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Just in: Cube Peloton in £599 Shimano Claris spec arrives for testing

We take a first look at Cube's 2015 Peloton with a full Claris groupset costing £599

We’ve tested a few Cube road bikes on road.cc over the years, but they’ve never been what you would describe as affordable. The Peloton range is that though, a line of affordable models priced from £599, which is the bike we've got here, a Shimano Claris specced model. Before it hits the road, let’s take a look at the details.

The Peloton range consists of five bikes, starting with our £599 model and rising to £999 for the Peloton SL. They all use the same aluminium frame, a double butted 6061 tubeset with a profiled down tube, tapered head tube and ovalised ‘Aero Flex’ seat stays. There are no mudguard eyelets, so it’s clip-on mudguards only if you want to fit some.

It’s a smart looking frame and the smooth welds add to the appealing appearance. Some past Cube paint jobs have been a bit ‘out there’ but the company has reined in its creativity with this bike, and it works well as a result. There’s nice splash of colour on the frame, and the colour matched wheels and finishing kit is a nice touch. Still, looks are subjective, that’s just my opinion.

Cables are internally routed, like you find on top-end road bikes, and there are 3D forged dropouts. Married to the aluminium frame is a CSL carbon fibre fork with a tapered steerer tube. The tapered steerer tube is a rare sight at this price. Cube is certainly packing a lot of technology into its entry-level bikes, there are details here you don’t often see on bikes at this price, and it’s good to see Cube clearly paying such attention to its cheaper bikes, which can often feel as though they’ve been overlooked.

Cube has made a subtle, but quite critical, change to the Peloton frame for 2015. The head tube is now 20mm taller, which will provide a higher handlebar position. The company has also expanded the size range and added a 47cm size, there are now eight sizes to choose from, extending all the way to 64cm.

In for test is a 56cm bike. That taller head tube is now on the money at 180mm for this sort of bike, so basically it’s a more relaxed and upright riding position. There’s a 545mm top tube which produces a compact position that won’t overstretch you, so it should be a comfortable bike.

Cube sizing is a little odd, in that if you want a conventional 560mm horizontal head tube, you have to upsize to the 58cm model. Elsewhere, the test bike has a 985mm wheelbase, 72 degree head angle and 73.5 degree seat angle, and a 69.5mm bottom bracket drop.

With the numbers out of the way, let’s have a look at the componentry. It’s a full sweep of Shimano Claris parts, including those parts often substituted to meet the price point, the chainset and brake calipers. Cube has fitted the bike with a triple chainset (50/39/30t) and the crank arm length is size-specific. Claris is a 16-speed groupset, and there are eight sprockets on the cassette in a 12-32 arrangement. Steep hills shouldn’t be a problem with the 30-32 lowest gear.

The rest of the components are all Cube branded. The wheels are called Cube RA 0.7 Aero and are an aluminium rim laced to smart looking hubs, and fitted with Continental Ultra Sport 25mm tyres - nice to see 25mm tyres fitted here as the bigger volume will provide more comfort and extra traction, and a reputable brand name in Conti too.

Cube also use its own-brand products for the finishing kit, with a Compact Race handlebar, Grip Control bar tape, RP 1.0 saddle, Performance Post in 31.6mm diameter and RFR Close seat clamp. Weight is a decent 9.9kg (21.82lb) so it sneaks in just under the 10kg mark.

The Cube Peloton has some stiff competition, and we outlined some of the main contenders in our 10 of the best £500 to £750 road bikes buyers guide recently, it's worth a read.

The Peloton is out on the road right now being put through the grinder, a full review will be coming soon.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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9 comments

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hallamhash | 9 years ago
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Can someone tell me the point of internal cable routing when there's still a clothes line coming out of the shifters?

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allanj replied to hallamhash | 9 years ago
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hallamhash wrote:

Can someone tell me the point of internal cable routing when there's still a clothes line coming out of the shifters?

Not much but I don't expect them to make different frames for different groupsets

Avatar
allanj replied to hallamhash | 9 years ago
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hallamhash wrote:

Can someone tell me the point of internal cable routing when there's still a clothes line coming out of the shifters?

Not much but I don't expect them to make different frames for different groupsets

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bighairydel | 9 years ago
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As an owner of a 2013 Peleton, which I paid at loss less than retail price the value and ride quality are simply outstanding. The Cube brand tends to be heavily discounted and therefore you can pick up what is already an amazing bike for even less money. Granted I have changed the wheels and saddle for some more lightweight and comfortable options but for the money and the quality I could not have got any where close to that for the money. As for frames breaking, all I can say is that I have a cube mtb as well and the abuse that I put all my bikes through they have not faulted once. Which was a surprise to me as for the little money I have spent on them. Ace products, ace price. Keep up the good work Cube. Cant recommend them enough.

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Vejnemojnen | 9 years ago
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that head tube is tall.. not a road bike, but rather a trekking-hybrid.

btw, unfortunately, here, in hungary, there are lot of warranty issues with broken frames-forks for cube bikes. Mostly MTB-s, but lot of roadies too.

A friend of mine got the fork of his peloton brake on the 2nd ride... They replaced it within warranty, but the guy spent some days in the hospital because of that "accident"..

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scale70 | 9 years ago
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My local bike shop recently stopped stocking Cube bikes (they now only stock Trek and Scott) because they'd had a lot of warranty issues on the road bikes (although not the MTBs). Things like broken frames and a run of bad tyres that were blowing out etc. Now this could be complete tosh and they have other reasons for discontinuing them, but it's put me off a bit! They are a friendly small shop so don't have an obvious reason to lie to me!

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matthewn5 | 9 years ago
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That internal routing port in the photo is already pulling out of the frame. Better lose it and run a full outer to the back of the front port. Much better brake feel.

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Shamblesuk | 9 years ago
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looks like a bargain and full claris and internal routing seem almost too good to be true.

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Yorky-M | 9 years ago
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i think it is class that you can get a bike with gears and brakes that work WELL, for £500. Super bike for introduction for our sport.

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