Cube LTD Team Review - BikeRadar

Bought a Cube Ltd Team 2009 for £800 in Black/Candy Green on ebay in April 2010.

After many months of research into HT MTBs sub £1100 I decided on the £1050 Cube LTD Race 2010 which gets 4.5 stars (The best in it’s class) from WhatMTB magazine. Then I found this on ebay for £800. What a bargain! The 2009 models carry a better spec than the 2010 models and were cheaper to buy at the time. This means if you can find one you can pick up great deals on the Cube LTD 2009 range. For example my new Cube LTD Team 2009 has Reba forks instead of Recons you get on the 2010 LTD Team and was £160 cheaper!

Superb spec and a fantastic, light frame makes this a great, fast ride. I tried and compared pretty much every £700-£1100 HT MTB out there including bikes from Boardman, Giant, GT, Focus, Merida, Scott, Marin, Cannondale, Specialized, Carrera and many more the only other ones which came close were the Trek 6500 and Boardman Pro...

...but the Cubes had the edge. I'm so chuffed with it I'd highly recommend a Cube LTD to anyone looking for a MTB in this price range.

The Candy Green is very bright - a real head turner. Everywhere I ride I hear comments about how awesome it looks. Up until the point I stood back and looked at it assembled I had wanted an all black one but at that moment I was totally happy I hadn't ended up with a plain, dull black one.

The only slight concern I had was with the Formula K-18 brakes that came on the 09 model (You get Formula RX on the 2010 model). There was a recall on these a while ago and MTB review forum is full of mixed comments about this, however, I have had no problems so far and apparently Formula USA have very high customer service standards.

Any Cube LTD is going to be a great bike but the 2009 range offer particularly good value for money.

If you're considering a Cube I'd highly recommend just going for it and getting one, you wont be disappointed, I've NEVER read or heard a bad comment from a Cube LTD owner in all my many hours of research.

You can see a video of this bike on YouTube if you Google Cube ltd team 2009.

I bought a 2009 model here in Kazakhstan for what amouts to about 800 quid, excellent frame and spec, canot fault the bike at all for the money, if you look at some of the other names (Trek, Cannondale, etc) then you have the badge but not the equipment spec - but this bike is as good to ride and more fun thean my old Trek 9.8 carbon, although a little heavier of course!

Forks are great and can handle quite a lot (I'm 16 stone), brakes are the best I've used and it can really be chucked about on the trail, even on some of the more "Alpine" trails that we have here. I also have the candy green one which is a real head turner!

General build quality is excellent and attention to detail the same, a few choice upgrades (wheels/XT crank/xtr cassette) would make this a very viable weekend racer too - tips the scales at 10.8kg according to the website so shaving off another kilo or so would be easy!

Top bike, thunbs up from me!

sorry, but a cube is not and will never be a head-turner - it will be always an bargain-bike without any soul and attitude, real montainbikers go for other brands! these companies like cube or ghost can only be cheap - nothing else more...

i rode the old ltd race a few years back and it is a loverly bike. i have to dissagree with sparbuch on this on tho. it does have a soul just not much attitude so you notice it. it wants to go fast, faster and smother. i found on a flowy section of trail if you open the taps and realy go for it, it came alive.

same for the gohsts i tryed at the chanock chase demo day. didnt have much attitude but if you open the taps on them and pushed them to the edge, they responded.

however, each to their own and my friend who i share a flat with didnt like the cube for a similar reason. a definate "try before you buy" bike

sparbuch666... so how much do you have to spend to become a 'real' mountain biker?

More constructive feedback from sparbuch666 - what is your problem?

I've yet to hear a bad word about Cube from friends who own them!

sparbuch666....... on what do you base your comments? Fantastic bikes at a great price (i do own one though!)

I own a Cube Reaction 2007 great parts, superb built quality.

sparbuch666 you never were and never will be taken serious by real montainbikers.

Go ride your Halfords bike boy.

sparbuch666

You have been totally brain washed by advertising campaigns! You look for a soul on the bike because there's none on the rider, who is only colour matching his clean unless MTB I'd say... Take any bike on epic long rides and will have more soul and balls than anything!

