Cube Attain Pro review | Budget Road Bike of the Year contender

The Cube Attain Pro is the German brand’s fifth-tier offering from a choice of six alloy-framed models.

For £1,099 / €1,249, Cube packs in a Shimano Sora R3000 drivetrain – a competitive choice at this price – and TRP Spyre C610 mechanical brakes.

The second-tier £1,600 / €1,599 Attain SLX impressed us in testing, scoring four stars and earning the Pro a shot at the 2024 Bike of the Year budget bike category (for road bikes costing in the region of £1,000).

In testing, the Attain Pro has demonstrated keen race-bike handling, exhibiting a nimbleness that I wouldn’t have expected at this price.

That said, issues with rattly mechanical cable routing, plus limited tyre clearance compared to the competition, take the shine off an otherwise impressive bike for the money.

Cube Attain Pro frame

The Cube Attain Pro frame uses the brand’s ‘Aluminium Lite’ – a heat-treated 6061-T6 aluminium alloy, with double-butted tubes bonded together, finished using its ‘Smooth Welding’ process.

Smooth Welding is said to create smooth transitions between the tubes, offering a cleaner aesthetic than frames without the treatment.

The fork is an all-carbon affair, with a 1-1/8in to 1-1/4in tapered steerer, making bar and stem customisation relatively easy.

The frame and fork feature internal cable and brake hose routing, with entry points on the side of the top tube and the upper fork leg.

There’s provision for mudguards here, but no seatstay bridge to serve as an anchor point for many common fender designs. Cube makes its own mudguards for the Attain platform, which feature a bridge to attach to the stays, costing £40 a set. This is a similar price to many other full-length mudguards.

Tyre clearance is rated at only 28mm, which is narrow versus the competition, although there’s arguably space for wider rubber if you don’t mind voiding the brand’s warranty.

That said, the 28mm tyres should fit inside Cube’s mudguards – assuming you stick to the supplied rims.

Unlike the Specialized Allez, Trek Domane AL 2 Gen 4 and Pinnacle Laterite 2 also in this Bike of the Year category, there are no mounting points for a pannier rack.

One could argue the frame is limited in its flexibility, as Simon Withers rightly pointed out in his Attain SLX review, but equally that shouldn’t bother those who don’t need (or want) to commute on a fully-laden bike, nor use the Attain Pro for bikepacking, for example.

The Attain Pro is built around a 68mm BSA threaded bottom bracket, and springs no surprises elsewhere, fitting a round, 27.2mm-diameter seatpost.

Cube Attain Pro geometry

Cube calls the Attain’s geometry ‘Road Comfort’, reasoning that “a comfortable bike is a fast bike”, and one you’ll want to ride more than an uncomfortable one.

Frankly, you’ll struggle to find anyone in the BikeRadar editorial team who would dispute that general assessment.

On my size-60cm test bike, the head angle and seat tube angle mirror each other at 72.5 degrees. Neither pushes towards the 73-plus degree figures seen for the sharpest race bikes, but equally, neither do they conjure images of a fully laid-back ride experience.

It’s worth noting that Cube’s online size calculator has me straddling a size 58 and 60cm bike, whereas an Allez or Domane in any larger than a 58cm size would be too big.

Reflective of this, the 392mm reach and 629mm stack might be slightly longer and taller than the above competition’s 58cm bikes, but the difference didn’t feel night and day.

The chainstays, at 412mm, are 13mm shorter than those ‘smaller’ bikes, indicating that Cube intends to imbue the Attain with a sense of responsiveness.

Cube Attain Pro build

The Cube Attain Pro sits one rung above the entry-level Attain in its range, but on-paper value, relative to either the Trek Domane AL 2 Gen 4 or Specialized Allez, seems relatively impressive.

For just £50 / €50 more than the Trek, and £100 / €100 more than the Specialized, Cube has specced a 9-speed Shimano Sora R3000 groupset – one rung above the Claris 8-speed drivetrain featured on those cheaper bikes.

However, the extra sprocket in the HG200 cassette offers slightly more range, topping out at 34t. Paired with the compact 50/34T crankset, this makes the Attain Pro the strongest bike (on paper) when the road heads uphill.

The cassette is technically borrowed from Shimano’s Altus 9-speed MTB groupset line, but compatibility isn’t a problem, and it’s not unlike the swaps Trek has also done.

The choice of a KMC X9 chain, as opposed to a Shimano unit, doesn’t spoil the party, either.

Cube has specced TRP Spyre C610 mechanical brakes with 160mm rotors. Ostensibly, these are the same as the Tektro brakes found on the Allez and Domane, but feature a chromed finish (which, if nothing else, helps them stand out at a glance).

The rotors are six-bolt (as opposed to Center Lock), to fit the Cube RA 1.9 Aero Disc alloy wheelset. Should you upgrade the wheels to Center Lock-compatible models, you may need to change the rotors or buy an adaptor kit to make use of them.

Although the rims are visually the deepest among the 2024 Budget Road Bike of the Year category contenders, at 28mm, the ‘aero’ moniker is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I recently found in an alloy wheelset test that, unless a rim is at least 30mm deep or so, any aero benefit is practically unnoticeable versus shallower ones.

