Levi's Gran Fondo: 65 miles on the 2011 Look 586 RSP

There were 5,947 people in front of us at the start.

I've been around cycling my entire life.  My early years were marked by long hours spent in our Volkswagen bus shuttling to and from races and by time spent watching my parents promote a successful circuit race that drew many of the big names of the era to our small suburban Boston town.  At this point I'd say I've been riding bicycles of various forms for the better part of 29 years.

There was a BMX phase where I whiled away afternoons riding shoddily built back yard half pipes and dirt tracks constructed between towering high tension power lines.  Mountain biking's glory days were in full swing while I was growing up and I cut my cycling teeth on the single track of New England.  While I had a road bike from an early age--an unqualified fan of road racing pouring over issues of Winning and tuning in to Tour broadcasts featuring John Tesh--my DeBernardi mostly collected dust as I found myself riding progressively better quality mountain bikes.

Living in the relative hotbed of cyclcocross that New England was and is, shouldering the bike at some point was inevitable.  I started riding more on the road as a result, and a stint in Switzerland following college really stoked my interest in road riding, even offering me the opportunity to dabble in road racing.  Lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time in Europe over the years, I've had the opportunity to chase the ghosts of the sport's legends riding in the Alps, Pyrenees, and the Ardennes.  Somehow I've even managed to be lucky enough to have had the opportunity to ride with a number of today's stars and to have been mentored by one of their coaches as I learned to ride the boards at the Home Depot Center Velodrome.  The bicycle has functioned as basic transportation for me as well as way of exploring and interacting with the communities I've lived in, including the South Sudanese village of Gumbo.    I've even participated in Critical Mass in several different cities. 

One of the ingredients of a great day out; perfect fall weather.

All this is to say that my exposure and involvement with cycling has been anything but single-sided, yet October 9th was the first time I've ever ridden anything even remotely resembling a tour, or charity ride.  Remarkable, right?  Even more so when you consider my sibling designed the Pan Mass Challenge jersey one year.  How I managed to miss riding that great event that particular year in beyond me.

I had a trip planned to San Francisco and when I realized that it would coincide with Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge Gran Fondo up the road in Santa Rosa, I immediately registered and convinced a friend of mine to do so as well.  In only 1 year event participation had doubled; we were going to be riding with six-thousand other people. 

Domestic airlines simply are not bike friendly.  I was considering renting, figuring it would be less of a hassle, and in the end less expensive, when Look Cycle USA, a sponsor of Levi's Gran Fondo,  offered to loan my friend John and I two of the their new 2011 Look 586 RSP bikes for the occasion.  As a 595 owner, I've been quite curious about the 586 for some time and I didn't hesitate for a second before taking Look USA up on their offer.  I was stoked to have an opportunity to put it through the paces in the cycling mecca of Sonoma County.  I've had a sneaking suspicion that the 586 would turn out to be one of these underrated frames, unintentionally overshadowed in its company's product line-up by a more visible sibling. 

Post-ride glamour shot of the 586 RSP loaner.

The Gran Fondo route wound its way through some of the more majestic landscapes California has to offer, running over, through and alongside hills, dales, rivers, towering redwoods, and Pacific coastline.  What you don't get on the route are flawless road surfaces.  Leaving Santa Rosa the route quickly moves onto narrow country lanes.   Some of the roads the Gran Fondo courses along were not so long ago logging roads and lanes connecting farmer's fields and consequently the road surface quality left more than a little to be desired at times.  Sonoma County is very rural, wild almost, so its no wonder.  It's entirely possible that the 6000 cyclists that passed along these roads on the 9th of October far surpassed the annual tally of cars that ply the same routes. 
 
The 2011 586 RSP

The rear triangle.

Noted for it's lug and tube frame building approach, the 586 represents Look's first monocoque, or 'monobloc' as they call it, road frameset.  586 development directly benefited from the quiet, years long collaboration between Look and the Federation Francaise de Cyclisme (FFC) to development the best possible frameset for the country's prolific track squad.   The end result of the collaboration saw Look develop expertise in monocoque construction and produce a monocoque track frameset that can be fairly labeled as the most dominant track frameset of our time. 

