a little unstable, but this is offset by a wonderfully responsive front end.

With my saddle slammed forwards and a healthy 120mm stem, coupled with the low position that perhaps wasn’t overly sustainable in the long term, the front end traction was sublime and on the twisty lanes around Bristol it was magnificent, picking up a top ten on a local descent while out filming, so not even going all-out. It did a pretty sublime job of making you forget you were on what is an extremely aerodynamic bike with pretty chunky tubes in comparison to the all-rounders it felt like riding.

Descending, whether it’s on twisty lanes or fast, flowy, open roads is sensational. If you want a confidence-inspiring descender then perhaps this isn’t the frameset for you, but much like with the Factor Elara on gravel, if you’re already confident it’s extremely rewarding. Playful, even when the speeds tick over that 55-ish km/h where you usually have to lock in a little more and pay attention. Get up to the 70s and you do need to actually concentrate though, as the playfulness can become twitchy.

It doesn’t greatly feel like an aero bike, fast though it is. Not in the same way as a Cervélo S5 or the aforementioned Ridley Noah, bikes whose raison d’être is flat out speed. It never seems to coax you into an aero tuck on the flat, perhaps because there isn’t an unusual handlebar or whopping head tube or mental looking pair of forks reminding you that you should be trying a little harder please and thank you. Nevertheless, it barrels along with aplomb, and dare I say that with a 36cm bar it would be a force to be reckoned with.

Stiffness is right on the money, too. It’ll cope with high wattage sprints, but I never felt like I was being rattled to pieces, even over what passes for tarmac in some parts of Bristol. My hands never got booted off the bars and nor did I get bucked off the saddle unduly. It never felt unyielding like the Incolor SSR; there’s still some degree of compliance engineered in, but it’s plenty stiff enough where you need it to be to feel efficient and resilient.

It doesn’t have the feel of a true climber like the Scott Addict RC, though with really shallow wheels it would close the gap despite probably looking awful. It comes with a pretty small cassette (11-30), which makes steeper stuff either a challenge or very quickly dispatched depending on how the legs are feeling, but for your generic climbing efforts it’s pretty excellent here, too.

I will say it helps that it came with a set of Scopes. I have reviewed these wheels, on a Dogma as it happens, and they’re magnificent to ride but not necessarily a pair of hoops I’d want to live with. Even swapped out for different (but very good) new Hunts it was still excellent, so it’s not like the wheels are doing all the heavy lifting. The other wheel options, if you don’t upgrade to Scopes, are a little more lacklustre. The stock option is a set of Look own-brand wheels, or you can pay £700 for a set of Mavic Cometes or Fulcrum Speeds, neither of which are particularly compelling. I’d keep the base model and save up for something really trick, or conceivably just keep the fast wheels you already have.

Much like the Dogma and the SuperSix, then, it isn’t necessarily the best at one thing, but it does almost everything extremely well indeed. I think from a performance standpoint that low front end, a clearly pro derived feature that’s somewhat falling out of favour in recent seasons anyway, will perhaps be the achilles heel. It’s a shame to have a giant stack of spacers on a bike this fast, just from a visual perspective, and I can’t help but feel taking the stack up to match that of the SuperSix at least would make it a more compelling prospect for those who want to go fast, have a bike that handles beautifully, but aren’t as flexible as a WorldTour professional. Or Look could just develop a riser bar that could be bolted onto the stem for a slammed but seamless look.

One thing that I think is hard to cram into the ‘performance’ section, but nevertheless I’m going to do it anyway as it’s my party, is the cool factor. There is a certain je ne sais quoi about having a French superbike with heritage that’s also, now, very fast too. I’m not saying that everyone and their dog has a Specialized, but there’s something here that you don’t get with the all-conquering but expected performance of a Specialized, the cliche’d passione of a Pinarello, or the slight facelessness of a Giant. It does French in a way Van Rysel doesn’t manage, but seemingly without any detriment to performance.

Image 1 of 4

Value

£12k, or $12,960 in yankee money, is big boy cash. It isn’t quite Dogma F money, undercutting the passionate Italians with a shrug by £600 or so. Like for like you get better wheels on the Look, if you opt for the Scopes anyway, and all else being equal it is definitely up there as a match for the Dogma in my eyes, so plus points there.

Compared to the much-yardsticked S-Works Tarmac SL9 it is a full £9 cheaper, so spend that on a pair of flat whites at the café and you’re talking absolute equivalence. The Look is more configurable, which to me works in its favour, but in the grand scheme of things you’re getting the same level of bike whether you shop from Burgundy or Morgan Hill.

Personally I’d probably have the Look so I could configure it to fit me a little better, and for the aforementioned cool points, and perhaps because I really like France, but you’ll not be let down in either case.

Verdict

I really liked the new Look Blade 795 RS. It was aided by having the top spec, but like the best bikes I’ve tested, it does everything with confidence and composure without feeling like it’s leaning too hard into one particular wedge of the performance spider diagram.

It handles beautifully and with a playful front end that I’ve adored, it’s very aerodynamic now, you can configure it to a decent degree at point of sale, it’s French without being bad or silly and so is cooler for it, it climbs and sprints very well, the cockpit is pretty easy to work on, and while it looks a little generic you could spin that as ‘understated’ if you so wish. The only real issue I can point to is perhaps the stack figure is quite low, which may alienate a certain proportion of the customer base who don’t want a bad back or a massive spacer stack.

I’m glad it’s no longer aerodynamically equivalent to a wheelie bin, as that would have made this review a lot harder to write and the bike a lot harder to like, set against the manufacturer's claims. All in all, an excellent bike.