Cube Litening Super HPC Di2

The snappily titled Cube Litening Super HPC Di2 – we’ll just call in the Cube, if that’s alright with you – is one of those bikes that’ll have even non-biking mates whistling through their teeth and asking how much it weighs, how much it costs, and whether they can have a go. The answers are 15.2lb (6.92kg), £5900, and no. It’s a full carbon race bike that comes fitted with top of the range everything, including Shimano’s Di2 electronic shifting, and it goes like stink.

The Cube’s frame is a high performance composite (HPC) monocoque with an extended seat tube that you cut down to length. Measure twice, cut once, don’t forget. Or just get the bike shop guys to do it for you – it’s an expensive mistake if you get it wrong. A stubby Ritchey Mast Topper gives you a small amount of height adjustment for fine-tuning the fit if you swap the saddle or pedals, say.

The head tube is short – just 14.2cm on our 56cm model – and, with an integrated headset fitted (1 1/8in at the top 1 1/2in at the bottom), the front end is very low. Right from the off there’s no mistaking the fact that this is a bike designed for speed. You’re not going to be riding in anything but a racy, aggressive position here. If you want something sedate for cruising around the countryside, forget it – this bike has to be ridden fast.

The super-sized down tube leads down to a huge hunk of a bottom bracket junction that houses a pressed in BB, while the top tube slopes slightly along its length to bring the standover height down to a reasonable level. Out at the back the seatstays are pretty chunky too, in stark contrast to the seatstays which are incredibly skinny, verging on the point of undernourished, to be honest.

Naturally, the gear cables – sorry, wires – run internally, as does the rear brake cable… well, you wouldn’t want to ruin those clean lines, would you? The full-carbon Easton EC90 SL fork is colour-matched to the frame – and very pretty it is, too – and the finish throughout is flawless.

When it comes to the components, you get Xentis Squad 4.2 clincher wheels – the 4.2 refers to the rim depth in centimetres – and a Shimano Dura Ace groupset, the shifters and mechs being of the electronic Di2 variety… Syntace provide the cockpit in the shape of an aluminium Force 109 stem and Racelight Carbon oversized bars, while the saddle is a Fi'zi:k Arione CX Carbon. Time to hit the road…

Wheel the Cube out of the garage and onto the side of the road and it’s already champing at the bit. You can get bikes lighter than 15.2lb (6.92kg), of course, but it certainly falls into the ‘very light’ category – even with the slight weight-penalty that you pay with the rechargeable Di2 battery that sits underneath the left chainstay.

Push down on the pedals and the Cube really leaps into life with such energy that you know you’re going to enjoy your ride. Acceleration is crisp and urgent with barely a trace of frame flex, and flicking up through the gears could hardly be easier.

You might not have tried Di2 shifting yet but chances are you know the basics. Essentially, rather than pushing or sweeping the levers like you do with cables, you just touch them – dab them, if you like. You might not think that changing gear in the traditional way could be much easier, but once you’ve used Di2, it feels like a labour of Hercules. Okay, we’re exaggerating, but Shimano’s electronic shifting is smooth and simple and there’s virtually no delay between pressing the button and arriving in the correct gear. Every shift is spot-on and the front mech automatically adjusts to avoid any chainrub when you move across the cassette – you don’t need to trim it yourself because the little R2-D2 does it for you.

It takes a while to get used to because the up-shift and the down-shift levers are so close to one another, but once you have that sussed you won’t look back. Oh, and you have to press multiple times to get multiple shifts – you can’t just keep the lever depressed – but that’s just being picky.

Anyway, back to the bike itself… Hit the hills and the Cube skips upwards without a care in the world, that lack of grammage really coming into its own. We got a little bit of flex in the Xentis wheels when we got out of the saddle but really not much – they climb well, especially for something with such a deep-section rim, and the Schwalbe Ultremo tyres are among our favourites for providing lightweight grip.

Like many lightweights, the Cube can skitter a little on the downhills if you hit a dodgy section of road – it’s never going to be as planted as a heavier bike with a lot of ballast – but, in general, descending is confident and controlled. The Easton fork proves stable and accurate and the oversized cockpit components offer a good compromise between stiffness and comfort.

The braking surfaces are carbon, which can sometimes be a concern, especially in the wet, but the Dura-Ace callipers provide plenty of well-modulated power. We’ll leave it at that on the braking performance because for most of the test we had the wrong blocks fitted – standard rather than carbon-specific. We never did really work out why but rest assured, retail models will have the right compound.

What else would you like to know about? Comfort? Well, you’re in that racy ride position so if your back isn’t into the idea, you’re not going to enjoy it much. You could always raise the front end up a bit by flipping the stem, but that’s kind of missing the point. This is a race bike, first and foremost, and the low position is all part of the deal. We found it perfectly comfortable, though, the lean seatstays providing enough rear end movement to keep the ride smooth and the carbon-railed Fizik Arione saddle joining in to complete the job.

Admittedly, not many of us have the funds to go splashing the better part of six grand on a bike so it's worth noting that the Litening is available in various other builds for far less cash. The Litening Super HPC Pro, for example, comes with a Shimano Ultegra-based groupset and Reynolds Attack Carbon clinchers, and it'll set you back £2499.

Verdict

Light and punchy speed machine with instant electronic shifting – just try not to think too much about the price.