We just took delivery of our latest test bike, the Cube Stereo Super HPC 160 Race. That may be a mouthful, but the bike is a clean, sleek, light machine that warrants a closer look…
160mm of travel via ‘Efficient Trail Control’ suspension (basically a four bar/rocker link) system. The rocker is all carbon, and while the pivot seems small, the rocker looks super-stiff.
Yep, that’s your crap deflector right there. Who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humour? The internal gear cable routing port is super tidy. The bottom bracket is a press fit BB92.
Fully integrated carbon dropouts, Syntace X12 axle, 180mm rotor and the sexiest brake posts ever.
The rear brake hose runs the length of the massive downtube and is held by these trick little doodads… it looks like you might be able to mount a bottle cage going by the spacing on the middle two bolts…
Tapered headtube, integrated headset, super slick internal gear cable routing and Fox Talas CTD 34 fork offering 160 and 120mm travel modes.
Easton Haven cockpit with 70mm stem and 750mm carbon bar.
Stopping and going is handled by Formula RC Tune brakes and trusty SLX shifters.
The XT Shadow Plus derailleur is bolted to a direct mount hanger. Schwalbe Hans Dampf tyres are a fat 2.35, and the wheels are DT CSWs with 28 straight-pull spokes front and rear.
Fox Float CTD shock out back. Stealth routing for dropper post, but sadly no post comes with this model (I’ll be chucking mine straight on though!).
Slim profile for a big bike.
A triple? Yep, and no ISCG mounts means mounting a chain guide could be a problem…
A QR is no match for a dropper post, but this one is pretty cool… the lip of the lever snugs up against the rubber boot to keep crap out of the seat tube.
For a bike with 160mm of travel, it feels incredibly light, and tipped the scales at 12.1kg sans pedals. The finish and build quality of the frame and features is top notch, like you’d expect from other fine German marques like Porsche or BMW. The numbers and build suggest snappy climbing, agile handling and bomber descending… we’ll see how it lives up to the promise and give you our thoughts in Issue 54.
Its a Four bar linkage not a faux-bar.
bah! 27.5? it’ll never catch on
I own the model above it and I always rolled on 26, have a 29er also. But dammit the 27.5 is the F ‘en BEST. I never thought I would say that. So I am buying a second one for at my other house, because I miss it so….
What’s up with the spec on your test bike? Both the Cube and Bikecycle.co.nz websites show this model has Formula T1S brakes, SRAM XO 2×10 shifters and derailleurs, Race Face Evolve crankset and a Reverb Stealth as standard.
Never mind, I see you had the 2013 model, maybe you should have mentioned that they fixed the spec for 2014 in the magazine review though, this years model is deadly for 6K.