The first thing you think when you see this bike is, obviously, huck to flat. Unless you were born before 1990, or have a passing interest in art history. Then you’re probably thinking some sort of combination of Mondrian, La Vie Claire, and abject terror at the thought of launching a carbon fixed gear down a set of stairs. LOOK’s pairing of a minimalist aesthetic inspired by Mondrian’s de stijl perfectly compliments the simplicity of a pure track frame. LOOK’s decades of track knowledge distilled into the 564 might not be as natural a fit on the street, but it’s refined shape hides an underlying toughness. Inspired by LOOK’s Rio destined-R96 S as much as by Mondrian, the 564 was designed to make frequent trips to the wattage cottage under the worlds most powerful track racers. It’s plenty tough.
After running Aidan through our rigorous new fitting process, the machine spat out, word for word “absurd saddle to bar drop, neg. 17 stem, 800mm flat bars.” Magic, eh? Who said science isn’t cool? OK, maybe that’s not exactly what happened. But this is the largest size LOOK offers the 564 in, so ultra-aggressive position is Aidan’s only option. It is an aero bike, after all, an the French have very specific rules prohibiting anyone over 6 feet from pretending to be aerodynamic on a track bike. Speaking of outdated and arbitrary rules, we’re not sure Aidan’s 800mm wide flat bars will be UCI legal on the boards anytime soon. It’s definitely a winning combo though, at least aesthetically. Clearly the UCI is, once again, holding the sport back from real, meaningful progress.
Outside the frame, Aidan’s appointed his 564 with a very sharp compliment of bits and pieces. The most glaring is likely the Easton Haven carbon DH bars with wethepeople BMX grips. The rest of the build may look more conventional, but it’s definitely been assembled with a keen eye for detail. In a refreshing departure from the current “deep dish carbon everything” trend in rim design, Aidan’s built H Plus Son aluminum rims around pink ano Paul hubs. Details take these killer wheels one step further, with the pink hubs complimented by two matching pink spoke nipples framing the valve stem. SRAM’s Omnium crankset anchors a 49t FSA Track ring and a Jet Black track chain from Japanese track staple Izumi. Well worn Toshi double leather toe straps, flat pedals and much abused plastic toe straps finish off the drivetrain.
