The 27.5″ Stereo 160 has been on the market for a few years, and after reworking a couple of shorter travel bikes last year Cube wanted to overhaul their flagship Enduro bike. With their new upgrade to their top C:68 carbon the new team bike has been putting Cube’s Action Team riders on the Enduro World Series podiums all season. With the Stereo 160 C:68 Action Team coming to market for 2016, it will be possible to ride the same bike as the Enduro pros, right down to the suspension and component spec.
The new 2106 Stereo 160 team replica gets a full carbon 4-bar frame with Cube’s Twin Mold tech, including a new carbon rocker and a Boosted rear end, for both lighter weight and a stiffer frame. The bike gets more standover clearance too, while keeping room in the main triangle for piggy-back shocks.
It also will be offered in both C:68 and C:62 carbon frames, and an aluminum version, that share all the tech but offer a wide range of price points. The updates didn’t just benefit the top frames either; the aluminum frame gets a bump in stiffness while shedding 400g from the current version.
While the frame and specifically the suspension design were tweaked for the new 160mm travel bike, Cube worked closely with Fox to develop special shock tunes for their pro team, that now makes their way to consumers. The new frame gets fairly elaborate internal routing to set up either mechanical or Di2 groups, plus stealth dropper posts, and uses looped external chainstay brake routing for a low-profile, secure setup throughout the bike’s travel.
The new bike gets a contemporary geometry update, with a longer front center and slacker headtube. It gets an ISCG mount, plus a high direct mount for a side-swing derailleur. The top, team edition bike comes spec’ed with a mechanical XTR 1x setup, but double setups will also be available.
While the advent of Boost rear ends came to solve big wheeled stiffness issues, Cube sees the benefits on all wheel sizes, and from 2016 all newly developed bikes with more than 120mm of travel get Boosted. In addition to the accommodation of proper chainguides, the carbon Stereo 160s get an additional integrated downtube protector.
Thinking that you can never have too many options, Cube also has a new 150mm aluminum Plus sized Trail/Enduro bike in the new Stereo 150 HPA SL 27.5+. Their engineers worked overtime to shoehorn 3″ tires into the new Stereo platform, but with Boost hub and crank spacing were able to work out a stiff and light shaped aluminum chassis.
When it was introduced a few years ago, the Stereo 140 was one of the first long travel 29ers. With a completely new C:68 update, the new bike uses the higher grade of carbon and improved Twin Mold technology to get a more efficient, more durable, and lighter bike. The new Stereo 140 29ers get more standover clearance, longer toptubes, and Boost rear ends. A C:62 version of the new update will also be available, as well as an aluminum frame option.
Cube also has updates to their long travel DH bike and on the other side to their shorter travel cross country trail bikes. With the new wheels of the 215mm travel Two 15 HPA SL 27.5, Cube has shed a good bit of weight on the bike for even better DH performance. The Stereo 120 HPC SL will now be available with either 27.5″ or 29″ wheels with its carbon main triangle and aluminum rear. It gets similar trail-focused geometry updates and overall stiffness improvements.
For the women’s version the Stereo line gets dubbed the Sting, with full-suspension updates as well. The orange Sting WLS 140 SL 27.5 marks the first foray by Cube into all-mountain riding for women. With 27.5″ wheels it offers women a solid balance of rollover, stability, and light weight. Its triple butted, hydroformed alloy frame get X12 dropouts, a PF BB, and the same new trail riding geometry and suspension design as the men’s Stereos. The Sting 120 uses the same shaped tubing and tech in a shorter, lighter package.
And don’t forget that no self-respecting European bike company is going to announce a new mountain bike line-up without a e-bike version. So here we’ll part with Cube’s new Bosch-drive e-trail bike, the 120mm travel aluminum Stereo Hybrid 120 HPA (and won’t talk about the new e-enduro Stereo 160 HPA Action Team 500 27.5 or Plus-sized e-trail Stereo Hybrid 140 HPA 500 27.5+).
