With Sam Hill grabbing all the news on his Iron Horse Sunday, it’s easy to forget that the company makes bikes for chewing through the miles on too, but they do. For his recent South Downs Way Double record-smashing ride, Rob Lee chose a custom-specced Iron Horse Azure. Unsurprisingly, it’s designed for XC and marathon riding – with 90mm of travel out back, it’s the shortest-travel bike in Iron Horse’s range to use Dave Weagle’s DW-Link suspension design. DW-Link is claimed to eliminate feedback and improve pedalling performance without necessitating a platform shock, and we’ve certainly found it to be very effective when we’ve encountered it.

Stock Azures come in Expert or Sport flavours, but Rob’s is kitted out with his own choice of ultra-endurance bits. Up front there’s a 100mm travel RockShox Reba fork. Rob rolls on Continental tyres with Black Chilli tread compound. Transmission is a well-used XTR/XT combo (with a Shadow mech at the rear to minimise the chances of a trail-assisted gear failure en route). British brands Hope and USE supply brakes and finishing kit, while an Exposure light and Garmin GPS grace the bars.