CUBE Bikes AMS Pro R1 Mag 2010
Reviews / XC Bikes
402,599
At a glance
A bright blue and white euro style paint job grabs your attention but Cube has managed to resist the urge to round out the look with flat bars and bar ends.
Buy XC Bikes on
Having heard good things about the way the AMS rides I was looking forward to getting out and putting the Cube through its paces
Tech heads
The frame of the Cube is hydroformed, triple butted 7005 Alumimum and utilises a rocker link 4 pivot system. Sat in the middle of it is a Fox RP23 Boost Valve which has a soft tune that eliminates small trail noise and ensures plenty of traction up uneven climbs, there is a 3 position platform that stiffens up the rear end should you need it.
Fox 32 F100 Remote FIT QR forks do the business at the front end and are as dependable as ever.
The head angle is a touch slack for a XC race bike at 70.5º and the seat angle comes up a touch steep at 73.5º Effective top tube length is 588mm which gives room to breath, chain stays are 425mm, the wheelbase comes in at 1082mm and the BB sits at 325mm.
Formula R1 brakes are a firm favourite and they ensure that there is plenty of stopping power while a mixture of Sram and Shimano work in harmony in the drivetrain department. X-9 shifters operate a XT front mech with a X-0 at the rear; an XT chainset looks after things up front.
Cube has fitted a whooping 110mm Syntace stem and then contradicted themselves by fitting a set of 700mm wide lo rise bars, also from Syntace. Cube lightweight foam lock-on grips are shaped and are pretty comfortable.
A Syntace P6 alloy seatpost topped by a Fizik Tundra saddle are both functional bits of kit.
DT Swiss PW1600 wheels are lightweight and are finished with a Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.25 up front with a Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25 out back.
Our 18’’ bike weighed in at 26.2lbs on our scales.
On the trail
Getting on the AMS in the middle of a XC biased test the first thing you notice are the wide bars, these offer easy control and even with the long stem they felt right, pop a 90mm on it and you have a bike you can start to have fun on.
We matched the soft tune of the rear shock up front by running a touch more sag than you normally would for a 100mm travel bike, having completed a few loops around a short trail we felt it would give good balance and it did.
What we found was that this bike just seemed very easy to ride and it smoothed out our local woodsy trails a treat. It has a fun, playful nature and when the time came to blast through singletrack it held its own yet was kind to the less experienced riders.
On our road trip to Wales it handled itself well but it is not a bike that will have you tearing the knobs off your tyres, it is more a bike that will flow down the trails rewarding a smooth technique allowing you to get into a dream like rhythm.
For
Cube have produced a fun, user friendly bike that is very comfortable yet can deliver fast flowing rides that will have you grinning from ear to ear. It goes up, along and down with poise and it looks pretty darn snappy too.
There is good kit dripping off it and it never needed anything other than regular cleaning despite being used a fair bit by the test team!
Against
A little heavy for serious XC race use and maybe a touch soft for the racing snake brigade though it can be firmed up by setting the fork up differently and using the platforms available on the rear.
Overall
Comfortable enough to ride all day yet able to be tightened up enough to hammer at XC races it is a cracking little bike that got under our skin.
Our least experienced riders had the most fun on the Cube and I found myself pulling it out of the back of the van on a regular basis when I was doing local rides with friends as I found it almost perfect for a spin through the woods, it got a fair bit of love outside the pub too.
Perhaps not one for the out and out racer but a great bike that is able to be raced but that really shines on the type of trails we tend to ride on most.
Give it a chance and this bike will get to you…
Buy XC Bikes onThis review was in Issue 6 of IMB.
For more information visit CUBE BikesRelated
By Nigel Garrood
Nigel Garrood was one of the instigators of the IMB project and has been with us since the very beginning. This loveable rogue has more stories than the Bible and is known to enjoy a beer or two. On the bike, he’s fast and loose and often puts younger riders to shame. Equally he’s been known to suffer from the odd crash and carries the scars to prove it. He was once referred to as being a robot sent from the future to save us all!
