zerogravitas
Retro Guru
I am a big fan of bonded lugged frames (see my Vitus 992 build here) and I have always wanted a Look bike. Their early 2000s top end frames approach the pinnacle of this method of frame building and I felt one would fit well in my collection. I put up a wanted ad up here and was super happy to quickly agree a trade for a KG 381i. Sadly, when the frame arrived, it was badly packed in a flimsy box and the frame had been cracked at the driveside seatstay. I was gutted, and then to compound this the member I bought it off vanished and did not respond to any messages.
After getting over my irritation with the whole situation, I resolved to make a positive out of the problem, and learn some carbon repair before building up the bike as I intended.
So here goes.
Here's a 2003 Look catalogue page showing the KG381i.
Here is my frame - I have the Credit Agricole team edition at the bottom of the page, in size 57. The 'i' in 381i stands for integrated, as in integrated headset.
The finish is excellent and the way each carbon tube is individually tapered and profiled makes for a really interesting looking frame. The lugs and dropouts are all aluminium, bonded onto the carbon. Some of the tube/lug transitions are filled over to provide a smooth joint. These frames are known for paint cracking problems at these points and mine sadly exhibits this at the seat tube/bb joint; something I'll have to do a little filling and retouching to sort out. There are some other blemishes in the lacquer which should be pretty easy to sort, but another issue is some bubbling under the toptube/headtube lug. This is galvanic corrosion of the alu lug pushing the paint up. I will have a think about what to do about this.
The geometry with flat top tube makes for a classy looking bike in my opinion. The rear dropouts are moveable to give options for handling, and the seatpost clamp arrangement is a clever wedge system. These frames all take a 25mm post which makes sourcing replacement posts an expensive faff though.
Here is the damaged stay.. not cracked all the way through, but about 2/3 around. It opens up a tiny bit when I put my weight on the dropout.
First job was to strip all the bolts, adjusters and removable components off ready for cleaning and repair.
The final problem I have is the LDS4 fork that came with the frame was not original, and also has a larger crown area so doesn't blend well with the headtube shape. The original HSC4 fork would have been painted with a red/white fade to match the rest of the bike. Getting a 20+ year old matching fork with the right length steerer for me was going to be a challenge, so I have sourced a slightly newer HSC5 SL fork in bare carbon/black. It is an almost identical shape that keeps the silhouette of the frame looking correct and saves a few grams as well.
Watch this space for carbon repair progress, then when that is done and the paint fixed I'll move onto a build over winter.
After getting over my irritation with the whole situation, I resolved to make a positive out of the problem, and learn some carbon repair before building up the bike as I intended.
So here goes.
Here's a 2003 Look catalogue page showing the KG381i.
Here is my frame - I have the Credit Agricole team edition at the bottom of the page, in size 57. The 'i' in 381i stands for integrated, as in integrated headset.
The finish is excellent and the way each carbon tube is individually tapered and profiled makes for a really interesting looking frame. The lugs and dropouts are all aluminium, bonded onto the carbon. Some of the tube/lug transitions are filled over to provide a smooth joint. These frames are known for paint cracking problems at these points and mine sadly exhibits this at the seat tube/bb joint; something I'll have to do a little filling and retouching to sort out. There are some other blemishes in the lacquer which should be pretty easy to sort, but another issue is some bubbling under the toptube/headtube lug. This is galvanic corrosion of the alu lug pushing the paint up. I will have a think about what to do about this.
The geometry with flat top tube makes for a classy looking bike in my opinion. The rear dropouts are moveable to give options for handling, and the seatpost clamp arrangement is a clever wedge system. These frames all take a 25mm post which makes sourcing replacement posts an expensive faff though.
Here is the damaged stay.. not cracked all the way through, but about 2/3 around. It opens up a tiny bit when I put my weight on the dropout.
First job was to strip all the bolts, adjusters and removable components off ready for cleaning and repair.
The final problem I have is the LDS4 fork that came with the frame was not original, and also has a larger crown area so doesn't blend well with the headtube shape. The original HSC4 fork would have been painted with a red/white fade to match the rest of the bike. Getting a 20+ year old matching fork with the right length steerer for me was going to be a challenge, so I have sourced a slightly newer HSC5 SL fork in bare carbon/black. It is an almost identical shape that keeps the silhouette of the frame looking correct and saves a few grams as well.
Watch this space for carbon repair progress, then when that is done and the paint fixed I'll move onto a build over winter.
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