Look 796 Monoblade RS Frameset

Look has been building racing bicycles in France since the 1980s, with a heritage that includes pioneering the clipless pedal and delivering Tour de France-winning frames. The Look 796 Monoblade RS Frameset represents the brand’s flagship triathlon platform — developed in active collaboration with WorldTour Team Cofidis, validated in the wind tunnel and on course, and built around a construction philosophy that runs from the Ultra High Modulus carbon layup down to the integrated cockpit geometry. This is the bike Look makes when the only brief is speed.

The defining visual and aerodynamic feature of the 796 is its Monoblade fork — a single carbon blade rather than a conventional two-leg fork. Look developed this as a deliberate aerodynamic choice: the monoleg profile presents a smaller, cleaner cross-section to the wind and eliminates the turbulence generated where two fork legs rejoin. The fork is matched to a frame built from Ultra High Modulus carbon fiber throughout, with full internal cable routing for hydraulic brake lines and electronic shifting cables. The result is a surface that is clean from headtube to dropout, with no external housing to interrupt airflow across the frame’s shaped tube profiles.

The 796 arrives with a meaningful amount of cockpit already included. The Aeroflat Bar 2 Carbon provides both stem and handlebar in a single integrated combo unit, available in 380mm or 400mm widths. The Look Aeropost Tube 2 seatpost ships with a reversible head and sliding integrated clamp, giving riders the fore-aft saddle adjustment range needed to lock in a UCI-legal triathlon position or push further forward for draft-legal racing. Both the stem/bar combo and seatpost are Look-made components designed specifically for this frame’s routing and interface — not aftermarket adaptations. The frameset accepts up to a 700x32 tire, which gives builders some flexibility in tire selection without compromising the 796’s road racing intent.

The bottom bracket is T47 threaded — a modern standard that offers the installation simplicity of threaded BBs with shell diameter large enough to accommodate the wide down tube and chainstay profiles required for a stiff, aero frame. Brakes are flat mount disc, and the front derailleur mount is braze-on. The geometry runs a consistent 77-degree seat tube angle across all four sizes, with a 72.5-degree head tube angle and 410mm chainstays — triathlon-standard numbers that position the rider over the pedals correctly while keeping the front end stable under the loads of a long aerodynamic position. Stack ranges from 502mm (XS) to 577mm (L), reach from 393mm to 429mm. Look backs the frameset with a lifetime warranty.

Design Benefits

1. Monoblade fork — Look’s signature triathlon fork uses a single carbon blade in place of two fork legs. The monoleg profile is narrower in cross-section, produces less turbulence at the leading edge, and eliminates the aerodynamic interference where two fork legs converge below the crown. It’s the most immediately distinctive feature of the 796’s silhouette — and the most aerodynamically meaningful.
2. Ultra High Modulus carbon construction — UHM carbon fiber sits at the upper end of the stiffness-to-weight spectrum, providing the rigidity needed to convert a hard triathlon pedaling effort directly into forward motion without frame flex absorbing the input. Look’s decades of carbon manufacturing experience — including Tour de France framesets — inform the layup and tube shaping decisions that make the 796 both stiff and compliant enough for race distances.
3. Full internal cable routing — Every hydraulic line and electronic cable enters and exits the frame through clean internal ports. No exposed housing means no aerodynamic drag from cable bulges along the frame, and no points where moisture or debris can accumulate around cable entry points during long-distance racing.
4. Integrated Aeroflat Bar 2 cockpit — The included stem/bar combo is a single carbon unit developed specifically for the 796, not an adapted road component. Two width options (380mm and 400mm) allow proper fit across rider proportions without relying on aftermarket spacers or shim stacks. Integration keeps the front end aerodynamically coherent from fork crown to aerobar extensions.
5. Aeropost Tube 2 with reversible head — The included seatpost can be configured in two orientations, giving riders forward or rearward saddle offset within a range suited to elite triathlon positioning. The sliding integrated clamp provides fine adjustment without requiring a separate clamp assembly, keeping the seat tube area clean and reducing the number of components that can work loose over long race efforts.
6. T47 bottom bracket and 77° seat tube angle — T47 threaded BB offers reliable installation in a shell diameter wide enough for the 796’s aero tube shaping. The 77° STA puts the rider in a position that loads the hip flexors differently from a road position, preserving run legs while maintaining power output — the defining geometry requirement of an Ironman-distance triathlon bike.

Final Take

The Look 796 Monoblade RS Frameset is for the rider who is building a purpose-built triathlon machine and wants the frame and cockpit that came out of a genuine WorldTour racing program. The Monoblade fork, UHM carbon construction, and integrated Aeroflat Bar 2 cockpit give the 796 a coherence that frame-only purchases from other brands can’t match — Look designed the cockpit for this frame, not around it. At $8,500 for a frameset that includes seatpost and cockpit, the 796 RS represents a serious but complete foundation for a competitive triathlon build.