Next up on the testing schedule here at ebiketips is this rather tasty (deep breath) Cube Stereo Hybrid 140 HPA 27.5+. Phew! And we even left out a 500 that’s in there somewhere, which denotes the 500Wh battery this bike gets to go with its Bosch Performance line CX motor.

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Cube Stereo Hybrid 140HPA – tyre (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

27.5+ tyres were one of the big trends of e-MTBs at the Eurobike show back in August. You get more traction from the bigger tyre and you can run them at a lower pressure too, which improves traction even more and adds a bit of extra bounce to the ride.

The main trade-off is weight, both in the wheels and the slightly wider frame and fork. But weight’s not really a primary concern on an electric bike. This Cube weighs in at 22.6kg for our size 18”, which is about par for the course for a big-tyred medium travel trail bike. With a motor.

Here’s Cube talking about the bike themselves. “To accommodate the extra wide tyres in a chassis, our engineers had to pull out all the stops. Thanks to our decades of experience in aluminium frame constriction and the finest high performance tubing, we were able to create a framework which is both extremely rigid and lightweight”, they say of the Stereo Hybrid. “Through the use of the broader boost standards, we reach a maximum tyre clearance and excellent rear wheel rigidity. Just like with other new Stereo Hybrid generation bikes, the frame has a deep top tube and the same agile-safe handling typical of all CUBE bikes. The efficient trail control kinematics (ETC) on the four-joint chainstay provides a drive-neutral rear suspension, yet still works sensitively and irons out even the roughest trails.”

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Cube Stereo Hybrid 140HPA – shock and rocker (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

So it’s very much a trail-oriented bike, in the same mould as Cube’s non-assisted bikes. Again, that’s very much the trend. A couple of years ago most manufacturers were making their e-MTBs a bit more upright and leisurely for what they perceived to be an older, more leisure-oriented market. Nowadays we mostly see the big names using geometry as close as they can to their non-assisted bikes. The position and size of the additional hardware means it’s not always exactly the same, but more often than not that is the aim.

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Cube Stereo Hybrid 140HPA – head tube (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

The Stereo Hybrid gets an HPA Ultralight, Advanced Hydroformed, Triple Butted frame with a 4-Link rear end, matched to a Rock Shox Pike RC Solo Air 27.5+ fork. Both front and rear axles are boost standard – wider for better wheel stiffness and more clearance for plus-sized tyres – and there’s 140mm of travel at either end, with the rear controlled by a Fox Float DPS Performance shock. You get a Shimano XT 1×11 drivetrain with an 11-42T cassette, Magura MT5 hydraulic discs (180mm at each end), a Rock Shox Reverb Stealth dropper ‘post and Race Face hardware. The wheels are by DT Swiss, tubeless ready with big Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.8” tyres on a Plus-sized 40mm wide rim.

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Cube Stereo Hybrid 140HPA – motor bottom (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor probably needs no introduction: it’s at the top of the Bosch motor range in terms of power, handing out 75Nm of torque if you need it, and it’s widely used in e-mountain bikes. Cube’s buying power means they get to customise the motor profile and the housing to suit their bikes, so what you’re getting here isn’t exactly the same as a stock unit. This bike uses the mid-mounted Intuvia display, but Cube are moving all their e-MTBs over to the smaller, bar-mounted Purion display which will be a running change.

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Cube Stereo Hybrid 140HPA – display (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

All this sprung and assisted goodness will cost you £3,799. We’ve been hooning through the woods with big grins on our faces and we intend to do so for a bit longer yet; look out for a review on ebiketips soon.