The Cube Aerium Time Trial Bike

Cube Aerium

I have been waiting for the new bikes to come in for a while and had to continue riding the Transition, but, with some of the bigger time trial races coming in the near future I was keen to fling my leg over the new Cube Aerium.

Every Cube that I have had the pleasure to build and ride has impressed me and straight out the box the Aerium was no different. It’s clean lines and striking paintwork was going to look awesome dressed out in some of the finest slippery gear I could lay my fingers on. The overall measurements were very similar to the Transition, so, to start with the initial set up was very easy and the ceramic bottom bracket slid nicely into the well finished shell. All the cables and routing were easy to set up (If you have not set up a TT bike before then this is not normally the case) the front mech cable took a little fiddling, but, it was not really a problem. The Transition had Specialized’s proprietary brakes and the rear was hidden behind the BB. With the Aerium the brakes are located normally and although this may cost a second or two in a 40km time trial, with clever cable routing it would be minimal. The cockpit actually builds up very neatly and I was very happy with the brake and gear performance, thanks mainly to the epic Sram Red. With a Quark fitted with Sram 54t chainring  and a set of 380mm USE Tula bars the set up is very light indeed, shaving over 1.5kg off the Transition and coming in at 7.5kg with disc and 90mm front wheel.

Quark Red Power Meter with 54tt Sram Ring

This will be a major saving on hill TT’s for sure. I opted for a Fizik Ares Time Trial saddle to make sure I could keep to the strict UCI 50mm behind the BB rule. The Cube’s seatpost is a very tidy affare that allows a very easy set up and adjustment of both forward and aft as well as up and down.

Very neat seat post set up

So that was it the drop from saddle to arm rests for me is 120mm as I find this the optimum for aero and power output, any lower and power drops massively, higher and my big melon sticks out in the wind too much ;o)

Neat cockpit area with USE Tula bars

For the first ride it was out on the road and over to the local 15km TT course. It looked fast (always a good sign) and I opted to do a warm up lap and then a SST/Threshold lap to get an idea if the position and feeling on the rig was right. Straight off the bat it felt quick to bring up to speed and although the bars are very narrow it wasn’t a problem. I also decided to do it without disc and aero front and without an aero helmet, it would be a good indication of the position when considered against previous times on the course.

Narrow, tight and fast USE Tula Bar

The outward leg was fast and at the turn with an average power of 335 watts I had an average speed of 44km/h, this section is uphill and was into a headwind! I know the course well and was happy at the turn that the position was fast. The bike accelerated very quickly from the turn and was up to 52km/h very quickly. The return leg was done at 48.5km/h average and it felt quick. This again was without aero gear so I was quietly smiling to myself knowing that with all the gear I would be 30 – 50 second quicker for sure and up around my course record on the bikes first ride ;o) The new back to centre Sram sifters are totally awesome and give a very positive feel and quick shift along with the fact that as they return to the central position they actually increase the aerobar extension without contravening the UCI 750mm rule. At the next turn the bike kicked again up to speed and brought me back into the finishing straight and across the line for a 20.01 at 330 watts average. All in all, the bike remained very stable and felt fast and lively. I decided to go for one last little spin before hanging the bike up for a couple of weeks to concentrate on the upcoming 24 hour national champs.

Once again Cube has designed a no nonsense striking looking bike that was easy to set up and fast from the get go. I am looking forward to fine tuning the position and racing the Aerium this year and will report back on any future alterations and tweaks.

Cube Aerium TT

Cheers

Fenz