Any tips re Cube Cross Race please.

NickintheLakes

Well, I have been round and round in circles for two months now dithering about what sort of bike/which bike to buy. I have finally made a choice and hope it is the right one (hence this post) plus I have a couple of questions too.

My background;

55 years old and I do lots of hill walking & scrambling (unroped climbing) here in the Lake District where I live. I can easily walk 10-12 hour days with heaps of ascent in the mountains although I am overweight!

I am seeking to get fitter and have had periods of my life where bikes have played a part and I would like to rekindle the interest.

Way back in my mid-teens (early 70's) I had a Raleigh Professional 10 speed which was a bit of a swanky ride at the time for a teenager. I rode this for about 5 years and had some half-hearted attempts at short races on it although I was useless tbh.

In my 20/30's my career got in the way of cycling but then 1997 came along and MTB's were all the rage and an XTR equipped beast duly arrived and I hammered about in the Tunbridge Wells area where I lived for a few years and then moved to the Lakes.

Sadly my MTB'ing was cut short by a climbing accident which caused an arm injury. This is more or less fixed 10 years on although I am awaiting a final minor op' on my hand. The upshot was that for a long while now I have not been able to put any sort of sustained pressure on my arms.

That's me then,

***

So here I am with a £1500 max' budget to spend on a bike. As I said, I have been around the houses. The bike I want needs to be light, capable of some mild trail work, have decent brakes and a comfortable riding position.

I will ride maybe 95% on road with the odd simple bridleway/forest track thrown in now and again. 50-80 miles a week will be all I do over 3-4 rides once I have got back up to speed. That's the theory anyway.

I started looking at Hardtail MTB's with rigid front forks (rare but do-able) as I can't see the point of lugging shocks around if they are not needed. Choice is pretty limited though. And then I stumbled across cyclo-cross bikes. These seem to fit the bill nicely.

I have Wheelbase in Staveley, Evans and Halfords near by and I am not much into travelling any further afield than this tbh - living in the Lake District has cause my horizons to shrink!

I am happy to spend all of my budget although if it does not need fully spending I can think of other uses for it. I have budgeted separately for all the other bits and pieces needed apart from the bike.

I looked at various hybrids but I think I'll prefer the extra bar positions of a crosser. Hope this makes sense.

I want a reasonable spec' groupset and I am not convinced that Trek, Cannondale etc give great value for money at this price-point in terms of componentry.

I have landed on Cube specifically the Cross Race or Cross Race Pro. They look great, get good reviews and seem well specced to me.

http://www.cube.eu/en/road/cross-race/cross-race/

http://www.cube.eu/en/road/cross-race/cross-race-pro/

Both seem to fit the bill, both have ok spec'. One has 105 and the other Ultegra.

The 105 equipped Cross Race is £999 and the Ultegra equipped Cross Race Pro is another £400. The extra £400 buys you the Ultegra bits plus some slightly lighter components which takes the weight down from 9.2kg to 8.9kg. At my level of intended performance both as a starter and in the future this weight difference means precisely zip to me.

The 105 equipped Cross Race seems to be the better VFM choice.

***

So my questions are:

Is this the right type of bike for my proposed riding?

Is it the right bike for me or should I be looking at other brands?

Shall I stick with 105 and keep the money 'saved' for other things?

Also, the chainset is 46/36 and whilst the cassette sizing is not included in the spec's it looks about 28 at the big end (I blew an image up and tried counting the cogs!) - will this be ok for a novice to get up reasonably steep hills?

And regarding sizing, I am 5' 8" with 30" inside leg so would 53cm be a better bet than 56cm for me? This model is not kept instore and will have to be ordered in so I would like to get it right first time if poss'.

Apolgies if that is too many questions but answers will be very much appreciated. thank you in advance.

amclinden

I got a CAADX 5 2012 this year and it has been great... Liking the look of the Cubes though

NickintheLakes

amclinden wrote:

I got a CAADX 5 2012 this year and it has been great... Liking the look of the Cubes though

Hi - how do you find the gearing on steeper hills?

