Cube Hyde Race 2014 - STOLEN 29-07-15

CitizenLee

I moved office recently, and faced with getting the bus for the first time in 5 years I decided that I should maybe start commuting by bike since I only live 3 miles away.

The Nukeproof sucks on road and I refuse to put skinnies on it, so after trying to decide what to go for I bought a hybrid! I can now be universally loathed by both MTBers and roadies alike!

Anyway, I got it 2nd hand for less than 1/2 original RRP and looking at it, you'd honestly think it was new. Not a mark on it! Previous owner said it had done less than 10 miles but I'd say it's barely even done that.

It arrived at work today and was thrown together quickly in the stairwell on my lunchbreak, so excuse the crappy photo. I'll take a better one with aligned tyres etc at some point



Full Spec:
Frame: Aluminium Ultralite Urban Triple Butted
Fork: Aluminium Rigid Fork
Headset: FSA Orbit I Integrated
Stem: Cube Performance Pro 31.8mm
Handlebars: Cube Flat Race Bar 660mm
Grips: ODI Vans Waffle Lock-Ons (I put these on, can't stand ergo grips!)
Brakes: Shimano M395 Hydro Disc
Rotors: Shimano 160mm
Gears: Shimano Alfine SL-S500 8 speed hub
Shifter: Shimano Alfine Rapidfire-Plus
Chain: Shimano
Cranks: Truvativ E400
Chainring: Truvativ 42T
Bottom Bracket: Truvativ Power Spline
Pedals: Shimano Saint
Front Hub: Shimano Deore HB-M615
Rear Hub: Shimano Alfine SG-S500
Spokes: DT Swiss Factory 2.0
Rims: Schürmann Euroline 19
Tyres: Schwalbe Road Cruiser 42x622
Saddle: SDG Rock City (I have a Charge Spoon to fit - see below)
Seat Post: Cube Performance (Thomson post should arrive tomorrow)
Seat Clamp: Scape Close 34.9mm
Weight: TBC

Apart from fitting the Charge Spoon and Thomson post the only other upgrades I have planned are maybe a set of carbon bars and a Thomson stem. Might chuck some XT cranks on it at somepoint too, but I'm in no rush to do that.

As I said, it only arrived at work today and will be getting it's maiden voyage home this evening, so if I'm not around tomorrow take it to mean I've been squished by a JBT lorry!

Probably should have posted in the Your Road Bike section to be honest, but I'm a mountain biker at heart and you guys are generally a bit easier going than the lycra clan!

qube

Looks good... see how it rides... am thinking of going down this road too.

CitizenLee

Qube wrote:

Looks good... see how it rides... am thinking of going down this road too.

Cheers

Ride home was fun! Usually takes me 30 min to walk but I was home in 14 today, and that was taking it easy as I didn't expect the bike to arrive until tomorrow so had left my lid at home. I reckon I can do it in under 10.

Bike feels very quick and responsive, although a bit of a boneshaker as I'm not used to rigid! Very smooth to actually cycle though. Really impressed by the Alfine hub too. Seems to have enough range between the 8 gears and shifts are crisp and instant. Brakes are better than I expected for low end hydros, and still beat any mech discs I've used.

I have no real basis for comparison for these kind of bikes, but I'm well happy and would certainly recommend it as one to consider. I was also looking at Specialized Tricross and Cannondale Bad Boy, but glad I went for this now

qube

Sounds good eh....

Looks like you got a right bargain. The RRP is around 500... sometimes more!!

If you decide it's not for you, I'll have 1st dibs.

:P

Angus Young

Very stealth! Looks rather sexy.

Until I got the Kona I was riding a hybrid, a Trek 4300. That's now in the LBS having a service and a fettle as it's now going to be serving as my road bike. Makes no sense dragging a full-sus about the roads.

CitizenLee

Qube wrote:

Sounds good eh....

Looks like you got a right bargain. The RRP is around 500... sometimes more!!

If you decide it's not for you, I'll have 1st dibs.

:P

The Race model was actually £700-999 :shock:

The Alfine hub and disc brakes add a fair chunk over the standard model, but worth it.

I'll give you first dibs aye

Angus Young wrote:

Very stealth! Looks rather sexy.

Until I got the Kona I was riding a hybrid, a Trek 4300. That's now in the LBS having a service and a fettle as it's now going to be serving as my road bike. Makes no sense dragging a full-sus about the roads.

Cheers Angus! I do love the ninja look

Yeah, as good as the Kona will be on dirt it will be an effort on the roads for any distance. I have to pedal the Mega on the roads to my local woods and it's a 12 mile round trip, which is a total slog. Double the distance to work and back funnily enough!

What changes are you making to the Trek?