I don't have a Cube but I would love a Stereo or a Fritzz anytime! They are awsome bikes, full loaded with best brand kit (Syntace) and latests tech. X12, taper, you name it. Luckily they don't appeal to people like you :)

hi there,

i´m a bikeshop-owner from germany - suprised? i can ride a lot of bikes and when i go out with my lapierre x-control i can't unterstand people who ride a cube ams ... there is no reason for this luffing 4link bike technology from yesterday ... maybe the price ... that's all.

i do biking since 1990 and i see growing mountainbike und the scene. brands like cube, ghost, focus and other nobodyneeds brands will demolish innovativ brands with there bargain bikes - that's my problem with them. in germany they (and the german bikemag yellowpress BIKE) managed it, that people go into a shop and ask for a XT-bike, not for a special brand or frame-concept - so i ask you - is this the right way?

once upon a time, riders went into a bikeshop to buy a rocky mountain, serotta etc., then they talked about the components - now they want a shimano xt with a frame on it ... ridiculous ...

hope you unterstand what i mean ...

now these brands will infiltrate the british bike mags - you will see/read that in the mostly very excellent reviews - it´s the same way they did this in germany ...

SCHWALBE tires is the same, they're very agressiv in marketing and they will also infiltrate the mags with there bad tires ... remembers these lines ... you will see in the future that this brand is getting better from review to review ... but last summer i see the dust on schwalbe tires in the bikeshops in scotland ... that´s hopeful for me ...

save your money for another year a buy a real mountainbike, for example from ORANGE, your UK based cool brand - support them - they have a soul!

sorry for my bad english.

ride with pride!

s.

sparbuch666... Surely soul comes from the ride experience rather than how much you choose to pay for a bike. Generic bike brands can still offer a great ride experience

I think what sparbuch666 has written says more about the MTBing public in Germany than the companies producing the bikes.

I enjoyed sparbuch666's interesting posts.

I certainly wouldn't ride this unless XC racing on a budget - even then I probably wouldn't.

CUBES ARE FOR SQUARES!

I can see where Savingsaccount666 (Sparbuch666) is coming from. As a British person living in Germany I see what he is talking about often. Many German cyclists just want the right components on their bikes and many bikes are sold as "XT bikes".

However, I would disagree that Cube bikes are not very good. It used to be only Americans who built decent bikes. But now the Germans, with their high level of engineering expertise and technical knowledge, are building better bikes than the Americans, and for less money.

I would name 3 brands from Germany that would give US bikes a run for their money: Canyon, Cube and Ghost. Ok, designwise they may not look as cool but technically they are often better - stiffer and lighter frames, higher grade components and better suited to European riding conditions. On the whole, the German companies are commoditizing mountain bikes. You get high performance for a lower price. I think brands like Rocky Mountain (overpriced) or Cannondale will have problems as the everyday biker will go for something like a Stevens, Cube, Canyon, Radon, Red Bull, Ghost or KTM (Austrian

im with starbucks or what ever hes called- unless you ride a yeti dripping with chris king your souless peasant.

oh hang on no im not what a tard. its about good angles, decent weight and reasonable components that last. you dont go faster if your bike says Prada you dumbass

+1 for the points Spartacus666 put forward. I reckon it's the "bits " you've got hanging of the frame that make the bike.

Like my Kinesis XC Maxlight 2 worth about 250 euro, frame only, but more like a grands worth with all the XT and Sids up front!!

Why pay more just to have a BIG name stamped on the tubes!!

hmm, russwxyxkrt or whatever you called...

