Bike at bedtime: Cube Litening C:68X

Cube’s flagship Litening carbon race bike with aero-shaped tubes and a seamless structure has minimal cross-wind susceptibility as well as full UCI approval. High-quality components are specced throughout, and although the price is undoubtedly more than most of us will ever spend on a bike, it's not monstrous for a superbike equipped in this way…

“The Litening C:68X's lightweight carbon chassis - built with our premium C:68X material - was designed with the help of extensive use of computational fluid dynamics and real-world wind tunnel testing.

“The result is a 30% reduction in drag, in a fully UCI-compliant frame that elegantly integrates frame, fork, stem, handlebar and seatpost,” says Cube.

C68 refers to the mix of carbon fibre and resin in the frame, with 68% being carbon. 

Using its own integrated handlebar helps to reduce the frontal surface area and the one-piece design hides all the wires and hoses inside.

It has clearances for up to 28mm tyres, but comes with Schwalbe’s Pro One TT 25mm tyres wrapped as standard around DT Swiss’s ARC 1100 Dicut aero carbon wheels—Cube says this is the optimum aero setup.

These wheels are 62mm deep and promise “excellent aerodynamics and safe steering behaviour for a decisive competitive advantage,” according to DT Swiss. There’s also been a documentary recently released abut the extensive re-engineering of this ARC wheelset, with behind the scenes footage taking viewers through all stages of development— watch it here.

The Litening C:68X disc brake bike is equipped with a Sram Red AXS wireless groupset for precise gear shifts and powerful, controllable braking power. There’s no rim brake version offered, as is becoming a trend—that said, we have compiled a list of the best rim brakes bikes here, showing the rim brake is far from dead.

The 12-speed setup has 48/35t chainrings at the front and a 10-28t cassette on the back, which gives you enough to power on the flat and something left to spin the legs easy up the steeper climbs.

Coated in a special Prizmblack finish, the Litening C:68X looks stealthy and subtle at first, but it shimmers when the light catches… a neat touch to finish off a fine looking build.

£8699

www.cube.eu/uk