Angus Young

CitizenLee wrote:

What changes are you making to the Trek?

Oh, nothing exciting, just general maintenance - bottom bracket, headset, new chain and cassette, tightening of spokes, that sort of thing. The bike didn't get much love and it lived outdoors so that's all taken its toll. Oddly enough, now that I have the Kona and the Trek now has a defined roll rather than being just a pain in the arsé (as it was as an off road bike) it will get to live in doors and be looked after. Now I'll be able to enjoy the bike for what it was meant for rather than suffering while asking it to do what it wasn't meant for.

CitizenLee

Angus Young wrote:

Oh, nothing exciting, just general maintenance - bottom bracket, headset, new chain and cassette, tightening of spokes, that sort of thing. The bike didn't get much love and it lived outdoors so that's all taken its toll. Oddly enough, now that I have the Kona and the Trek now has a defined roll rather than being just a pain in the arsé (as it was as an off road bike) it will get to live in doors and be looked after. Now I'll be able to enjoy the bike for what it was meant for rather than suffering while asking it to do what it wasn't meant for.

That's good to hear the Trek will be getting a new lease of life and more of a purpose. Ideally it would be great to have one do it all bike but in reality sometimes you really do need more than one, especially when the typres of riding in question are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I did the first commute to work on the Cube this morning. Weahter was ok, a bit blowy but nothing major. Got there in 11m 52s, which is quicker than it took me to get home down hill last night, and around the same time it would take me to walk to the bus stop! Think I then spent longer in the shower

Bike felt good but I need to get the Spoon on it ASAP as the SDG Rock City is certainly living up to it's name! Ouch!

Think I might need to drop tyre pressure a bit too until I get used to riding rigid! My poor wrists felt every pot hole

Angus Young

CitizenLee wrote:

That's good to hear the Trek will be getting a new lease of life and more of a purpose. Ideally it would be great to have one do it all bike but in reality sometimes you really do need more than one, especially when the typres of riding in question are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

I'll ride road in just about any weather bar a howling gale so it's my way of keeping the fitness up as the number of off road opportunities get less over the winter.

CitizenLee wrote:

Think I might need to drop tyre pressure a bit too until I get used to riding rigid! My poor wrists felt every pot hole

You get very good at avoiding pot holes after a while!

CitizenLee

Angus Young wrote:

I'll ride road in just about any weather bar a howling gale so it's my way of keeping the fitness up as the number of off road opportunities get less over the winter.

You get very good at avoiding pot holes after a while!

It's the icy rain I'm not looking forward to, but it's a short commute so I'll just need to deal with it.

Fitness is an added bonus for me... main reason is I simply can't stand getting a bus, especially in winter when everyone is full of the cold and it smells like a combo of wet dog and bad breath.

Aye, need to work in my pot hole aversion skills! Although with the amount of HGVs and busses on this particular road I may just have to hop or wheelie over them

Angus Young

I don't mind anything apart from strong wind. That just makes it a drag. I even kind of like the rain. But then again, I don't have to do a day's work afterwards. I'd probably feel a little different about it if I did.

CitizenLee

Wind was crazy this morning, but thankfully behind me for most of the way.

A couple of better photos…





Waiting on Thomson post and stem to turn up as I forgot to change my eBay postage address to my new office :oops:

BloggingFit

Like the work done to that.

Planning a similar build for my Roberts down the line.

CitizenLee

BloggingFit wrote:

Like the work done to that.

Planning a similar build for my Roberts down the line.

Cheers Bloggin

It had it's first outing in gale for winds and torrential rain today. I thought I'd be sliding all over the place but the bike handled it really well although the brakes seemsed to suffer a bit so I've ordered some semi-Sintered pads. Failing that I might just get some XT brakes for my Mega and stick my SLX set on this. The M395s hydros are ok, but coming from better I am starting to find them a bit lacking. Hopefully the new pads should improve things though.

I've also decided I'm not really visible enough on the road now it's dark so have ordered another set of Lezyne Femto lights, a Madison Pursuit Hi Viz Gilet and some blue reflective tape to stick to my bag.

Getting quicker each day on the commute too. Got it down to 10m 37s on the way there and 9m 34s on the way home... and that's being a good boy and obeying the rules of the road / stopping at red lights etc

BloggingFit

I will have a brake issue myself. Whether to stick with V Brakes (or cantilevers if really staying retro) or having Roberts weld on a horseshoe adapter on the seatstays to enable me to rub discs.

CitizenLee

Would be nice to keep it as close to original spec as possible, although I guess that depends how original it currently is!

