Look E -765 Gravel test: our full opinion – Electric bikes

Look speaks to you more for its road bikes and its pedals, this is normal. The brand, manufacturer bikes and ski bindings, was bought by Bernard Tapie in the 1980s and launched in 1984 the first automatic pedal for the bicycle, a real revolution which laid the foundations for all the other pedals until today and has made it possible to increase performance.

In short, I could tell you about the look for hours, their carbon frames, each more crazy than the other, or even the fratricidal duel between Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon … But that is not the subject: we find ourselves here to talk about the test of the Look E-765 Gravel electric bicycle.

Because yes, look is off the beaten track, sometimes in mountain biking, the latest of which are the Look 989, 987 and 979, but more recently in Gravel. The manufacturer uses its endurance bike, the 765, to make it a version capable of facing the paths, and even an electric assistance version that we were able to try.

Technical sheet

This test was carried out from a model loaned by the brand.

Design: Integration for reasons

This Gravel version has a hue named Metallic Hope Green Satinwhich is approaching military green in the sun and a gray in the shade. I was also surprised by leaving it for the first time from its packaging, in the garage: I thought it was gray.

The carbon frame is completed with black equipment: whether it is the elements of the Sram Apex mechanical group (including for the brakes), the seatpost and the Look Selle, the hanger and the guidoline, the Praxis crankset or the E-Racing 900 Fulcrum wheels, everything is in matt black. Which gives a furtive and aggressive style to this bike, which is not to displease us.

The good integration of the elements is also to be mentioned: brake and derailleur sheaths are barely visible under the gallows and near the rear derailleur (not the choice at this level for mechanical derailleurs).

A ring at the bottom of the steering game perfectly marrys the shape of the frame, the battery load indicator is encrusted in the horizontal tube and the battery is integrated into the oblique tube, which makes it invisible, as well as the engine which is almost completely hidden in the crankset case.

Even engine controls are hidden in the hollow of the hanger; If the oblique tube was not oversized, it would be almost impossible to realize that it is an electric version.

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Once is not custom, the geometry of this frame is typed comfort for a look. The 375 mm reach is short, while the stack is high: 592 mm in size M. In other words, we tend to adopt a more straight position on this bike.

A courier will be a little disturbed at the first kilometers by a less elongated, less aerodynamic position, but that has the merit of making the bike more accessible, which is ultimately expected from an electrified frame.

Driving: comfortable on the paths and on the road

I first tried the E-765 Gravel look… In Gravel, that’s why it was designed, you say. And the first thing that strikes when you get on it is the very right position of this bike: we feel that Look wanted to make it comfortable for long journeys. To tell you the truth, I do not find the competition DNA of my 795 Blade RS look, which I use for my personal practice on weekends on races.

When you put yourself as a dancer, you feel the weight of the battery in the tube directly. The swing of the bike is a little less natural than that of a bicycle without battery, but it is not a problem since the assistance of the Fazua Ride 60 engine never asks to stand on the pedals.

Assistance is fluid and natural, regardless of the selected power level. On the other hand, the trigger of the assistance is a bit long: it is not instantaneous as on other engines.

The bicycle is standard with 40 mm Hutchinson Touareg tires. If the grip is sufficient on the dry, on fatty terrains, we would like a little more drawing in the tire for better grip. But above all, the E-765 look, in this Gravel configuration, seems to be broken by these too fine tires and not resistant enough.

I punctured several times during my trial period. I therefore advise to dismantle these tires and go directly to a wider section in tubeless to avoid air chamber pinch on the stones. With tubeless, you can lower the pressure, which would make the E-765 Gravel look certainly more comfortable on the terrain a little too rugged for a Gravel, and would reduce the risk of puncture. We still do not understand why bicycle brands do not equip their gravel and mountain bike directly in tubeless.

