Pro bike: Thor Hushovd’s Look 595 Pro Team Edition The Norse God's mighty hammer strikes again Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Whatsapp Share on Reddit Email to a friend By ben atkins Published: July 7, 2008 at 11:23 am Normally this name is travelling too fast to read! Ben Atkins Thor Hushovd’s Look 595 will be one of the fastest moving things in this year’s Tour de France. Ben Atkins Look has traditionally made its frames with tubes joined together with lugs. Ben Atkins Despite looking slender the Look 595 has a huge lug for the bottom bracket joint – the highest stress point on any bike, let alone this one. Ben Atkins Like many in the peloton now the Look 595’s head tube tapers for extra stiffness at the front end. Ben Atkins The down tube is the largest on the bike and changes from a vertical oval at the head tube to a rectangle at the bottom bracket. Ben Atkins In contrast the top tube is slender and delicate looking, but is laterally stiff where it needs to be. Ben Atkins The chain stays are profiled for rear end stiffness and are tougher than their slender lines suggest. Ben Atkins The Look’s seat stays have a slight hourglass curve and join together to form a wishbone. Ben Atkins A rear monostay joins the seat stays to the head tube, carrying the lines of the top tube to the rear end. Ben Atkins The Look 595’s dropouts are all carbon save the rear derailleur hanger which is replaceable aluminium. Ben Atkins The Look HSC6 fork is all carbon but meets all new European safety standards. Ben Atkins Look’s E-Post gets inserted into the cut seat tube instead of being clamped around it. Ben Atkins At last Dura-Ace 7900 is here! Thor Hushovd will be one of the first to use the production version. Ben Atkins Dura-Ace 7900 levers are angled outwards for greater ergonomics. Ben Atkins The new lever hoods are wider for more comfort. Ben Atkins Thor Hushovd’s drivetrain is pure Dura-Ace 7900. Ben Atkins The new 7900 chainset takes the 7800’s styling up a further notch – and is lighter and stiffer. Ben Atkins One of the ways Shimano has lightened its new groupset is by using hollow pins in the chain. Ben Atkins The 7900 front derailleur carries the new finish motif forward, but the cage remains polished. Ben Atkins Shimano has made the 7900 rear derailleur much neater than the prototype versions we’ve been watching. Ben Atkins Hushovd is using an 11-23T cassette which Shimano has made even lighter than before. Ben Atkins The finished front brake is reportedly even stronger than the already powerful previous version. Ben Atkins The new 7900 brakes look similar to the prototypes, but are much prettier. Ben Atkins