Monty Dog

CX bikes are ideal for mixed use - they can be ridden practically anywhere and are way better on the road / hard tracks than an MTB. I would try and get a test ride on any CX to confirm your choice.
For gearing, it depends on your fitness and terrain - you could always fit a smaller inner chainring, a 34 if you wanted to. But gears aren't designed for the sit-down-and-twiddle like an MTB, more out the saddle-and-give-it-welly.
Size-wise, I'd go down if you're in-between - extra standover is of benefit if needing to put a foot down on rough terrain.

sloppyschleckonds

As Monty Dog says, the general advice is to size down with cross bikes.

The Cubes are very good bikes, 105 groupset will be more than good enough.

Also have a look at focus cross bikes, £1500 will get you this:
http://bit.ly/tvqXo0

Monty Dog

£1500 will get you a good spec bike and there a few carbon-framed bikes at that price-point too which make great lightweight platforms suitable for upgrades. Also look at a CX-specialists like Paul Milnes Cycles, Ride in Coventry, Elmy Cycles, Fatbirds to see what they could do for your budget, particularly as we're nearing the end of the CX season. Planet-X also do a new carbon-framed CX bike with discs called the Dirty Disco for £1500 and SRAM Rival kit.

NickintheLakes

Many thanks for your replies.

I am trundling around in circles in my head at the moment - age!

I have now (mentally at least) gravitated away from heavy MTB's to CX and now think, bearing in mind that any trail time would be minimal and could be excluded 100% no problem, that maybe I should consider a road bike.

I am not at all performance orientated in terms of speed etc. I just want to get around the Lake District at a moderate pace, enjoy what is passing by and to get up biggish hills (at least they seem big to me) without getting off (demoralising).

So if I got something like this:

http://www.cube.eu/en/road/performance/peloton-sl/

Would it be comfortable given a reasonable period of getting used to it?

I would go down the 3 ring route not caring a jot if this is wussy as it looks like I could get up steep hills ok with it.

Any thoughts? This or CX?

Thank you.

SimonRees73

I have the Cube streamer which is basically the same bike as the new peloton. I bought it as a winter bike but in reality it is far too good for that. Superb bike, handles well & looks amazing. Cube make some great bikes & are superb value for money. The triple will get you around any terrain as you will have a wide range of gears.

jonrb101

I have a 2010 Cube x Race (shimano 105 spec), bought as a winter trainer, mostly on road, but occassionally off. I've been so impresed with it that it has become my main ride and the carbon bike has stayed in the shed all summer. I keep up with the chain gang on it, it's comfortable (i've fitted 32 mm tyres) and I've also changed the gearing to cope with the Welsh hills to 34/46 and 11/32 using a Shimano XT rear mech. An excellent bike and I thoroughly recommend it.

NickintheLakes

Grrrrrrr!

Contacted my LBS here in the Lakes which is Britains biggest bike store and the Peleton (several variants) is/are shown on their website.

But.....

....they don't stock them, they are special order as they are concentrating on Trek, Focus & Cannondale for entry level aluminium.

This is quite hard work this buying a bike malarky! :evil:

SimonRees73

Have you thought of getting a 2011 bike? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=57242 that is a similar bike to the new peloton but much cheaper.

NickintheLakes

SimonRees73 wrote:

Have you thought of getting a 2011 bike? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=57242 that is a similar bike to the new peloton but much cheaper.

I haven't really given much thought to the 2011 bikes - not sure why. That looks like a good deal/

Bordersroadie

NickintheLakes wrote:

II have landed on Cube specifically the Cross Race or Cross Race Pro.

And regarding sizing, I am 5' 8" with 30" inside leg so would 53cm be a better bet than 56cm for me?

I'm 5'8" and same inside leg as you. I just bought a Cube Streamer, a very well equipped bike for £859 at current CRC discount price, reduced from £1200 (or £759 if you take the order to £1k and get the extra £100 off) and despite having not ridden it I'm very happy with the quality and the incredible value for money - to get Ultegra at his price point is amazing.