The R in RSP. 

First introduced to the European market in 2007, the Look 586 has been present in North America since 2008.  Previously only available as a single piece frameset employing the company's extraordinary E-Post to fix the saddle to the frame, Look, answering the market's demand for an easier to use set-up, has introduced the 586 RSP frameset for 2011.  As the more astute among you might have determined given the photo above, the RSP accronym stands for regular seat post.  The 586 RSP forgoes the use of Look's E-Post and a seat tube that extends above the top tube in favor of standard seat post that inserts into the frame of the bike.  In essence what you have is a 586 E-Post/integrated seat post frame that has had its carbon integrated seatpost lopped off and a specially shaped, removable carbon fiber seat post inserted into the frame in its stead.  Pretty cool.  Pretty simple.  Very shop and end user friendly.  

The downtube's unique lozenge-like shape.

The 586 RSP employs a very slightly sloping geometry and is available in a size run from XS to XL.  The 586 RSP utilizes a high modulous 130g/m2 carbon, a slightly beefier carbon composition than its brother the 2011 586 SL uses, but nonetheless a carbon quality that still results in an impressively slight frameset for the price.

Contrary to what seems to be the case given what the vast majority of framebuilders put out, refined, high performance, slim lined framesets and monocoque construction are not mutually exclusive.  Look has perfected a method of monocoque construction that employs a very highly pressurized mold to compress the carbon laid in,  giving the resulting frameset strength and stiffness where needed, without having to overbuild any portion of frameset to achieve the desired rigidity levels.  No beluga whale shaped framesets here.

Wide, but flat. Vertically compliant, with no lateral flex.

Because the lines of the 586 are slimmer and more refined, it's not hard to overlook the fact that each section of the frame has been subtly, yet purposely shaped.   A second look reveals that the top and down tubes at the junction with the head tube are slightly taller and larger in diameter, clearly a nod towards front end stiffness and stability.  Another nod in this direction is the now nearly ubiquitous 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 headset bearing standard,  a standard Look was among the first to make use of introducing it in its original 586 framesets.   The Top tube slims out as it heads toward the seat tube, while the down tube takes on lozenge shape, flat on the underside, growing progressively wider heading into the bottom bracket.  The seat tube is oval until just about the upper braze-on where a small indentation in the tubing was made to seemingly provide for a little more clearance for the rear wheel.  Running from just about this point on down to the bottom bracket is a small ridge seemingly put in place to add rigidity.

Another look at those wide stays. 

Looking at the rear of the bike, immediately apparent are the flattened mid sections of the seat and chainstays, a design cue with comfort in mind.   Nearly the same height as the bottom bracket until their midway point where they flatten out before rising up again as they head into the dropout, the chainstays have been intelligently designed to well blend performance and comfort.  Thicker and more robust right at the bottom bracket, before going a little lower, but wider in the mid-stay to incorporate a little vertical compliance in to iron out rough road surfaces. 

The frame is finished off with the company's HSC 6 fork and their smart Head Fit 2 headset system that takes the guess work out of front adjustments.

The number of little details on this subtly, but impressively sculpted frameset, made quit an impression as did the 'no paint' gloss finish the test bike had.  The bike drew a number of positive remarks from for its looks from the crowd. 

The Ride Quality

The bikes we were issued were equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace drive trains, FSA cockpits, Fizik Arione saddles, Look Keo Blade pedals, and Zipp 101 wheelsets with Zipp tangente open tubulars.

When you start behind 5,947 other people, you're in for a long, long day if you can't make up a little bit of ground and give yourself some breathing room.   Starting so far back it took us ages before we could turn a pedal in anger (thank you Phil Liggett), but once we were finally clipped into the Look Keo Blade pedals, the bike's pick-up was immediately apparent.  Also immediately apparent was the precise, lively handling of the rig.  The thing with riding with 5,999 other people is that you're dealing 5,999 people doing their own thing.  The only behavior you can count on is your own.  The 586 RSP is truly fleet of foot and the bike was very much up to the task of repeatedly having to dodge people falling over for no apparent reason whatsoever.  Whatever the course threw at me, CalDot bots, potholes etc., the quick handling 586 RSP ably handled.  Don't mistake quick handling for twitchy.  This bike afforded a rock solid ride.  The bike was not going anywhere you didn't want it to.  When you wanted it to head in a specific direction it went there quickly and accurately like a TOW missle. 

