Cube LTD Pro

Twelly

Had this for about 6 months now, thought I'd join the snowy picture bandwagon.....







Frame: Alu Superlite AMF 6061 Double Butted, RFR-Geometry, Disc only
Fork: Rock Shox Reba RL, Motion Control, PopLoc
Travel: 100mm
Brakes: Shimano BR-M505 hydr. discbrake (180/160mm)
Crankset: Shimano FC-M552 2-Piece 42x32x24T, 175mm, 3x10 speed
Bottom Bracket: integrated BB
Gear Shifters: Shimano Deore SL-M591 Rapidfire-Plus, 10-speed
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT RD-M780 Shadow 10-speed
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore FD-M590 Top Swing 34,9mm, 10-speed
Hubs : Shimano Disc HB-M435 / FH-M435
Spokes: DT Industry
Rims: Alex ZX 24
Tyres: WTB Stout/WTB Prowler 2.3"
Stem: Easton EA30 Oversized
Handlebar: Easton EA30 Lowriser Oversized
Seatpost: Easton EA30 31,6mm
Headset: FSA No.10 semi-integrated
Grips: CUBE Performance Grip
Saddle: Selle Italia X1
Pedals: Fasten Alu
Weight: 12,3 kg

Dredd6969

Very nice!!!!

Twelly

No pimping yet, just tyre swap and SPD's but I will be looking at a new wheelset soon, the Alex rims/basic shimano combo is heavy and a bit flexy under braking.

Twelly

Finally finished faffing around with my road bike so i can put a bit of money and time in to the hardtail.

New wheels have arrived, as have new tyres, I now have no skin left on either thumb after trying to get TR Nobby Nics on those bastard Crests! Now dreading a puncture while im oot n aboot...

Shorter stem to go on (80mm) and I have a new XT BB to go in as the original is farked.

Oh and Deore brakes to replace the M505's.

Wheels look dead sexy - pictures this evening.

Twelly

Wheels on, tyres on - believe it or not I have saved over 2kgs with this change. Didn't realise quite how heavy my old wheels/tyres were - 5.5kg! Overall weight is now bang on 12kg.

Stem changed - will see how this feels on the next ride, may go even shorter.

Lock ons fitted

Brakes changed - I didn't buy the Deore brakes as an upgrade for this bike, they were on another but I prefer the Deore lever over the standard 505 brakes. no difference in power or weight as far as I can tell..

Next will be a bash guard to replace the big ring and I will be pinching the Deore front mech for another build so I have an excuse to buy something shinier/lighter and 2x10 flavour.

Adam k

Iv had them brakes on my full sus changed them to Xt set up so might fit them to my cube

Your wheels look loads better iv just changed my wheels on the cube bike feels a lot better now

What other plans you got for it ??

Twelly

Nothing much now. As said above, lose the big ring for a bash. I might stick a Spoon on it

Anyway, the wheels. Oh the wheels...(and tyres)

The bike has completely changed into something epic.
- so much stiffer. I actually thought I was riding with the fork locked out at one point as I was getting so much feedback through the bars.
-so much lighter. As I said, I lost over 2kgs from the wheels and tyres and jesus it makes a difference. Much faster and so nimble up technical climbs and in the twisty bits.

The only downer is that I have made an already light, twitchy bike more light and twitchy to ride. It literally skips and pops around underneath me now which is great at a dry, grippy trail centre, not so great on the slippery roots surrounded by muddy bogs I was riding this evening. ..

The tyres were great tonight in really horrible conditions. Clogged up once but we were going through a slushy, recently ploughed field during a downpour. Slipped and slid around a bit but I soon realised I could trust the bike to snap back into line without having to do a great deal - contradicting myself a bit here... the bike was a bit of a handful but if I did get out if shape there was good bite from the tyres to pull it back.

Will try slightly lower tyre and fork pressures next time out to stop some of the pinging and skipping about.

Twelly

Update time.

