To cube or not to cube?

Easyrider642

Hi All,

I have a question i'm hoping someone can provide some guidance on. I'm after my first bike and after trying many brands and bikes i have settled on a Cube Attain which not only feels very comfortable in a 56 but i also like the look of the whole range with a few models within budget.

However i'm having trouble deciding which particular model to go for and how much to spend. I don't have a top budget and would like to spend wisely now and keep for a few years over buying cheap and upgrading later in the year or so on new wheels etc when could have got more for my money in the first place.

With all the easter deals on at the moment i have found the following 5 bikes (amongst others in the range although with disc brakes) but cannot decide for the life of me which is the better option

Attain 2018 (Al, Claris) 570
Attain Race 2017 (Al, Tiagra) 680
Attain SL 2018 (Al, 105) 880
Attain GTC 2017 (Carb, 105) 900
Attain GTC Race 2017 (Carb, Ultegra) 1000

On one hand i feel the cheaper option is better to get to grips with the sport and then progress later on but similarly is a full carbon bike with ultegra at a 1000 an absolute steal and would end up buying wheels, seatpost and saddle for the cheaper option that would take me over the 1000 but still stuck with claris etc

Is carbon this cheap worth avoiding and stick with buying good aluminium?

Any guidance on this particular situation will be helpful. Thanks

diamonddog

My first road bike was a £1000 carbon frame with SRAM gears, that was a good few years ago before I joined this forum. I still have the bike and ride it regularly along with my other bike.
Out of your selection my money would go on the 105 or the Ultegra option in carbon, nothing wrong with the alu frames but I just prefer carbon.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

2017 version of my Cube is ~£1k at Rutland with their Easter code, great bike for the money in sales, only real downside is Cube are playing silly buggers at releasing an updated version of their full length mudguards after they recalled the old version ~15 months ago.

lettingthedaysgoby

I have the 2016 Attain GTC Pro Disc and love it.

rollemynot

So... what did I do...

Unsure on cycling as a fitness method- running hurt my knees, swimming is boring and gym culture was egotistical.

Bought a Halfords TDF for £200, then after 6 months felt comfortable that cycling was for me... sold TDF for £170, went big in my mind and bought a Cube agree race (ultegra), 5 years and 10,000 miles later all is still running well, except new wheels, chainrings cassette and front calliper. I have purchased a nice winter bike (Genesis) so I think the cube is good for as long as I still like looking at it (biggest factor at this price point IMHO).

Take from that what you think makes sense... but as a slightly serious cyclist, like the look of your bike and ride it - my Genesis weighs 3kg more and i can still Strava PB on it, it’s all about the legs!

pamplemoose

Attain SL 2018 (Al, 105) 880
Attain GTC 2017 (Carb, 105) 900

Out of your list, those are the ones I'd go for. 105 is an excellent groupset, with the 2018 version being very similar to last years Ultegra. If you forced me to choose I'd go for the Attain SL 2018

dannyjames1

Planet X are currently selling their full carbon Maratona model with ultegtra at £1000. A steal. It is endurance geometry but from experience I have found their carbon frames are stiff, at least is the case with my dura ace rt-80. Solid bottom bracket.

My first bike was a cube and I still have it, I must admit it is a decent ride and I would buy another if the price was right, only I'd go for carbon.

pippi_langsamer-2

I got an Attain GTC Pro (105) about 15 months ago on C2W for my winter bike. It's a very competent bike- not light by any means, but relaxed and comfortable which is what I wanted for winter.

My only real niggle is I suspect the internal (rear gear), cable routing **may** be a little suspect as I've had problems with sticky downshifts almost from new. I'll probably get around to stripping it down soonish now it's not being used much, so I'll hopefully diagnose that.

I was fortunate (!) to manage to get hold of a pair of the old Cube Guards which were great...until the rear broke recently. Can't be sure if this was from manufacturing/ design fault, or if it got whacked in the garage. Agree with the comments about the replacement guards taking far too long to be rolled-out.

maddog 2

I don't know the specs of the bikes you list but, if you can afford it, get the Ultegra STI version over the 105s, which are bulbous and generally disliked. The rest of the 105 groupset is fine, but the STIs are the weak point.

sloppyschleckonds

I've never seen a Cube i've liked

keef66

Pippi Langsamer wrote:

I got an Attain GTC Pro (105) about 15 months ago on C2W for my winter bike....
My only real niggle is I suspect the internal (rear gear), cable routing **may** be a little suspect as I've had problems with sticky downshifts almost from new. I'll probably get around to stripping it down soonish now it's not being used much, so I'll hopefully diagnose that.

Pippi, did you ever get this sorted out?
My son's just splurged a grand on one of these with 6800. It was a bargain and he absolutely loves it, but it's exhibiting intermittent reluctance to shift up to smaller sprockets which is starting to take the shine off it for him.

I've had a quick look on the workstand and I can only think it's to do with the internal cable routing, possibly compounded by the use of non-Shimano cables.

I've told him to take it back to the shop but he's a busy teacher and it's a 2 hour round trip. Mind you, he's about to get 6 weeks holiday...

ETA: in case this is of use to anyone else I contacted Pippi by PM and he's not yet tackled it...

I'll let you know if we sort it out