Review of Cube Acid 2011 for CramCycle

Kintarō Hattori

CramCycle asked for a review of my Cube Acid 2011 as he's been thinking about getting one for himself:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71634245&postcount=3730


http://www.cube.eu/en/hardtail/comp-series/acid-white-green/


My knowledge of bikes is only basic so I can't be certain if this 'review' of the Cube Acid will be in any way helpful to you at all.

Rather shamefully my bike prior to this was a €99 supermarket special. It was a terrible bike, really awful. The biggest issue I had was that the chain would repeatedly come off of the gears as you pulled away from lights with traffic behind you. After finding out that I could avail of the CTW scheme I asked my colleague (a keen cyclist) for a reccomendation. His advice was to go for a Cube as they offered excellent value for money. I'm not an 'elegant' cyclist so my one stipulation to the shop was that I wanted a bike which was durable.

The single biggest surprise I've had with the Acid is just how smooth it is to cycle- the kilometres just waft by. I can easily cycle 32km from home to work and not be left feeling knackered- and this coming from someone who really is terribly unit. In terms of comfort my only gripe would be that the saddle clearly wasn't designed for long cycles as it is a little narrow but that can easily be fixed by loosing a few kilos or fitting a better saddle.
I have found that it can be a little skittish compared to the €99 POS but this is understandable- it is a MTB and those chunky tires are designed for off road use more than hitting the tarmac but it's not a major issue. As a hardtail it can be a little rough over uneven road surfaces but that's to be expected.

Coming from the €99 POS I always had an issue with gear slippage and this has never been an issue with the Acid- changing gears is a delight. Getting in the right gear for a given situation is brilliant and with 30 odd gears or so you should be covered for just about any situation you find yourself in.

The other big difference that struck me was just how light the bike is. Sure it's no road bike but for me it feels as light as a feather and combined with the smooth ride and very comfortable riding position it makes it incredibly easy to cycle.
The disc brakes are pretty phenomenal. Were you to press them hard I've no doubt the bike would stop immediately and you'd carry on- the braking force is incredibly strong and imparts a lot of confidence.

I've had it several months now and the only issue I had was one puncture which was no fault of the bike itself. As I mentioned I'm not fit but I can cycle long distances on it (for me at least) and hop off of it feeling fresh as a dasiy. It's an incredibly comfortable bike to ride and I wish I had bought one earlier than I did!

If you've found the above less than helpful then I invite you to ride it for yourself to help you make up your mind.

j@utis

my bf got the same one with ctw scheme too. he's got a bad back and finds cycling not the best sport for him. so here I take over. woohoo free bike happy days!
I'm not a regular die-hard cyclist either and I'm experiencing something similar to you after getting off the cheap bike that I've got for free from a friend of a friend I agree with all above all smooth and light and that extra hard seat lol. I'm thinking about changing the seat because it really starts hurting your tender parts after half an hour or so. I'll see how it goes when I take this bike off-road. Riding more standing up might sort seat problem out without getting a new seat

Rew

j@utis wrote: »

my bf got the same one with ctw scheme too. he's got a bad back and finds cycling not the best sport for him. so here I take over. woohoo free bike happy days!
I'm not a regular die-hard cyclist either and I'm experiencing something similar to you after getting off the cheap bike that I've got for free from a friend of a friend I agree with all above all smooth and light and that extra hard seat lol. I'm thinking about changing the seat because it really starts hurting your tender parts after half an hour or so. I'll see how it goes when I take this bike off-road. Riding more standing up might sort seat problem out without getting a new seat

There are women specific saddles, Cube have them on their WLS bikes, probably worth investing. Also padded cycling shorts but there will be an element of uncomfrotableness in that area untill you get used to it

Air_Bass

Ditto on all previous comments.
Cube Acid is such a great bike for the price.
I bought one of these last October and am extremely happy with it.
I use it for getting to and from work each weekday and try to get out to either Ballinastoe or 3-Rock almost every weekend.
Great bike on and off-road.
Great gears, great brakes and suspension.
The bike is well built and can stand up to plenty of abuse (i've had a few falls where I went one direction and the bike another, I thought the bike would be badly damaged but aside from some scraped paintwork there wasn't a bother with it).
Yeah, the saddle is a bit hard on the 'aul under-carriage at first but you do get used to it with time.

I was completely new to mountain-biking before getting this bike but I really enjoy it now due in no small part to getting a decent bike such as this.