Of course, exactly where a perceptible aero advantage can be felt in the real world is always difficult to ascertain.

The rims are 19mm wide, which isn’t as progressive as some alloy wheelset designs today, and they’re not tubeless-compatible.

The wheels come fitted with Continental Ultra Sport 700x28c clincher tyres, although these measured up at 30mm at 80psi (5.5 BAR).

While there’s some extra wiggle room in the Attain Pro’s frame, you’re still limited to running nominally 28mm-wide tyres if you want to stay on the right side of Cube’s recommendations (and warranty).

The finishing kit – stem, bars, seatpost and saddle – is all par-for-the-course OEM stuff. It's alloy up front, with steel rails supporting the saddle.

Cube Attain Pro ride impressions

While the Cube Attain Pro’s geometry is designed to strike a balance of racy and relaxed behaviour, it manages to feel like the sharpest and most nimble bike in its category.

The head angle of the bike might be slightly slacker than the Allez, but handling feels quick and direct. Importantly, for a frameset that could conceivably be seen on the start line of an amateur race, it provides a real sense of ‘connectedness’ through the front wheel.

Of course, many elements may be at play here (including the wheels, tyres and finishing kit), but the Attain Pro offered arguably the most exciting ride quality versus its direct competitors.

The 28c tyres fitted to 19mm rims (as opposed to the 30c tyres attached to 21mm rims on the Specialized) certainly don’t inflate as broadly, which is likely to be the biggest influence on helping the bike feel marginally sharper-feeling when cornering.

While this combination was adequate in terms of ride smoothness and comfort, the Attain Pro is a step behind the chunkier combinations offered by the Allez and Trek Domane AL 2 Gen 4.

There’s a certain rigid quality over anything less than smooth tarmac – to my mind, it contributes to the Attain Pro’s racy edge, but it could equally be a drawback many might want to avoid. If you want a smoother, easier-going ride out of the box, look elsewhere.

The Attain Pro is also a noisy bike to ride. The frameset was beset by cable rattles on any kind of rough tarmac, which was frustrating.

The rattles persisted when freewheeling, largely eliminating any drivetrain cause. A quick check didn’t highlight a notable issue with spoke tension and I addressed every externally facing bolt I could think of to try to isolate the problem. The upshot was, the rattles were originating from inside the frameset.

Bike frames tend to become echo chambers when creaks and rattles occur, making it devilishly difficult to locate precisely where the issue is stemming from – especially when it’s hard to replicate without riding the bike.

I passed the bike to our in-house mechanic, Will Poole, who checked the cable routing for any clues. He didn’t discover any issues.

This wasn’t a problem when Simon reviewed the Attain SLX with hydraulic brakes and hasn’t proved a problem with any of the other Bike of the Year test bikes with mechanical disc brakes (which are also designed for hydraulic hose routing).

The indications are the Cube Attain’s internal routing system isn’t as well suited to mechanical cables as it is hydraulics.

This is a shame, because the Shimano Sora R3000 drivetrain is very good. The cassette is relatively gappy compared to higher-end groupsets, but, of course, all things are relative.

The extra sprocket is welcome compared to 8-speed Shimano Claris, for example, and helped me more easily find an optimum gear when riding.

The shifting is also a little more positive, with more defined ‘clicks’ through the shift paddles and side-swinging brake lever.

Some may consider this worth spending the extra £100 compared to the Specialized Allez, especially if you don’t mind the limited tyre clearance and narrower rolling stock.

That said, with the Sora groupset limiting users to using mechanical disc brakes or a hybrid system (the levers are only compatible with cables), the value in spending more money is limited.

Granted, full hydraulic disc brakes tend to be specced on bikes priced from around £1,600 or so, but if you want to upgrade – just like the Allez and Roubaix AL on test – a wholesale upgrade to Tiagra 4700 is going to be needed.

Although mechanical disc brakes are expected at this price point, those accustomed to hydraulics (let’s say, if you’re considering buying the Attain Pro as a cheaper winter bike) may sorely miss them.

For the record, the TRP Spyre C610 brakes performed like their Tektro siblings, which is unsurprising given their near-identical design. They're functional, and a small step up from the C Star Rush single-piston brakes found on the Vitus Razor Disc VR.

I had no qualms with the finishing kit – an all-alloy affair is expected at this price point – but will reserve a special hat tip for the Cube Compact Race handlebar, which unusually sweeps backwards a few degrees along the tops.

While the difference isn’t night and day compared to an unswept bar (found on all the other Bike of the Year budget bike contenders this year), it was noticeably comfortable to rest on. The resulting hood and drops positions are also helpfully drawn backwards – making them easy to move between and settle into.

Cube Attain Pro bottom line

The Cube Attain Pro is an entertainingly sharp and visceral bike – perhaps the raciest-feeling of all the Bike of the Year 2024 budget bike contenders.

For a slightly higher price, it also packs in a higher-spec Shimano Sora drivetrain. However, it remains – like most other bikes at this price – hamstrung to some extent by the mechanical disc brake system, which lacks power compared to hydraulic systems.

The rattling produced by the cable routing system was an annoyance, too (one that shouldn’t be an issue in 2024), while the lack of tyre clearance makes the Attain Pro a qualified choice.