Pure Air 6 Suspension review: comfort far beyond the price tag

I’ve been riding Pure scooters into the office for a good while now, so when LOCO Scooters sent over the Pure Air 6 Suspension for review, I knew exactly what I’d be measuring it against. My own Pure Advance Flex is a demon on hills, and it has spoiled me rotten. I’ve been riding the Air 6 for over a week, on top of my usual 30km or so a week, and I took it out for extra spins specifically to hunt down the worst surfaces Dublin has to offer, cobblestones included.

The Pure Air 6 Suspension is the cheapest way into Pure’s sixth-generation Air range, and it comes with suspension on both the front and back. It costs €499 in Ireland, runs a 350W motor capped at 20km/h, rolls on 10-inch tubeless tyres and weighs around 21kg. Pure claims up to 45km of range on a single charge, but Loco’s 25km is a much more realistic range.

The suspension is the best thing I’ve felt on a scooter at this price. The trade-off is a 350W motor that’s nippy on the flat but runs out of puff on steep hills if you’re my size. More on both shortly. Let’s get into it.

Is the Pure Air 6 Suspension road legal in Ireland?

Yes. The Irish version is maxed out at 20km/h with no way to change it, the 350W motor sits well under the 400W limit, and at a little over 21kg it comes in under the 25kg weight cap. It has all the bells and whistles the rules ask for, quite literally, including a bell, front and rear lights, reflectors and two braking systems. Up front there’s a drum brake, and on the back there’s a regenerative brake that feeds a little energy back into the battery as you slow down. The handle bars also feature indicators visible from front and rear.

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Where you buy it matters too. You can grab this from LOCO Scooters, an Irish electric scooter shop, that makes sure if you’re on the road that your scooter meets the Irish e-scooter rules.

The suspension makes Dublin’s cobbles feel like a cloud

The big feature of the Air 6 is the suspension on the front and back, and it’s every bit as good as I’d hoped. Riding over Dublin’s cobblestones and the bumpier stretches of road was absolutely divine. It’s like riding a cloud.

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That comfort runs right through the scooter, from the air-filled tyres all the way up to the shocks. Hitting a bump on most scooters can leave you with your 6th birthday party flashing before your eyes. On the Air 6, it just feels a lot less dramatic, and that gives you real confidence on the road because you’re not bracing for every crack and pothole. Which, given the state of Irish roads, is a blessing.

The suspension is the part that impressed me most, so much so I didn’t even realise how much I missed it on my Flex. A couple of years ago, getting double shocks front and back for €499 would have been impossible. That’s a premium feature at a mid-range price.

Riding position and handling

As a result of the suspensions, the Air 6 gives you a high ride height coupled with a relaxed, leaning-back stance, with the handlebars in a really comfortable position. My Advance Flex has quite low handlebars, so you feel like you’re leaning forward on it. This is the opposite, and it’s incredibly comfortable over a longer spin. If you like the Kukirin-style riding position, it’s very similar.

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It’s really interesting to see one scooter company with two totally different design philosophies and after meeting them over at IFA in Berlin, they have plenty more to come too.

That height has a catch, though. When you stop and you’re not used to it, you step down further than you expect. I nearly tried to drive my foot through the concrete once or twice, which isn’t good for an aging knee.

The steering also doesn’t self-right as much as I’m used to, which is not a massive thing, but it does serve as a reminder that every scooter has quirks for ride style, and it’s worth taking it handy when changing over from one to another.

It’s also a standard-length scooter, which felt abnormally long to me at first, but that’s only because the Advance Flex is unusually short.

Is the 350W motor powerful enough for hills?

On the flat, the 350w motor is absolutely plenty, even for me weighing in at 110kg. On steep hills, if you’re a bigger rider, you’ll feel it.

Off the mark, the Air 6 is quick. It gets up to 20km/h nice and nippy. You won’t be racing Vin Diesel for pink slips, but its fast enough to be fun yet responsible. Overall it feels far more powerful than I’d have expected from a 350W motor. Even with me on board, it was quick off the line on flat ground and well able to handle slight inclines.

Steep hills are a different story. I tested it on Patrick Street in Dublin, and to be fair to it, it got up. Like I said, I’m a big lad at 110kg and it slowed down quite a bit on the way. My Advance Flex, with its 400W motor, breezes up the same hill. Fifty watts doesn’t sound like much on paper, but with 110kg on board on a steep climb, you notice it.

So if you’re on the bigger side, or your commute is full of hills, I’d look further up the Air 6 range for more power. If you’re lighter and your routes are mostly flat, you won’t even feel it.

But to put the power comparison in perspective, the Advance Flex costs around €950, nearly double the price. And I really would struggle to justify the higher price point if speaking with just my head.

Pure Air 6 battery life and real-world range

I was getting roughly 40 to 45 minutes of ride time per charge, which is nowhere near Pure’s 45km claim. Even riding flat out at 20km/h the whole way, 45 minutes only gets you around 15km. That said lighter riders will get noticeably more out of it. And don’t worry, I’m not trying to fat shame myself here, but rider weight is one of the biggest variables people don’t consider when buying an electric scooter. I’m just bringing attention to it!