... i just remember the day in 1992 i was going to the local bikeshop and picked up my first pair of GRAFTON-Brakes (maybe you know this brand ...) for my '91 rocky nimbus with white syncros-fork (r.i.p.). my knees have been weak and i was little bit nervous. can you remember what you have felt when you picked up your last shimano xt disc-brake or your extraordinary cube, ghost, whatever bike? was it a superb cool feeling when you touched the surface ... i'm sure you can't remember ...

for me is mountainbiking an attitude and not a bargain. yes, i know that i'm not faster with a king in my headtube, but it is nice to have one.

you can be sure that i know what a perfect riding day is ... i can show you some trails in usa, scotland, austria, france, italy, germany, switzerland and spain. for a perfect day i need a perfect partner - that's for me a cool, nice bike with a soul - not a bitch bike with no background.

maybe i'm a diehard romantic... cheers.

I've got the 2009 Cube Ltd Pro which is a great bike. I'm not overly bothered what the experts say. It's feels right, fits well, well specced as far as i'm concerned. I've ridden it pretty hard from day one and apart from the rear hub, come onto that in a minute, keeps going and going. The brakes a phenominally good stopping even my 15st frame. The lock out is great enabling you to get a bit more out of each stroke uphill. My only issue is the rear hub which is a Deore M525 on my bike. The bolts that secure the axle into the hub have had a tendancy to come loose just recently and there is some pitting on the race face but not so much that i need to change it yet. Put a new wheel on and it'll be 100% again.

Sure there probably lots of people out there who can afford a more expensive better equipped bike but for the money the Cube has got to be on the shortlist. As far as it not being head turning is concerned, i think how it looks and for that matter how it feels to ride is a very personnal thing. Personally it seems to fit me like a glove and is pleasing to my eye. I've given it a 4 and thats only because the rear hub has started letting me down.

naxian you have missed costa coffees point he hates you to a kinisis, is exactly what he seems to dislike. i have ridden all sorts of bikes from appollo to yeti. the point is 'soul' is not in a headbadge. a sense of smugness maybe.

sparbuch666, I get what you mean. Sure we all love to have a Carbon Yeti ASR5 carbon or a Ibis Mojo, my dream bikes. But sometimes budgets just aren't there. And it that case I would rather have a blend name bike like Cube with a good mix of components. Then a expensive frame with mediocre components.

I'm just going to say it, I can't stand materialistic, gearhead fools like sparbuch666. It has always been and will always be the RIDER NOT THE BIKE. My friends and I have a great time riding any bike we get our hands on, and we do more with them than most people who can afford expensive bike ever do. One of my friends won the Downieville classic last year (expert category) and he would never look down his nose at a bike like this. As long as it doesn't break I'll ride a Cube, who gives a fuck, I'm going riding!

RoDe, here, here.

Looking for a good £1000-£1300 hard tail last year I had my heart set on an Orange P7 having ridden a friends's 2007, and found myself disgusted at the component specs for what they were charging for this brand 'soul' sparbuch666 is going on about. In the end i went for what would probably be argued is also one of these soulless bike same as this Cube.

Out on some trails, having come off on a tricky section, I was taking it a little easy whilst I got my breath back and some arse hole who came up behind had the nerve to complain to his mates as he rode past 'it's no fun riding at this pace with all these fucking scardy cats out at the same time'... and what was he and his two friends riding as they all said 'yeah Phil' as they went past when I pulled over?

Orange P7's: 2009's.

I get the point to a degree sparbuch is making... don't just buy the obvious, dig a bit underneath the surface to see what else is there. But when you do dig you also uncover a horrible snobbery and appalling attitude. And if it's lost in translation sparbuch, I apologise in advance, but I can't help but feel this is a prime example as with the idiots I encountered.

Cube makes decent bikes, but thats it, nothing new under the sun, standard parts, and standard frame geometry, sorry to say this but i have to agree with the ppl here that say that cube bikes have no soul, cause its simply true, its bikes that are build to be cheap, and that shows in the shabby component choice and in the standard frame selections, if u want a bike to ride mtb just to get excersise (wrong spelling?) its a great bike, but its not a special bike in any way and it never will be

Well I've had as much fun on my cube as I've had on any other bike over the last 18 years, and forget listening to the marketing, I'd never heard of them until I went into the shop - and the main reason I bought mine is because here in Kazakhstan this was literally the best bike in the shop!

