Cube’s Peloton Race has a specification that’ll turn heads. The handling nudges towards the more relaxed side, and it would make an ideal bike for newer riders, the quality drivetrain and triple chainset adding to the fun.
Since Cube’s arrival on the UK's shores it has grown into one of the best-selling brands there. With value for money always high on its agenda, like for like Cube’s bikes tend to have higher grade components compared with the competition.The Peloton is no exception, with a drivetrain consisting of mainly Shimano 105, and the upgrade of an Ultegra rear mech. To see 105 on a sub-£1000 bike is rare, and Ultegra is pretty much unheard of.
The rest of the Peloton’s component parts are impressive too, with the cockpit and seatpost all from Easton’s aluminium line, including a smooth and well-shaped aero profile bar. The wheelset comes from Easton too, and is shod with some of the best tyres around: Schwalbe’s Ultremo ZXs. We’re impressed when we see these tyres on bikes at twice this price, so it’s great to see them here.
The Peloton’s ride is something of a mixed bag. The lightweight aluminium frame, aiding the all-up weight of just over 9kg, is very rigid. That’s great when you’re hammering out of the saddle and hustling up to race pace, but when you’re in the saddle over rougher road surfaces it feeds back plenty of noise and vibration.
Up front it’s a completely different story. For 2012 Cube has created its own carbon fork, the CL. It has plenty of rake and tapers to a slim lower leg. It’s more than rigid enough side-to-side so tracks brilliantly, and with plenty of fore and aft movement it smooths the road superbly. The front end geometry of the Peloton is more relaxed than we’d expect, at 72½ degrees. That combined with the fork’s rake makes the steering more sedate than we’d have expected from a frame this responsive. Slower steering helps keep things stable, and as the Race will mainly land in the hands of newer riders that’s no bad thing, especially when you consider the bike’s beginner friendly gearing setup of a 105 triple chainset. This is a bike that’ll get you up the steepest climbs and won’t put the fear of god into you on the way back down.
