While it’s arguably not light enough to be considered a pure cross-country race bike, the slender build and 90mm of rear-wheel travel hint at its intended purpose. Light Easton tubes and some positively skinny bracing plates at various points around the Azure’s frame ram home the point that this is a bike to be finessed, not hammered. With great weight distribution and tidily balanced handling, the result is a surprisingly confidence-inspiring descender. Some riders won’t like it, but we’ll take the traction boost any day.Īs the speed picks up and the bumps come harder and faster, the floating pivot point continues to do its work, delivering a bizarrely ‘bottomless’ feel that’ll have you swearing that you’re on a longer travel bike. Pedal feedback is effectively non-existent, although the pattering of the shock as it responds to rear wheel movement can make it feel as though there’s some pedal-related bob. Keep the power down and the front wheel pointed where you want to go, and the Azure’s rear end will follow through with a tenacity that the Trek and Norco simply can’t match. The rear tyre seems to stay glued to the ground at low speeds no matter what the provocation. Small bump response is exceptional, and only equalled in this company by the Commençal (with its ProPedal damping switched off). What about that rear end? Well, it works, and works well. Grippy, open-tread Continental tyres cling to the trail tenaciously in all but the wettest conditions and accelerate quickly. Efficient geometry ticks all the right boxes, combining confidence-inspiring low standover with plenty of room for the rider to move around over the bike.
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