Because even if the position is comfortable, the E-765 Gravel look is relatively rigid: chase the natural, it returns to the gallop. There is no difference on the frame between the Gravel version and the optimum designed for the road; The differences are made on the equipment. This therefore gives us a little too rigid Gravel for certain paths, but efficient as soon as the track becomes rolling. Regarding piloting, nothing to report: it is handled properly. The frame has a short wheelbase, which makes it handy. In descent, the braking proposed by the Sram Apex group is safe, quite gradual and the position is not too worn forward.

On the other hand, this rigidity is a road advantage. To try it on the asphalt, I swapped the Fulcrum wheels for my Corima 47 Black DX carbon. And we end up with a fairly rigid, almost reactive bike if we ignore the weight of the battery. And finally, that’s how Look thought the E-765: the manufacturer encourages you to have two pairs of wheels to have a single bike, suitable for all uses, with only two minutes of intervention.

On the road, I had fun following my training colleagues with the E-765, and it was a good surprise. The Fazua engine does not undermine the pedaling too much over 25 km/h, which means that we manage to follow on the wheels. On the other hand, if you expose yourself to the wind at the head of the peloton, you will have more difficulty keeping the rhythm, since we cumulate resistance to the wind, light resistance of the engine and overweight of the bread linked to the battery.

With a 28 mm tire section, still in an air chamber, the bike loses in comfort. The frame, quite rigid, coupled with significant weight and tire pressure which cannot be too reduced, makes you quickly tend to feel the irregularities of the road or to type loudly on a back of the age. The bicycle is less aerial than a classic muscular model of less than 8 kg. To find a good compromise, I tend to recommend tires of 32 mm and, again, a tubeless montage.

Engine: the choice Fazua

Look thought this electric Gravel as a sports bike. The goal was to keep a relatively light bike while involving the cyclist in pedaling. The choice was therefore made on the Fazua Ride 60. This engine is integrated into the crankset and weighs less than 2 kg. It is associated with a battery of 432 Wh for a weight of 2.2 kg. This gives us an electric set of only 4.2 kg, allowing the E-765 Gravel look equipped with apex to display a total weight of only 13.8 kg.

What we appreciate is its ease of use. A simple button hidden in the handlebars, in the hollow of the hanger, allows you to start the electric motor and change the assistance mode. These assistance modes are quite fluid: the bicycle does not start suddenly, even in maximum power.

In Breeze mode, the bicycle frankly involves pedaling, and if you are tired, the most powerful of the modes just encourages you to turn legs without forcing to go home. The LEDs present on the horizontal tube insert allow you to know the battery level, but also the power mode selected for engine support.

Autonomy and load

On the autonomy side, no problem to consider outings of more than 100 km on the road. In Gravel, I made a 106 km course using only the Breeze mode (eco) of the Fazua engine, but I arrived with the battery almost flat. The route presented as a drop, but I only weigh 65 kg. So, a hundred kilometers is what we can consider as much as possible in 100 % Gravel (or 80 % path – 20 % road, if I am completely honest).

Obviously, with the most powerful mode of assistance, this radius of action would not reach this threshold.

On the load side, it takes 3:30 to fully load the battery. The socket is under the bide carrier. It is protected from elements, such as humidity and dust, by a plastic hood. It is quite conventional compared to other electric bikes.

Price and availability

The E-765 Gravel look is offered at a price of 6,990 euros with a 1 × 12-speed SRAM APEX transmission. We reach the high -end of the Gravel here, but we have to do without carbon wheels, while some competitors offer them. However, we have the advantage of having two bikes here in one.

Change the wheels of an E-765 Gravel look and you get, in 2 minutes, an E-765 optimum look, or almost, since the thought version for the road is equipped with Sram Rival Axs (wireless electrical transmission). But in broad outlines, motorization, battery and geometry, these two bikes are identical. You can ride very well on Wednesday on the road and Sunday in the paths, or vice versa. This is the advantage of a Gravel bicycle, and Look has understood this.