Cube Attain SLX
£1,599.99 Borderline racy road bike with comfort in mind and room for mudguards
Weight 9.64kg (53cm) Frame Aluminium Fork Carbon Gears Shimano 105 11-speed (11-34t, 50/34t) Brakes Shimano 105 hydraulic disc, 160mm rotors Wheels Cube RA 1.9 Aero Disc Finishing kit Cube Performance SLX stem, Cube Compact Race bar, Cube Performance 27.2mm seatpost, Natural Fit Nuance saddle, Continental Ultra Sport 3 SL tyres
In spite of a price that undercuts much of the opposition, Cube has managed to spec a complete Shimano 105 hydraulic groupset (albeit the older 11-speed version). You can also fit mudguards, though the frame is limited to 28mm tyres, but that’s the only real issue I found with the bike. It flies on the flat, is nippy on hills, quick and nimble on descents and, in spite of its quite narrow rubber, comfort is impeccable. And while the geometry is surprisingly racy, Cube takes the edge off with swept-back bars so you’re not too stretched out.
Fine frame
The frameset has all the features you’d expect for a mid-priced road bike. The smooth-welded 6061 aluminium frame is compact and made from double-butted tubes to keep the weight down, with slimline dropped seatstays for comfort. Cabling is all routed internally. Since it’s a more road-based design, the only mounts are the usual two sets of bottle cage bosses.
Mudguard fittings are similarly minimalist: at the bottom of the fork and rear dropouts and there’s a bridge across the chainstays. Cube makes its own lightweight Attain Disc Mudguard Set that has a bridge section built on to the top of the rear guard to keep it sufficiently rigid, but other full-length guards will fit.
Cube has by far the most aggressive geometry of the three bikes on test. In fact, the frame angles – 74° seat angle, 72° head angle on our test bike – aren’t that far removed from those of a classic race bike. The same is true of the wheelbase, which is just 1mm longer than Cube’s Agree. Tyre clearances are very limited too, just 28mm, which is modest these days.
The very neatly finished frame has the Shimano 105 chainset, unlike the pricier Cannondale Synapse 1, which uses a less expensive, heavier chainset. Shimano’s workhorse 105 groupset delivers its usual slick and efficient performance, with a wide range of gears and light-acting, powerful hydraulic disc brakes. Cube has specced the compact 50-34t chainset and wide-ranging 50/34t cassette. The one-toone-ratio bottom gear should please pretty much all of us most of the time on climbs. The braking is as good as you’d expect (plentiful power at your fingertips without much effort) and performed perfectly and without complaint (unlike the rider) in some terrible conditions. To get 105 on Trek or Cannondale costs £1,850 or £1,900.
The wheels are Cube’s own 1.9 models with semi-deep tubeless-ready rims, though as with both other bikes on test, the tyres are not tubeless-ready. The entrylevel Ultra Sport tyres from Continental performed pretty well in poor conditions but I wouldn’t take them on any major offroad forays. And with the Attain frame limited to 28mm tyres, this makes the Cube more of a road machine than the other two.
Smooth operator
It’s not road bike-light but I never felt the bike was carrying excess baggage (unlike me). The Cube’s weight is similar to the Cannondale and noticeably lighter than the Ridley. Its slimmer tyres and near-race bike frame angles are steeper than the Cannondale’s – and much steeper than the
Ridley’s – and the Cube’s wheelbase is a fair bit shorter, coming in at under a metre, giving it a nippy feel. All this makes the Cube a great training bike. The tight semicompact main triangle and dropped seatstays offer an extremely rewarding ride. Long rides on poor surfaces in nearfreezing conditions resulted in no discomfort and, when I put the hammer down, acceleration was excellent. I got on very well with the Cube’s shortish (24cm) saddle and swept-back bar tops to keep me a little more upright in the saddle.
It’s a nifty little climber, either in the saddle, helped by the one-to-one ratio bottom gear, or out of the saddle, thanks to the taut, tight frame. The hydraulic disc brakes mean you can tackle downhills confidently too, whatever the weather. All that’s missing is the all-surface versatility of the Ridley and Cannondale. But if you want a light-ish, fast-ish and comfortable bike for year-round riding with or without guards, it’s a box-ticker and then some.
“It’s a nifty little climber too, either in the saddle or out of it, thanks to the taut, tight frame”