At a rest stop out on the coast.

The early part of the course was essentially flat, with one moderate climb.  This climb afforded an opportunity to ramp things up a bit and jump ahead of a few hundred wobbly people.  The 586 RSP was up to the task, responding instantly to a hard seated acceleration and feeling feathery up the climb.  The way we moved so effortlessly up the climb was truly impressive.   On the backside of the climb the course split and things opened up such that there was room enough to hit the gas a bit on the winding, undulating valley road.  The bike moves, there are no two ways about that.  Not only does it move, its damn comfortable.  This particular stretch of road wasn't in the best shape and never did I find myself easing up, or rising up off the saddle to take the edge off of the potholes, bumps, and cracks.

Winding our way out to the coast we hit some better pavement and really got to wind the bike up and keep it pinned for a long stretch.  The fun really began though when we hit the coastline and this is where the 586 RSP's true colors revealed themselves.

The Pacific Coast Highway in Sonoma County is characterized by tight turns and punchy climbs.  The 586 RSP's handling inspired confidence and I carved these turns like I've never carved a turn before--at pace and unwavering in my commitment to stay off the brakes and push the bike hard.  When the folks at Look read this they'll laugh, never believing its possible (they've seen how embarrassingly pitiful I am at cornering at speed downhill first hand), but it's true.  It was nearly an out of body experience, one of those moments of total control and pure pleasure on the bike, where you're in total control and feeling sharp, making all the right moves.  I won't discount the contribution the Zipp 101s and Tangentes made to the equation, but it all starts and ends with the frame. 

My friend John at the start before going on to say the 586 RSP was the best bike he's ever ridden.

The punchy climbs of course allowed me to further test the responsiveness of the frameset.  Down, sharp right hand curve, up, down, sharp right hand curve, up.  Every time the road went up, I was up and out of the saddle pushing a big gear up the rise.  The bike responded brilliantly, amplifying my input to propel me rapidly up each rise.  I can't say enough about how the bike responded under these circumstances.  Interestingly, rather than feel progressively fatigued with each punchy climb that passed, I stayed fresh and ready for more.  Look builds a little more 'elasticity' into their 586 frames and I'd argue it's for good reason.  That spring gives a nice helping hand when it comes to getting a good jump when accelerating, but also in reducing fatigue.  The bike is truly working with you. 

Summing It Up

I am eternally grateful to the crew at Look for the loaners, not only because they saved us a bundle, but more importantly because I truly believe my experience at the Gran Fondo would not have been the same had I participated on any other bicycle.

Performance and comfort are not mutually exclusive. It's a misconception of great proportions to think they are.  To perform at a high level you need to feel fresh.  The 586 RSP is chewed up everything in its path, potholes, CalDot bots, cattle guards, chip seal paving.  Under normal conditions on my usual bikes these roads would have had me wasting energy gritting my teeth and squirming all over the bike to stay comfortable.  

The 586 RSP kept me fresh and smiling throughout the day, gliding over the rough roads surface, tracking confidently, floating up the longer climbs effortlessly, and accelerating straight away when called to. The 586 RSP is a well rounded machine capable of handling anything you'd want to throw its way from rides for the sake of rides, to Gran Fondos, to road races, tackling alpine passes--even criteriums on some battered roads in an industrial park. 

You get an awful lot more in return for your $2999.99 than just a frame, fork, headset, and seat post. 

Tip of the cap to the folks at Bike Monkey, the production company behind the Gran Fondo.   Logistics weren't simple and the Gran Fondo organizers did an impeccable job organizing the event, trucking potable water and loads of foodstuffs to remote rest stops on the course.  It was a day on the bike to remember.

Brian