Bavarian bike maker Cube was featuring two road bike lines at Eurobike that combine with the carry over lightweight Litening to broaden the scope of their road race offerings, giving roadies more choice to get the ideal bike for their type of riding. What’s maybe equally as interesting as the new bikes themselves, is that Cube will offer the new premium road bikes in both traditional rim brake and disc brake options (the Litening stays rim brake only for now.) Both braked versions of the updated aero-shaped Agree and slightly more forgiving Attain were on hand at the show, as were the women-specific Axial versions of each, so join us after the break for a closer look…
The Agree moniker is actually a carry over from last year, but the bikes are new. The biggest change is new geometry that was made more stable to benefit the stiffer, aero bike and make it more comfortable and easier to handle for long, fast rides. The aim was to build an aerodynamic endurance bike, since many cyclists spend a lot of time riding by themselves or in small groups where the aero benefit for them is biggest, but don’t want to suffer through the jarring ride that most aero bikes are known for. This Agree C:62 SL is the top level rim brake version built up with Dura-Ace and Fulcrum Racing 44 Aero clinchers.
In the revamp with a lot of material actually taken out that was making the previous generation too stiff in the wrong directions, the new Agree claims to drop a staggering 10% of its weight. The new Agree gets an aero, integrated seat clamp, but still uses a traditional round post for comfort. While tubing gets shaped for aero gains, the headtube keeps a tapered steerer for optimized handling. All of the new bikes get fully internal routing, with more modular ports on the disc brake models to better accommodate hydraulic lines.
Cube’s bikes come in several levels of carbon material, which generally coincide to the carbon:resin ratio. While the GLC carbon bikes are typically around 60% carbon fiber the C:62 series steps that up to 62% with a mix of high modulus carbon, better resins, and better mold control. (C:68, available in the Litening takes that up to 68% with again better base materials.) All of the top level C:68, C:62, and GTC frames use Cubes internal frame bladder molding process to more accurately and cleanly layup the carbon in the frame, to keep weight low, and quality and consistency high.
The gray Agree C:62 SLT Disc is the top bike in the range. Like its rim brake counterpart, it gets a Dura-Ace drivetrain, but adds in the excellent 685 levers and new 805 flat mount hydraulic disc brakes, plus Fulcrum Racing’s Quattro Carbon Disc clincher wheelset. All of the disc brake Agrees get X12 thru-axles front and rear, and an all-new CLS Evo fork with a flat-mount that together with the frame makes the bike compatible with 140mm rotors. On the women’s side of things, Cube has the WLS (Woman Like Series, yikes what a name.) The WLS analogue of the Agree is the Axial C:62 and gets just one model, the light blue Axial WLS C:62SL Disc, with an Ultegra build.
The Agree uses widely-spaced, dropped seatstays to boost their aero advantage, without making for a stiff ride. The disc brake bike doesn’t need a brake bridge, so it offers even more tire clearance and keeps the aero shape of the stays, but its paint scheme echos the brake placement of the rim caliper bike nonetheless. With disc brakes comes smoothly looped rear end with a 12mm thru-axle and dropped chainstays that provide extra clearance around the chain in the smallest cog on one side, and a spot of the flat mount brake caliper on the other. This 105 Agree C:62 disc gets joined by one more model, the Agree C:62 Race Disc with Ultegra.
On the rim brake side of things the Agree has to trim the tail of the aero seatstays and add in a bridge to mount the brake caliper. To boost rigidity and braking power the rim brake bikes use new direct mount calipers. The two bolt setup offers a measurable increase in stiffness, combined with a more aero profile as the brake body itself sits much closer to the frame. The chainstays and dropouts also get a more conventional layout with the standard QR rear wheel. This Agree C:62 Pro is the only other rim brake version besides the SL that we led with.
With the Attain the idea was to take the endurance comfort a step further, so it ended up with a geometry completely new for Cube. The bike gets longer headtubes for a more upright position without a spacer stack and Comfort Flex flexible seatstays to eat up road buzz. The Attain frame gets a modest boost in lateral stiffness vs. the endurance bikes it replaces. But the new Comfort Flex fork gets a bigger overhaul with a claim of being 40% more forgiving.
The Attain series bikes get the GTC (Grand Turismo Composite) name and get clearance all around for 28mm rubber to offer even more comfort and flexibility for less than perfect roads. Like the Agree, the disc brake equipped Attains get X12 thru-axles. The Attain GLC comes in two disc and two rim brake variants with Ultegra and 105 builds.
An aluminum version has also been introduced the Attain HPA (High Performance Aluminum?) to offer similar comfort at a more affordable pricepoint. The HPA bikes share the same Comfort Flex fork and use triple butted tubing to prevent a stiff aluminum ride. The top level Attain HPA SL comes in either disc or rim brake versions with 105 drivetrains, while the next three lower models (Tiagra, Sora, and Claris) are rim-brake only.
Like the Agree, there are women-specific (WLS) variants of the carbon and aluminum Attain. They somewhat confusingly still get the Axial name that carries for all of the women’s road bikes, but add on the GTC suffix for the carbon bike and no additional suffix for the aluminum version. The gray Axial WLS GTC SL Disc above is the top level of the Attain with an Ultegra build. The lesser GTC Pro gets a 105 kit and rim brakes. The blue Axial WLS Race is the top aluminum Attain analogue with 105 and rim brakes. There are no disc brake aluminum bikes for the women, but two more versions with Sora and Claris drivetrains which should get the price down pretty far.
The women’s Axial bikes probably get the nicest graphics and thankfully don’t scream girl’s bikes. But Cube spreads an attention to detail across the entire premium road range. Like many of Cube’s bikes the Agree and Attain get nice integrated graphics throughout, like custom covered saddles, color-matched wheelset decals, and coordinated (and sometimes two-color) bar tape. It really is these little things that make the bikes really pop, and who can fault a fast bike for looking good too?
