Scott road bikes have been receiving great reviews in recent times, especially after the success of Mark Cavendish on one of their bikes at the recent Tour de France.

One in particular, has been leading the way: The 2009 Scott Speedster S30, a fine creation by the leading bike manufacturer.

The S30 frame is made from hydroformed aluminium and features a mixture of unsmoothed and smooth welds – smooth where the down-tube and top-tube meet the head-tube, and unsmoothed at the top of the seat-tube and around the bottom bracket; the forks are carbon fibre.

The result is a reasonable if not stunning all-up weight of 9.04kg (19.93lb), but when you’re riding it the bike feels lighter. True, it comes with a triple chainset, but this is still most definitely a bike with a racing heritage and pedigree.

It may not score top marks when it comes to tipping the scales, so why did we like the Scott so much once we got in the saddle?

Well, it’s strong, tough and efficient. Aluminium may not be seen as being at the cutting-edge these days, but if you’re a powerful rider then you may ind that it’s still a material worth trying out – especially if you’re looking at spending around a grand on a road bike.

The speccing of Shimano’s second-string group set complements the bike extremely well – it’s race-ready, shifts smoothly and works faultlessly – and while the triple chainset may not please everyone, unless you’re riding competitively the extra range of gears offered should more than make up for any negative considerations.

The rest of the kit also majors on durability rather than lightness. Hutchinson’s 23mm Equinox tyres are paired with semi-deep section Alex rims, while Scott branded components are evident elsewhere, from the bars and stem to the saddle and even the brake calliper