The Scott Addict is back and, judging by our first ride at Eurobike, that’s no bad thing.

The Addict, first unveiled in 2007, was mothballed in favour of the aero Foil but returns to the Swiss-American brand’s line-up for model year 2014 and is lighter than ever.

So we seized the opportunity to take the Team Issue model for an hour-long ride on the rolling roads of Friedrichshafen at Eurobike’s pre-show demo day.

That’s by no means a conclusive test but it gave us the opportunity to form some crucial first impressions. And? The Scott Addict Team Issue is a superbly sprightly and well-balanced ride – and one we can’t wait to get further acquainted with.

The original Addict was one of the first machines to strike in the battle for super-light supremacy and the latest iteration continues that fight. Four models make up the 2014 range and the Addict SL is the flagship bike – and subsequently the lightest, with a claimed weight of 995g for the frameset (that’s both the frame and fork), said to be the first production chassis to dip beneath the one kilo mark.

The Team Issue machine sits second from top with a claimed frameset weight of 1,090g – a 95g penalty over the SL. How have Scott made the Addict so light? We got the full tech story at the brand’s UK launch – here we’ll concentrate on how it rides.

The Team Issue is built with mechanical Shimano Dura-Ace, Syncros 1.0 carbon clinchers wrapped in Continental Grand Prix 4000 tyres, and finishing kit also from Syncros (Scott’s in-house component brand), making for a claimed weight of just 6.17kg for the complete bike. Despite the bike’s Team Issue moniker, that’s significantly under the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit and if Scott’s two sponsored teams, Orica-GreenEDGE and IAM Pro Cycling, were to ride it, they would have to find more than half-a-kilo in order to roll off the start line.

Luckily that’s not a problem for us and the Addict Team Issue’s paltry low weight is felt from the first pedal stroke. The bike jumps to accelerate and that eagerness is most keenly felt when climbing.

The roads that unwind from the Eurobike demo day head out into the foothills of the Alps and while there are no mountain passes to speak off, the Addict felt remarkably willing on the persistently rolling roads and one 1.5-mile climb which included some steep pitches. It’s on those challenging gradients where the lack of weight is most keenly felt but a bike like this needs to be stiff as well as light and there was little sign of flex in the frame. We’ll need to spend longer with it to determine how it performs under sprinting and on longer ascents.

As well as maintaining stiffness, Scott say the Addict’s lack of weight hasn’t come at cost of comfort (the Addict is said to sit between the Foil and the all-new Solace ‘endurance’ bike in terms of vertical compliance), though Germany’s uniformly smooth roads didn’t give us the chance to put that claim to the test.

What we did have a chance to get to grips with, however, was the Addict’s handling. It’s a machine made for racing and the geometry matches that of the Foil – low and long – but, while the Addict felt sharp and accurate under hand, it was it’s stability and balance that left a lasting impression after our short acquaintance. While some bikes of this ilk can take a little while to grow accustomed to, the Addict Team Issue almost immediately felt like a natural fit.

The Addict Team Issue’s build kit is suitably high-end. The Shimano Dura-Ace groupset we’ve spent most of the summer with (paired with the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX) is superb, providing crisp, accurate shifting, with a short lever throw and impressive braking performance.

Speaking of which, the Team Issue rolls on Syncros 1.0 wheels and the full carbon rim combined with the carbon-specific brake pads to provide consistent braking in the light rain we experience on our ride. Whether that remains the case during more persistent downpours, when carbon rims are typically at their least effective in terms of braking, requires further riding. What can be said, however, is that the low rolling weight of the wheels (a claimed 1,310g) undoubtedly adds to the Addict’s fast ride.

Website: Scott