Grips - Superstar man size lock ons (I have big gorilla hands)

The new grips were quite a bit longer than the old which pushed the brake and gear levers inboard making quite an interesting riding position (effectively narrowed my bars) so...

New bars - superstar descent 780mm 25 rise - I rode a demo bike at QE a couple of weeks back and the wider bar it had fitted was incredible so along with the wider grips this was the next sensible upgrade.

First ride with the wider bars will be tomorrow so I can tinker with the position then I'm doing all day at Swinley Forest on Sunday.

Oh, also drop the big ring and adjusted the front mech to suit.








Also got an XT Shadow + rear mech on order, should be here tomorrow.

aongo

Hi Twelly... can I ask your (or someone else in the know's) honest opinion on a short-stem / wider bar combo on this type of bike?
I have an '11 Cube Ltd and besides adding lock-on grips, SPDs, X-Fusion HiLo post and decent tyres, the rest of my bike is untouched with the usual Cube super long Easton stem (~120mm) and bar (~680mm).

There's a local lad to me selling an as-new Raceface 50mm stem and matching 740mm riser bars that I've been mulling over but haven't heard any direct experiences on what they are like fitted to an XC orientated bike.

I'm also quite tall (6'4") on a 22" Cube, so not sure how a wider and with slightly shorter reach will compare with my current narrower but longer position... the new Raceface bars are 1" risers so could always roll them forward I suppose...

Natural XC in NW Ireland is my typical riding, with the odd trail centre but nothing overly gravity-fed so wondering what people's thoughts would be - worthwhile making this €40-50 change/upgrade to my bike or put the €50 into the "new bike" piggybank?

Of course the flip-side is that old bars / stem could be added to the spare parts bin along with all the other Cube-replaced stuff for a future project - ha now I'm starting to see how this upgrade-itis disease starts!

(edited for typos...)

Twelly

I rode a big 140mm full sus 29er and despite it being a completely different bike, the thing that stood out was the extra width on the bar. Felt so much better.

I have gone with a 780mm Superstar bar so I have the option to cut down but to be honest, I rode it last night and it felt great. Shorter stem was thrown on a while back purely because I want the 100mm Easton for my road bike. Cant say ive noticed a difference with the 80mm on the Cube.

Twelly

Im also quite tall - 6ft3 on a 20" frame. Reach is fine with my current set up.

Twelly

Turned up this morning

defride

Nice bike, agree a good set of wheels transforms a LTD. Was debating on getting a shadow+ mech myself. Would be interested to hear how much difference you notice in the real world

Twelly

It is a nice feature but doesn't make a huge difference in actually riding the bike but the silent ride is nice.

Haven't dropped a chain since having it on.

aongo

Just a follow-up on my earlier post - I got a good deal on a Raceface Evolve 50mm stem and matching 740mm bars so for the hell of it I swapped...
Took a few spins and messing to get used to it, now I finally have them rotated quite far forward to still give me a good bit of reach even with the short stem - crappy phone pic below

First few impressions are I quite like it, while they look dramatically wider, they feel quite natural when riding, more so than the originals... also seem to put a bit more weight and leverage over the front wheel which can't be bad either.

Good luck with the rest of your mods Twelly - your bike is looking well!

Twelly

I love the wider bar on mine, glad you are getting on well with yours.

This bike will be left alone for a while now, I'm pretty happy with how it rides and am now just spending a bit of time tweaking the fork. I'm finding it difficult to keep the low speed sensitivity whilst having enough air for bigger hits.. If I get it set up riding smooth and plush it tends to bottom out a lot. I guess it isn't a hard hitting fork though...

Anyway, I have a new project. A 2006 Kona Coiler, scooped up on eBay for a reasonable price. It has only been ridden a handful of times and looks like it just rolled out of a shop. Will be concentrating on some more aggressive riding and tuning the Coiler over the next few months. Anyone got a full face for sale?!...

Twelly

Frame and fork will be up for sale once my new build is complete.

Anyone interested in buying around November/December time please PM me.