You can apply the word "soul" to a lot of things, cars, motorbikes etc so I understand what people are saying, but that soul reflects how you feel about riding or driving the thing - and I enjoy riding my bike!

In the real world we can't all afford our dream bikes, people should be happy that decent bikes with good kit are filtering down to a reasonable price point, not be snobby about what people are riding. That's the kind of attitude that gives surfers a bad name and puts people off getting involved in some sports. Sorry if we can't all be cool as some of you out there, but at least we are riding!

I suggest that passing judgment on a bike should be left until you have at the very least an experience of riding and owning the bike, you know, to give your argument something called 'substance'!

I'm sticking up for my little Cube!

I have someone here once called an idiot or a fool?

With such statements you disqualified yourself...

sparbuch666, I didn't call you an idiot.

I called the three people I encountered on the trails idiots.

What I said was that you appeared to be perpetrating brand snobbery and an appalling attitude toward people who decide, for their own valid reasons, not to buy into the brands you approve of so much.

Which in fairness, you have given ample evidence of with your replies!

Nowhere in there did I use the word 'idiot' in reference to yourself.

I am a novice in the bike world and there certainly Is a huuuge amount of snobery which seems to cloud objective reasoning. I recently had my specialized rockhopper expert 2009 stolen, I only had it for around 5 months and hadn't taken it out a great deal - just a couple of trails where I did find that it performed great. I was impressed even over loose rock terain that had the recons working hard, particularly as I'm 6'5" and 15-16 stone. I was looking to replace it with something similar under 1k. A friend who Competes in downhill with his 7k bike and works in a bike dealers pointed me to cube as a favoured alternative to specialized. So I've done my homework, fallen in love with the painted frame and ordered the cube team 2010. I'm expecting it next week or so and can't wait. I'm hoping it compares or even improves on what I had and am really interested in views from those that have actually riden it. All feedback welcome and I'll certainly give my 2 cents once I've taken it for a spin. Btw starbucks - you are the epitimy of what makes this interest daunting to new comers - fair enough sharing those views on a forum about top range bikes, but why not save your unconstructive comments from us newbies cutting our teeth. It's tragic perusing product feedback on a bike that clearly is not designed for such an experienced, hardcore bike geek like u ;)

I am surprised that anyone who rides a Lapierre wants to make comments about riding a 'soulless bike'

I own the 2009 Cube Ltd Race and so far the only components which have given problems are the brakes and forks,now let me think ah yes neither are made by Cube

I could have bought a Lappierre or Orange P7 and so very nearly bought an Orange Crush, but when it came down to it the Cube just felt better for ME

And thats whats important,not what you or anyone else thinks,but what I think of the bike and how it makes me feel,

Thats where the soul is,its not in mettalic objects pieced together for enjoyment or snobbery

Its what the rider feels when aboard the machine that they have got.

...ha ha ha, what a funny discussion this one. A bike mechanic is trying to convince people that certain brands have no soul. He (sparchbuk666) can't even say they aren't good, because you know they are.

Well well, in my 20 years of MTBiking me and my friends have gone through many bike brands, Cherokee, Sunn, Specialized, Cannondale, Megamo, Alpinestars, Monty and Canyon (you don't know Cherokee right?!). And guess what, they were all the same! Oh, no, the Cannondale frame broke down, that's it, while older frames with more miles still keep on kicking!

My dad bought my first MTbike -Cherokee- in a supermarket for something less than 100€. You wanna know what? I climb everything with that bike, went downhill like a kamikazee and thanks to the fact that I had that bike for a bit more than 2 years, I hooked up into MTBiking for ever! That bike had soul, balls, and carisma, because when I overtook people on more expensive bikes, first they did was looking at the diagonal tube and then at my face.

IT'S NOT THE BIKE, YOU MONKEYS, BUT BIKING!

If Cherokee, Cube or whatever the brand puts more people out there cycling, you sparchbuk666 and all your bike mechanic colleagues should be happy, because you'll keep on having job, even though you might not deserve it to look down on someone's bike...