Cube Stereo

mark~p

This is my Cube Stereo Pro, a few mods here and there:
2 x 10, Magura Louise brakes
Rockshox Pike and Rockshox Monarch RT3



This is the "before" shot after a bit of a muddy ride.


This version of the Stereo may be 3 years old but I still find that it ticks all the boxes. The upgrades have revitalised it and hack round Cannock Chase was inspiring. I tried one of the new 27.5 versions having made up my mind to replace this one and in the end did not really like it. The new Stereo Pro is an awesome specification but it was just missing something that this one had. Maybe I just don't like change but in the end I decided to refresh my current bike.

The Pike added 17mm to the front with the FSA Gravity Headset required to take the tapered steerer. The rear shock is a 200mm x 57mm stroke which then raised the back by about 17mm keeping the geometry the same. This has had the benefit of increasing the BB height, the one thing that was a minor niggle. I spent some time with the bike in pieces, a dummy rear shock (steel tube and rod that could be changed in length) and a ruler understanding what would be possible and how it would impact the overall geometry.

I really need to clean the junk up as well, it just seems to appear and no one knows why.......

Herdwick

looks like you pulled this out of a mud hole!!!
Did you fit a longer shock?
No problems when rear bottoms out?

mark~p

The original shock was 190mm x 50mm stroke. I spent some time testing what would fit using a mock up that I could adjust the length of to see what happened, the goal being to raise the BB a small amount. The new shock is a 200mm x 57mm increasing the BB height and giving more travel. I thought about putting in one with 50mm travel but then as the frame could take the longer movement, what the heck.

The mud is real Leicestershire clay gloop. At one point it was so bad I could barely push it the bike weighed so much and the wheels were near enough jammed. I thought about going back however I had a short distance before a road if I carried on and if I went back, I knew what was in store. If it had been colder the ground would have still been frozen and it would have been easy. The Conti Trail King 2.4 were pretty good at not cutting into the muck too much. The main problem was the gloop that just stuck to everything.

Herdwick

Down here we don't get that much gloop even in the worst of the raining days 8) It takes me the most 15min to wash and lube my junk after a ride, I won't ask how much you need.. :shock:
I would change cycling for something else if it was the same down here...


as long as you don't get any trouble with the shock it's fine I think!

rockmonkeysc

Thats a very high bottom bracket, it cant have had a positive effect on stability and steering. The Stereo was a nice ride, I thonk I would rather have it as the original set up.

mark~p

The BB on the Stereo is lower than many, and it has only gone up by about 10mm with the new setup once the sag is set. I cannot detect any loss of stability compared to the old ride although this may be a result of the improved suspension. If I ran the old shock at anything less that 15% it was pedal strikes all the way on any kind or rough stuff. Once you had some compression in there it is very low, something noted in many of the reviews on this bike. This is now very similar to the new Stereo. Compared to a slightly older Cube AMS130 with no load (max extension front and rear) the BB was about 18mm lower. With a normal setup on both with it at rest, i.e. normal sag front and rear it is about 10mm higher. With the increased travel one is running with more sag anyway.

As far as the travel is concerned it is completely free over the foll range with the new shock. In fact there is the potential to squeeze some more out but you are then running very limited clearance at the extreme extension where the chain stays go over the BB. The Monarch Debonair fits very nicely but you do have to be careful of the top of the shock to ensure it does not foul the seat tube. This is where the dummy can in as I could mess about and understand what moved where as the rear axle rotated about the main pivot. This shock is driven from both ends as well, not sure if that makes it easier or more difficult as this is not something I have tried before.

I did try some limited technical stuff locally running a comparison between the two. It was a serious pain to swap everything twice but it has given an insight into the way it handles. I could get the old setup to begin to feel and handle like the new but everything was so soft it was unusable. Fitting the Pike on the front with the RP23 at the rear potentially made it slacker but resulted in the front being too high.

Importantly, I like it and with all these things, it is personal preference in the end.

rockmonkeysc

You have raised the BB by more than an inch. The front is raised by 17mm and the rear by about the same.
Pedal strikes are a result of poor riding rather than the BB being too low. The Stereo bottom bracket wasnt all that low, the one I rode had an offset bush fitted to drop the rear end by 12mm and it rode great.