Azor Lightning – aluminium Oma review
I got to try a bunch of bikes out that were being used for the bike tryout sessions at the Cambridge county fair, and the first one I grabbed was the new Azor Lightning (longer goes on the Taga and the Bakfiets.nl Cargotrike to come). It’s an aluminium Oma style bike with built in frame mounted transport rack mounts (see photo above, on the left next to a BSP Seine Mummybike). It runs on Fat Franks (white Big Apples). Whilst it floated along on the big tires, it felt simultaneously light and strong (well, stiff), so according to the old Keith Bontrager adage (light, strong, cheap; pick two), it can”t be cheap. It’s isn’t – expect to pay around £1000 for an 8speed.
It was an absolute pleasure to ride. As usual, everything felt well engineered. However, it flew in a way that I am not used to with the Azor dutch bikes. It had noticeable added zip, and not in the brutal way I’ve experienced on MTBs (I felt like I fractured my back riding a GT Zaskar some years ago). I would guess that the tires must be responsible for some of that ride quality, and I am sure the suspended Brooks saddle can’t hurt (I use a B67 on my bakfiets). It felt like a bike you could zoom around on as well as doing the flaneur thing on.
I didn’t have any meaningful cargo to hand with which to test the cargo carrying capacity, so I improvised. Don’t try this at home:
I was surprised at the lack of impact the ‘load’ had on the handling. Completely unlike steering (fork / stem /handlebar) mounted cargo. Impressive. All in all, a very lovely bike. Thanks to Hugh at The School Run Centre for letting me disappear off on his bike whilst they were setting up. He’s got them in stock and is offering test rides.