Cube Editor One FE review: stylishly simple, yet fully equipped for urban riding – but not hills

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Cube’s Editor One FE is a great-looking bike. The smooth-welded and hydroformed aluminium frameset, and matched full-carbon fork give the bike an air of quality.

The understated matt paint finish has a light sparkle that adds to the premium feel on a bike that costs only £999 / $1,270 / €999.

The main difference from rival commuter bikes is the drivetrain. Instead of a traditional chain, cassette and derailleur, Cube has opted for a singlespeed Gates Belt Drive. This gives the bike an air of simplicity – there's no oily chain or gear cables to maintain and it’ll never need adjusting or lubrication. However, that means you have only a single gear.

Cube hasn't skimped on anything when it comes to the build of this FE (fully equipped) model, though. You get a smart dynamo hub powering integrated front and rear lights, so you never need to worry about charging or changing batteries again.

It also means good-quality, full-length mudguards, plus a rack, kickstand and hydraulic brakes are included in the price.

• Read more: Best commuter bike – what's the best bike for commuting in 2026?

Cube Editor One FE frameset

The Editor frameset is all about clean lines and the right fittings for commuters. Up front, the slender (full) carbon fork has both mudguard eyelets and low-rider rack mounts. The drilled crown hosts both the mudguard and front light, with the fork routed internally for both the disc brake and the wire from the Dynamo hub that provides power to the front and rear lights.

The frame is designed around the belt drive, which means there’s an eccentric bottom bracket housed in an oversized shell and a split chainstay to allow for belt replacement. There are twin bottle cage mounts, plus a third set under the top tube for a frame bag.

Tyre clearances front and rear are very generous at 58mm, which provides room to fit a set of gravel tyres and could give the Editor a second life as a singlespeed off-roader.

The fork has a thru-axle dropout, whereas the frame's rear dropout is quick-release; this is to enable the wheel to drop forward from the slotted angled dropouts.

Relaxing the belt tension makes wheel removal and replacement easier. The non-driveside chainstay has mounts for a kickstand and the driveside chainstay has routing for a hub gear cable. Cube also offers the Editor in a low-step frame design.

Cube Editor One FE geometry

The Editor's ‘urban' geometry means a more relaxed head angle than you’d find on a road bike, plus a steep seat angle, a very tall stack, and a generous reach and wheelbase.

This all results in an upright ride position, with the long wheelbase providing stability at speed, but with steering that’s quick enough to navigate traffic without being twitchy.

Cube Editor One FE specification

By building the One FE around a singlespeed drivetrain, Cube has freed up budget to add plenty of quality parts to this Editor.

Starting with the drivetrain, the crankset is Gates’ Sidetrack unit with a 50-tooth Gates ring and a Sidetrack belt. This comes with a huge claimed lifespan of 15,000-20,000km in urban use when maintained properly (cleaned regularly with water to remove grime and grit).

Compared to an average singlespeed chain’s lifespan of around 4,000km, it’s impressively tough.

The belt drives a Gates Sidetrack 22-tooth sprocket mounted on a Shimano quick-release disc hub. Shimano’s MT200 hydraulic disc brakes are matched with a large 180mm front rotor and 160mm at the rear.

The wheels combine Cube’s Acid alloy EX25 tubeless-ready rims with a Shimano FH-QC300 rear hub, and up-front a PL-7 dynamo hub, made for Acid (Cube’s in-house component line) by dynamo hub specialist SP-Dynamo. The wheels are shod with Schwalbe’s tough 55mm Road Cruiser Plus tyres.

The cockpit combines Cube’s SLX stem with its 68cm-wide Comfort Trail bar – a wide, low-rise bar with subtle backsweep. Acid provides lock-on Ergo Grips, which pair well with the Shimano brake levers.

I like the addition of the Reich bell with its minimal design and loud ding. Acid also provides the rear rack, with its generous 25kg capacity and RILink rack-top bag compatibility.

Accessories come thick and fast on the One FE; the full-length Acid mudguards are a generous 57mm wide, incorporating both a reflector and a rear light. There’s also a sturdy Acid kickstand, an Acid Pro-D 100 front light, and a Pro-D SIC 2.0 rear.

The Natural Fit Sequence saddle is generously padded for use without padded shorts.

How I tested – sub-£1,000 hybrid bikes

I selected three bikes costing less than £1,000 that all offer up-to-date takes on the classic hybrid bike template.

All the bikes were ridden back-to-back over several weeks. I rode commuter-length loops of around 20 miles on successive days, taking in urban roads with plenty of traffic, but also riding on bike paths, towpaths and even a few light trails.

My riding included running errands, too, and I wore commuting-friendly clothes and used the pedals the bikes came with.

Bikes on test

• Pinnacle Neon
• Specialized Sirrus X 2.0

Cube Editor One FE ride impressions

Because I haven’t ridden fixed-gear or singlespeed bikes on my commute since our offices moved further away from where I live more than a decade ago, I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with the simplicity of a single gear.

The Editor is more than just a singlespeed, however – replacing a chain with a belt drive also makes for a cleaner bike, and one that’s much easier to maintain. I like the upright riding position and wide mountain-bike derived handlebar that put you in a commanding, confident position on the road.

When you’re in amongst traffic, it’s great to be able to see and be seen rather than being hunched down on drop bars.

The Editor’s simplicity is its charm. There are no gears to worry about, and with the dynamo-powered lights that run as soon as you pedal, you’ll never need to recharge them. It’s the epitome of fuss-free riding.

In fact, it’s a breeze to ride. It’s smooth, thanks to the big-volume Schwalbe tyres, and their textured tread gives you confidence when you’re cornering on wet roads, plus they’ll take a bit of light off-roading, such as towpaths and well-maintained bike paths.

The 50-tooth ring and 22-tooth Gates sprocket provide a good middle-ground gear, making it easy for me to pedal around at 15-20mph (25-32kph) on the flat pushing this gear, and I found I could handle lighter inclines, up to around 6%, while seated.

When it got steeper, approaching double figures, though, it was out-of-the-saddle efforts all the way. It can be quite rewarding to take on a short, steep ramp with just the one gear, though.

The brakes are superb. The long levers help you to brake just enough, and there’s been no noise, scraping or rubbing in testing. They’ve been full of power and packed with feel.

I really enjoy the Editor’s handling, too. When you want to cruise along, spinning the pedals, it’s stable and subtle, rolling over poor road surfaces without drama, chatter or rattles. When you want to inject a bit of pace to get away from traffic lights or a junction, it’s willing, and feels as stiff and responsive as a good-quality hardtail mountain bike.

On occasion, I got a little carried away sprinting along a flat road until the single-gear limit, and my cadence, got rather comical. It was the same on descents – spinning out at 35mph is probably not what the Editor was conceived for, though.

Cube Editor One FE bottom line

The Editor is the perfect bike for cruising to work or going to the shops and is the ideal city bike, providing the geography suits.

In short, the One FE is a great bike. The full-equipment package is what will sell it, but, most importantly, its appeal lies in its simplicity.

If you live or commute in a relatively flat urban environment – somewhere such as central London, Berlin or Brussels – this is all the bike you need for commuting. Here, around hilly Bristol, though, it’d take some serious commitment to choose this bike.

Cube offers the Pro FE with a belt drive and eight hub gears for a further £300, so perhaps that would be the ultimate option for getting around town and beyond. However, I can’t help but be smitten with this One.

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