What I do like is that on Loco’s website they will always include their own tested range. This is why buying from a retailer that has a physical space is important. Because they know if you are missing 20km in range, you can come in and give out about that to them. Their own tested range is closter to 25km and I’d tend to agree this is very close for most riders.

Go easy on it early doors, too. Like most scooters, the battery can need a few full charge cycles out of the box to calibrate properly. My time in the third battery bar was brief and with Pure scooters, I find you lose a little bit of power once you drop to two bars. I tend to charge at three bars to keep things at full whack.

One small gripe here. The charging port sits quite low at the back, which makes it a bit awkward to reach and can leave the cable trailing a little. It’s a minor inconvenience, if you could even call it that.

Indicators and visibility

The Air 6 has handlebar indicators that face both forwards and backwards, which is great for anyone in front of you. On the rear of the scooter, though, there’s only a brake light, so people coming up behind you may not spot your indicator. The Advance Flex has indicators on the footplates as well, and I think we’ll see that become a standard feature before long. It gives just that little bit more confidence.

Hand signals are hard to do safely on an e-scooter, so having an indicator low down on the back is a genuinely useful safety feature. I’ve found that in Dublin, a good strong look in the direction you’re going usually earns you the respect of other drivers, but don’t depend on that either.

One quick tip. Give the rear reflector a tighten when you get the scooter. Mine came loose on the first day, and it only needs a quick turn of a screw to keep it secure.

Weight, folding and portability

At around 21kg, this isn’t the lightest scooter in the world. The extra weight comes from the shocks. Now for a scooter with full suspension, it’s on the lighter side, but still considerably heavier than most without shocks. That said, considering you can’t take electric scooters on public transport, most won’t be lifting these around anyway.

The handlebar stem folds down so you can carry it, but you’re not going to carry it very far. I’d gotten very used to the flexibility of my fully folding Flex, so that took some adjusting. Wheeling it around is easy, and it’s very manoeuvrable, though carrying it up stairs into your apartment would get tough without a lift. The handle bars offer great comfort too, but are on the wider side which remaining within Irish legal limits.

One of the easiest scooters to lock up

There are features that are easy to miss when buying a scooter and this is certainly one of them. The footplate connects to the stem with a fork-style design. That lets you run a lock through the main body of the scooter, and that’s shockingly rare. Electric scooters are notoriously hard to lock securely. Looping a lock around the upper stem or the handlebars never feels great, because you always suspect someone could work it loose or unscrew something and walk off with it.

Being able to lock through the body is one of the few times I’ve seen e-scooter design that clearly came from listening to riders. The Air 6 is one of the easiest scooters to secure on a public street I’ve used, but still invest in a good lock.

Pair that with the electronic lock in the Pure app and you’re in good shape. If someone does get through your lock, and be under no illusion, they might, they’re left with a electronically locked 21kg scooter that nobody is running down the street with.

On the weather side, the Air 6 is rated IP65. Bizarrely, I didn’t get a chance to ride it in the rain, but my other IP65-rated Pure scooters have handled plenty of Irish weather, so I’ve no doubts here.

Accessories, niggles and that flag

There are two interesting extras I haven’t seen much about yet. Either side of the rear footplate there are fittings that look designed for a small cargo box, and there’s an aftermarket water bottle holder too. I suspect Pure has more accessories on the way, but no word on that yet.

I use a small carry bag on the front of my Advance Flex for my charger, vest and a few tools, so I can charge in the office and get everything I need without rooting too much. By the letter of Irish law, you’re not supposed to carry goods on an e-scooter. I’d argue those rules are aimed at people bringing an air fryer home from the shops, a week’s shopping at their feet, or a passenger, not a charger and a small toolkit. Still, that’s your call.

My two real negatives are small ones. The kickstand feels a little flimsy. It does its job, but if I had to pick one part I didn’t fully trust, it’s that, so take it easy on it.

The other is the Union Jack on the scooter. Pure is a British brand, founded by Lando Norris’s father, with Lando as the face of it, so it comes with the territory. It’s a bit like the Union Jack on a pair of Reebok Classics. You know it’s there, you wear them anyway, and a sticker sorts the scooter out in seconds.

The Goosed verdict

The Pure Air 6 Suspension gave me more comfort and confidence than any scooter I’ve ridden at this price. The ride quality, the build quality and the clever lock-through-the-body design all tick boxes that scooters costing far more often miss. At €499, it’s one of the best bang-for-buck electric scooters on Irish roads right now.

The one caveat is the motor. If you’re on the bigger side and your commute is hilly, you’ll feel the 350W limit, and stepping up the range makes sense. If your routes are mostly flat, even as a bigger rider, this will be perfectly fine. Any electric scooter that can let me use the word “glide” in the same sentence as Dublin’s cobblestones, is fine by me.

The Pure Air 6 Suspension costs €499 from LOCO Scooters, which offers free delivery, a one-year warranty and onsite repairs.

€499

Pure Air 6 Suspension

Comfort beyond the price tag.

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