Let’s start this report with something pretty special. A 21.6lb 160mm travel mountain bike. That’s not a typo: 21.6lb. A no-holds-barred Cube Stereo 650B. A mere £6,299 will get you one of these. Unashamedly dreamt up as a marketing exercise at first but Cube have sold a few of these already apparently.
German weight weenie freaks’ favourite brand, Tune, are in abundance here. Tune hubs spin on Reynolds Carbon rims. Titanium bolts everywhere on this bike. Titanium is used on the central pivots too.
RaceFace Next SL crankset. Lighter than anything that SRAM have at the mo.
Syntace bars and stem.
Tune’s classic seat QR. Something of a modern classic design. Who knows (cares) if it actually works? Cube carbon seat post with a (just out of shot) carbon saddle/torture device.
Nothing’s been removed to achieved the weight. The down tube protector plate is still attached. Note the internal cabling port junction.
TransProvence winner Nicolas Lau’s bike of choice, the Cube AMS 150 SHPC SLT.
A big bike for Cube this year, the Stereo 29. 140mm travel full suspension 29er. This is the carbon SHPC 140 SL version.
Cube are making some really stylish looking bikes this year. Colourful without being naff.
The carbon looks almost like pottery. Dull but not dull. We like.
Bolt-thru back with a lesser-seen-these-days DT ratchet screw-skewer thingy. Colour coded bits abound.
The evening road crit racing has been extremely popular with punters.
The Transition Carbon Covert. Another bike we can’t wait to sling a leg over and thrash. Around 1lb lighter than the aluminium Covert frame.
Internal routing. Here’s where you plumb in your Reverb Stealth.
The rocker and chainstays are aluminium but everything else is carbon. You can make out the internal gear cable routing in this pic too.
Yep. Job done Transition. Let’s hope it rides as good as it looks it should do. £2,500 frame only. Full builds from £4,795.
Transition Klunker. Long, slack, cromo, 3pc cranks, allow rims, coaster brake. Due in the UK in a fortnight. Pretty much sold out already. £485.
Transition Bandit 29. Now 120mm travel (compared to previous version’s 130mm travel). Longer, rangier than the previous Bandit 29 too. These changes have been made due to the arrival of the bike below…
The Transition Covert 29. 140mm travel. Slack and on the short side. Designed for air-time and aggro thrashing. A typically progressive bike from Transition.
Transition Double. Full suspension jump/4X bike. A niche nice bike. Available in short or long sizes.
A ‘suicide’ gear shifter.
Back to the Transition Klunker. Here’s a picture of the rear singlespeed hub and coaster brake.
Transition’s UK importers (SurfSales) are also now bringing in BOS suspension. This is the Void air shock for downhill/gravity use. Every one of these shocks will be pre-setup before despatch. Anyone ordering the shock will need to tell SurfSales what bike the shock is going to go on so they can set it up internally accordingly. Nice touch that.
The fork that everyone’s talking about from BOS, the Deville. Available in 140mm, 160mm and 170mm versions. Straight or tapered steerers. 34mm stanchions. 20mm axle.
SurfSales have employed and sent-to-BOS-training-camp a mechanic who will be servicing all UK BOS suspension parts. If you send you fork to them on Monday, you’ll have it back for Friday. This in itself will be great news for existing BOS owners who have been struggling to find convenient and capable servicing in the UK.
Kali Maraka helmet. Regular MTB helmet that easily converts to a pretty acceptable road helmet by simple peak removal/attachment. Features Kali’s ‘conehead’ technology (more about this later).
The yellow bits are polymer inserts. Initially intended to reduce uncomfortable pressure points, these polymer bits have had the added benefit of dissipating impact forces more betterer too.
The Kali Avana. New model for 2013. Designed for enduro riding. Deep, flat rear section makes it suitable for wearing goggles with.
Not a novelty helmet. This is what’s inside some Kali ‘conehead technology’ helmets. Our spirit is too weak to explain the concept to you now. If you’re interested, go to http://www.coneheadhelmets.com.au/about_c.html to read more. Much more.
BOS revisited. Just a quick note to mention that the long travel Idylle forks will shortly be available in 180mm single crown versions. Hmmm. Good.
Comments (8)
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Excellent work with the coverage from the show guys. Some lovely bikes on show
Nothing removed to achieve the cube’s weight – what about pedals 😉
Great show, well impressed with the Cube’s. nice to chat to the Singletrack guys and girls 🙂
“A 21.6lb 160mm travel mountain bike”
can’t say I don’t want that
“Due in the UK in a fortnight”
Will they be adding a front brake then?
Brillant photo heavy reports… thanks people.
Any pics of the Saracen Zen 650B? Just out of interest like….
Muchas Gracias, good report
That cube at the top of the page maybe light but very fugly!