BloggingFit

Fairly original on the whole from 15 odd years ago. Original X ray Grip Shift, Sachs rear mech, sun tour front mech, cooks cranks, magura race hydraulic brakes, use post etc. Only modernisation were bomber forks when my specialized ones died and riser bars. Currently the frame is stripped ready to have some repair work and respray.

Will go back to a rigid fork and put the Roberts stem back on.

Natofade

That looks really smart, I like the colour scheme particularly. Any plans to change the bars to drops, or is that too far from your MTB roots?

CitizenLee

Natofade wrote:

That looks really smart, I like the colour scheme particularly. Any plans to change the bars to drops, or is that too far from your MTB roots?

Thanks! There are subtle hints of blue on it, but you can't really tell from the pics.

I'd certainly be willing to try drop bars, but my concern would be I'd need new brake levers and gear shifter, so a lot to buy just to potentially not like them. I’ll maybe look on eBay for some dirt cheap drop bars and then just test them brakeless and gearless around the block to see if I like the riding position.

I'll have to take a few new pics actually, as the Thomson bits are on it now. Ride is more comfortable with the 70mm vs 90mm stem. I was even tempted by the 50mm version but perhaps a little short for this type of bike. Need to cut the seat post though as it’s stopping on the bottle cage bolts, meaning it sits just a few mm above comfortable height. That’s actually why I bought a used one as otherwise it’s like taking a Dremel to a £50 note!

CitizenLee

That's me been commuting for over a month now (started on 27th Oct) and have only missed one day due to feeling a bit unwell. Clocked up 120.6 miles on the Cube, which I know isn't a lot compared to some, but it's all relative and infinitely better than getting the bus. Got my ride home down to 9 minutes too, which I'm impressed with. Best was 8m58s. Haven't broke 10 min on the way to work yet, but getting close (it's uphill). No incidents with drivers to report yet either thankfully! Happy to say the bike is still riding like new, although could do with a good clean after the past few weeks of horrible weather.

Thinking about new tyres for it as the currently fitted Road Cruisers are 705g each, which is only a few gs heavier than the tyres on my MTB! So I want something lighter but similar in size to 42x622, ideally still with puncture protection. Probably best I ask in the Commuting/Roadie section.

Twelly

Vittoria Randoneur Pro in 32mm flavour. Fast, grippy, much lighter than those fattys you've got on and get very good puncture reviews. I got some off Planet X for £15 each

CitizenLee

Yes they seem very highly regarded. Second on my list after Marathon Supremes, although I'd be going 35mm rather than 32mm.


The first frosts of winter have officially arrived in the city now…

First pic doesn’t really show it but whole riverside was glistening white.





Was actually a really nice ride in.

I can see me enjoying the coming months commuting

CitizenLee

Back wheel felt a bit wobbly this morning so checked when I got to work and found 30/32 spokes were loose!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM0x5wA7zGI

The bike has only done 168 miles and I do check the wheels every so often so this came as quite the surprise as I was only expecting one or two to be a bit loose. Tried to cycle it home but had to give up half way and walk. Looks like I've lost two nipples in the process. Annoying, as I was in Halfords at lunchtime buying a spoke key and could have got nipples too. So, looks like the Mega will be on commuting duties for he rest of the week!

Stupid robot-built wheels

Manc33

Bike manufacturers sold us "racing" road bikes for decades, when barely anyone races. I have never understood that. I suppose road bikes just have to look all fast and glamourous... practicality comes last.

For example you can't put mudguards on most road bike frames. This, in a country where it rains 2/3 days.

Before anyone says "Get a ladies shopping bike then", no because it won't be all that fast.

CitizenLee

Everything is a race mate

...but yeah, it's all marketing b/s really. You just have to see through it.

The wheel is almost fixed now. Just need to locate a stuck nipple and tighten the last spoke. Was quite pleased with my first time effort! Didn't even bother with any guides or how to vids!

CitizenLee

On Friday night I tried to free one of the nipple which had become stuck inside the rim with a rubber mallet, but after 15 minutes of spinning and tapping I still had no joy so decided to put it all back together and pop it in the basement for another day. Then Sod’s Law strikes… just as finish and flip it over I heard the nipple rattle! So, off comes the wheel, tyre, tube and rim tape… locate the nipple and tighten the final spoke! Rode it to work this morning and it feels good as new! As nice as it was to use the Mega for a few days last week it was a relief to back on a road bike (of sorts) for the commute!

Also had a PM on here today to tell me someone was using my photo for their eBay listing of the same bike, so I sent them a message asking them to use their own photo and 5 minutes later the listing has gone! Chancer!

CitizenLee

Some ****ers have nicked it!

viewtopic.php?f=40027&t=13033587

rockmonkeysc

https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/newsroom/five-arrests-and-bikes-worth-thousands-seized-after-year-long-operation/

Check this, you never know...