Anyhoo. . .the reason for my post is to recommend Cube but also to warn you of their strange sizing. I usually want a 53/54 bike (measurement from bottom bracket to top of seat tube ("c-t") or in the old days the centre point of the intersecting top tube ("c-c")).

In Cubeland, the perfect size for me turns out to be a "56cm". The fact that the c-t measurement is 52cm makes the source of the "56" a mystery, but be advised that if you order one, look at the geometry spec sheets and satisfy yourself that the seat tube dimension is appropriate for you and order accordingly.

Incidentally I bought the Streamer because the tall head tube allows a riding position similar to my old bike where I had an old quill stem that would allow the handlebars to be raised closer to the seat height (I'm a bit of an old git too). It may be an ideal bike for you, I agree with the previous poster. Remember if you order without a road test that many new bikes are quite sporty in geometry and since they have effectively no scope to raise the bar height more than a few mm, if you get a bike with bars that are too llow it's tough sh1t so yo need to o your geometry homework BEFORE you buy.

Good luck and welcome back!

NickintheLakes

Good luck and welcome back!

Thank you for that and your advice.

Looking forward to getting out on two wheels again. My arm has taken a while to sort but it is 99% ok now with just a small op' to go. Can't wait really.

Never going to be hard-core; I just fancy footling along enjoying the scenery and exercise.

harveyg77

I am 5'9" and in proportion length wise. I bought a 2010 Cube Cross Race, superb bike and on a fat set of road tyres (28c700) was great on the road too. She weight 21lb in 56cm guise with Shimano MTB pedals on. The gearing is good for climbing - I'm more into MTBs than road bikes - but you can still whip along at speed. I found in Derbyshire I was as quick on the Cube as I was my Scott CR1 (18lb). Mainly because the Scott, although being a 54cm was actually too big, whereas the 56cm Cube fit like a glove. I made the mistake of selling the Cube Cross Race, buying a Cube Agree GTC SL to use as a dedicated summer road bike, obviously the Scott went too. But I. Dare not ride the Agree where I would the Cross Race.
Consequently, I'm looking for another CX bike for winter riding, commuting and being a general robust, comfy hack. I've looked at Planet-X (don't like SRAM), Boardman CX (prefer Cube wheels), I've been considering building a Cotic X (pleased with my Cotic Soul, but it will be expensive to do). Without hesitation, I can put my hand on heart and say the Cube is a brilliant machine to ride and own and I regret ever selling mine.

Cheers Harvey

ufukpanlacivert

Hi NickintheLakes:) I ' m 51. I ' m looking and buying "Cube Cross race pro" like you.
Pro or normal cros race, It doesn't matter. Cube cros race (black and red) seems perfect.
I want to ask you " did you buy your cyclocross.?" Did you like it
I want to listen your impression.
I uses scott sub 20, scott spark 35 and Cırratec motion.
I felt big fun and I drove faster with Scott sub, so I want to buy Cyclocross.

What do you think, is that true decide?

Thanks for yor answer.:)

NickintheLakes

ufukpanlacivert wrote:

Hi NickintheLakes:) I ' m 51. I ' m looking and buying "Cube Cross race pro" like you.
Pro or normal cros race, It doesn't matter. Cube cros race (black and red) seems perfect.
I want to ask you " did you buy your cyclocross.?" Did you like it
I want to listen your impression.
I uses scott sub 20, scott spark 35 and Cırratec motion.
I felt big fun and I drove faster with Scott sub, so I want to buy Cyclocross.

What do you think, is that true decide?

Thanks for yor answer.:)

Sorry about late reply.

I ended up buying a Giant TCX1:

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bik ... 842/56836/

Cracking machine - fitted 32mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes for road use and changed the stock saddle, naff seatpost (no micro-adjust) and lengthed the stem 20mm. It's a terrific bike for my purposes.