2021 CUBE

ATTENTION

For a hardtail mountain bike that’s had a very recent overhaul, the 2022 Cube Attention SL manages to keep one foot firmly planted in the past. Yes, it has a lightweight alloy frame, trendy tan-wall tyres, a remote lockout for the air-sprung RockShox fork and a cutting edge 1x Shimano drivetrain with a wide range 10-51t cassette. Dig into the numbers however, and the bike instantly seems dated compared to the best hardtail mountain bikes on sale now. Need to know Top-end bike in Cube’s entry-level hardtail range Double butted alloy frame with internal cable routing Air-sprung RockShox Judy fork delivers 100mm travel and gets remote lockout Flat mount rear brake and FM kickstand mounts look neat Available in six  frame size: XS and S use 27.5in wheels, M to XXL use 29in wheels The 445mm chainstay measurement is considerably longer than the reach, even on the size L. So the weight distribution will be even more negatively skewed towards the front end of the bike on the size medium. And with size specific chainstay lengths becoming increasingly popular on hardtails, Cube really missed an opportunity to get out in front of its rivals here. Also, given that plenty of 29er full full suspension bikes come with stays as short as 435mm, there’s really no excuse for longer stays on a modern 29er hardtail, unless of course it’s intentional on the bigger frame sizes..  Thankfully the two smallest Attention SL frame sizes use 27.5in wheels and get shorter 427mm chain stays. It’s a similar story at the front end of the bike. And even if we ignore the rather truncated 427mm reach on the size L, is there really any place for a steep 69.1º head angle on a hardtail in 2022? Given that the BMC FourStoke, a bike that took Pidcock to Olympic XC gold is the beat part of three degrees slacker, and hardtails needs to be even slacker to achieve the same dynamic geometry as full suspension bikes, the answer has to be a resounding, no. Now, I’m not saying that every hardtail needs to be a hardcore hardtail, far from it. I’m merely highlighting the fact that not even XC bikes have geometry similar to the Cube. So if the Cube isn’t an XC hardtail, what is it? Well, the kickstand mount on the non-drive side dropout speaks volumes to its intended use. So does the narrow 680mm handlebar that makes it ideal for ducking in and out of traffic. It also makes the cockpit feel even more cramped and had me hanging my hands off the end of the grips to gain some extra leverage and keep the front wheel pointing in the direction I wanted it to go. The frame itself is easy on the eye, but again it’s not without fault. Internal routing looks neat as it enters the down tube behind the head tube, but flip the bike over and you see that the bottom section of the down tube is just …Continue reading »

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