JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018 - 4

OPlNlON racing for innovation

"Some of the innovations originate in
sectors that might surprise you"

JEC Composites Magazine: You are the
head of the Look Cycle Engineering
Department- can you tell us something
about your career and your current
responsibilities at Look Cycle?

Vincent Holterboch: After
18 years in the automotive sector, I
decided to make a radical, exhilarating
change into the bicycle sector. I've been
a dedicated amateur since childhood.
Look is known and highly regarded, both
by its customers and in the worldwide
sector.
My field of action includes all known
aspects of R&D, along with ten engineers
who lead projects like bicycle and pedal
development, innovations for the
upcoming years, CAD management
and commercial rights, and products for
sponsored professional cyclists. Look
Cycle currently sponsors almost half of
the Tour de France riders.
What type of product ranges do you
propose? How does the use of composite
materials differ according to the product?

V. H.: For some years now, the product
range has consisted exclusively of carbon
bicycles. The interest lies in our models'
low weight, stiffness and extremely long
service life. We vary the geometries,
styles and material compositions in order to propose multipurpose products,
in four main ranges, each with its own
strong points: the aero bicycle with low
wind resistance, the racing bicycle, the
very low-weight altitude bicycle, and the

with

Vincent HolterbocH,
Head of R&D and
Product Marketing departements
Look Cycle

comfort bicycle with vibration damping.
Our past expertise with carbon is undoubtedly a strong point, from design
to in-house fabrication. We avoid errors
and are faster at confirming our technical
choices.
In the area of automatic pedals, the concept of a buckling-resistant composite
blade on the Keo Blade Carbon range illustrates the capacity of our engineers to
transfer composite skills from one product to another.
How much of the production of your
models is taken care of in-house? Do you
contract work out? If yes, to what extent?

V. H.: Look continues to make its frames
in-house for the very high-end, high-tech
products (frames, chainsets, handlebars,
etc.). Note that 100% of pedal production is now located in Nevers.
For more than twenty years, Jean Claude
Chretien - who is a mainstay of the company, the current International Industrial
Director, and CEO of the Look Tunisia
entity - has built solid relationships with
our partners, especially where prepregs
are concerned.
Our synergies extend beyond a simple
supplier-customer exchange, because we
share standards and components that are
in compliance with Look's highest technical requirements.
As for the frames that equip our medium-range bicycles: due to cost issues, we
rely on Asian suppliers, subject to the supervision of our engineering department.

jec composites magazine / N°118 January - February 2018

Our subcontractors adapt to our technical criteria, which are higher than the
required ISO standards. Also, we can ensure our total control, thanks to our materials expertise, and assist our suppliers
using an optimum quality approach.
How are your internal research and innovation activities organized?

V. H.: Look is a user-centric company
with a lot of technical experience that
we've accumulated in the company of
professional cyclists. Our employees,
testers, suppliers and cyclists bring us
their ideas for improvement based on
their experience of the products.

When Look Cycle introduced the first carbon cycle frame in
1986 it demonstrated the excellent performance of carbon
epoxy composites to aging equally contributes to its choice
as the ideal material for the fabrication of bicycle frames and
forks. Vincent Holterboch, Head of R&D and Product Marketing
departements, tells us more about the company's user-centric
philosophy to sustain an innovation and excellence culture.

Look continues to make its frames
in-house for the very high-end,
high-tech products

At the same time, our engineers are technology buffs and constantly try to apply
concepts from another sector to our
products, especially where aerodynamics
and reinforcement are concerned.
We test our ideas using a number of
proofs of concept with either rapid prototyping tools (3D printing), small production runs (in our composite unit in
Nevers), or just samples from suppliers.
Then, if the innovation is validated for
QCD and can be proposed for a future
product, we test it more thoroughly at
the end of the "incubation" period.
We adopt a deconstructed approach by

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018