Cube Attain GTC SL

The Attain GTC SL is part of Cube's endurance range and it delivers a very good combination of comfort, both from the frameset and the geometry, and performance. It's not a bad weight either, and certainly feels responsive to your input, making it fun to ride fast as well as comfortable for longer, more sedate jaunts. I do find the mixture of Shimano Ultegra and 105 components a little odd though.

Ride

The 56cm Attain GTC SL you see here has quite a tall head tube at 182mm, and the first time I headed out on it the front end did feel a little bit upright – especially as I'd been riding much lower slung bikes like the Orro Venturi Evo 105 and Vitus Vitesse Evo Team eTap, both of which are much more race orientated.

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That feeling didn't last long, though, and once I'd adapted to the Cube I was surprised how racy and fast it can be. It can maintain speed over a long period too, the relaxed position being ever so slightly easier on your lower back but still allowing for a stretched-out position on the hoods or in the drops for faster sections.

The handlebar has a very shallow drop, which means tucking down into them is accessible for all but the most inflexible riders and really allows you to exploit the performance on offer from the GTC SL.

With an all-in build weight of 8.77kg, the Cube is in the right sort of ballpark for the money but it does feel much more sprightly than the scales suggest.

A kick on the pedals away from the lights or when launching into a bit of a sprint sees the Attain respond well. There is plenty of stiffness around the lower section of the frame, especially around the bottom bracket area, and you feel like you are getting a decent return for your effort.

The standard Fulcrum wheels aren't the lightest, but they don't really dampen the spirit of the bike as a whole; you don't feel like you are dragging them around when really putting the power down. I did try the Cube with a set of 1,472g Hunt Carbon Aero Disc wheels, though, and boy did they highlight just how much fun and speed you can wring out of the Attain.

Cube has gone with a 72.5-degree head angle, which tones down the speed of the steering a touch compared to a full-on race bike. It still delivers on the fun factor, but if you aren't the most confident of bike handlers it still lets you enjoy the descents and technical sections without the feeling that you need huge levels of concentration or skill to get you through the bends.

I'm a big fan of high speed descending and on my favourite test hill, which has a little bit of everything – off-camber bends, sharp corners and wide open fast ones, which test every factor of handling – the Cube performed well, especially on the faster, sweeping corners where you just need to pick a line and let the bike go.

In the really tight, testing chicane section I would have preferred a little bit more sharpness in the steering, but on the whole it's not really anything I'd overly criticise the Attain for considering its endurance DNA.

The feedback through the frame and fork is really good too, which helps you know what the tyres are up to on the road's surface. You can feel if you are carrying too much speed as you enter the bend, and respond to it before you get into trouble – and even if you panic you are unlikely to massively upset the bike thanks to that neutral handling.

The fork legs are much narrower than some, and I did wonder how they were going to cope with heavy braking in the bends from high speeds, but I needn't have worried. Even when going from 50mph to a standstill as quickly as I could there was no noticeable flex in the fork and, thanks to the thru-axle, no twisting at the dropouts though the calliper is grabbing the rotor on just one side of the fork.

Topping all of this off is an impressive level of comfort from the frame tubing. It's a stiff bike, but the frame does a very good job of cancelling out any resonation from the road surface – a bit of compliance, if you like, without sacrificing overall performance.

Frame and fork

The Attain follows a common theme: larger tube sections at the front end, down tube, bottom bracket junction and through the chainstays for stiffness and power transfer, while the top tube, seat tube and especially the seatstays are all much slender to promote compliance and therefore comfort.

Cube has gone for a press-fit bottom bracket which won't please all, but to be honest over the last couple of years I've had fewer and fewer issues with creaking from water and grit ingress. One of the benefits is that with the bearings being pressed internally into the frame, the overall bottom bracket shell can be wider without affecting the distance between the pedals (the Q-factor).

This allows a wider down tube, chainstays and base of the seat tube, which increases the cross-sectional area and therefore adds more stiffness.

The bottom bracket area is actually asymmetric on the Attain. The down tube and chainstay on the non-drive side sit out wider, coming out as close as possible to the crank without getting in the way. The other side is stepped back to give clearance for the chainset.

As is commonplace these days, the Cube has full internal cable and hose routing for cleanliness and that really does highlight all of the cool lines of the various tube profiles. It really is a boxy but interesting looking frame that still manages to flow at the intersections.

I also like the matt red finish – it highlights the angles without making them look too harsh, and it's hardwearing too, although I'm not too sure about the orange decals... they're a bit of a clash for my eyes. It's also available in Carbon/White too.

The Attain comes with 28mm rubber fitted as standard and I'd say that is about the biggest it'll take, especially if you are using a wide rim. But to be honest I don't see any reason to go wider on what is essentially a high-speed road bike.

Groupset

Back in the day, to make a bike look a bit more expensive many companies would upgrade the rear mech to the level above. Bunging a 105 mech on a Tiagra-equipped bike gave you something to aspire to.

That sort of disappeared, though, along with FSA having a bit of a monopoly on chainsets fitted to bikes as original equipment, which helped calm my issues about everything not looking the same.

Here, though, Cube has reverted and gone for a mix, speccing the GTC SL with Shimano 105 R7020 STIs and brake callipers…

and an Ultegra R8000 chainset and front and rear mechs.

I'm guessing it's a cost-cutting exercise – and Ultegra and 105 disc brakes are very similar – but to me it's an odd pairing that just doesn't look right. I appreciate I might be in the minority here, but although it's great to have the Ultegra parts, for the money I'd be happy to have a full 105 groupset for a more harmonious theme.

> Read our complete guide to Shimano road groupsets

Thankfully, both the 105 shifters and the Ultegra components are top notch. Using the 105 shifters and brakes alongside Ultegra – which I am pretty much always able to because of the number of bikes I test a month – I can detect the slightly sharper and quicker shifting you get from the latter. In isolation, though, you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference, and on the Cube you get precise gear shifts with a defining click as the chain skips across the sprockets and chainrings.

Gearing-wise Cube has gone for a compact 50/34-tooth chainset and an 11-32-tooth cassette. It's a slightly lower range than you'd find on a race machine but a welcome one for the riding the Attain is intended for. Those couple of extra bailout gears mean you can stay seated for a bit longer on the climbs and conserve a bit of energy.

Braking performance from the 105 levers and callipers is good. You know the drill – plenty of stopping power and modulation. It really is true, though. All of Shimano's hydraulic braking systems give you so much control, especially in the wet, and if you manage to lock the front up in anything but icy conditions you need to lay off the grip strength exercises.

The SM-RT54-S 160mm rotors don't quite offer the same amount of bite as their Ice-Tech stablemates found on more expensive setups, but it is a minimal difference unless you are really hauling on the anchors.

Finishing kit

As for the rest of the kit, it's all Newman Evolution, with matching orange decals and made from aluminium alloy.

The handlebar is ever so slightly wing shaped, and while it's nothing to really set your pulse alight it works well. I like the shape, and it certainly has plenty of stiffness without feeling overly harsh, helped a bit by the Cube Grip Control bar tape.

For this sort of money I'd like to see a carbon seatpost; it doesn't affect comfort as much as some think, but it looks a little classier. The alloy post here does the job, though: it didn't slip and it's easy to adjust.

Stubby saddles have become very popular, but it's rare to see one as standard on an off-the-peg bike. The Cube Natural Fit Nuance Lite is just 240mm long and I loved the shape. I found the padding pretty much spot on too: not too soft, yet not too firm, as Goldilocks would say.

Wheels and tyres

Fulcrum makes some good wheels – often not the lightest or the cheapest, but durable and always delivering on ride quality. The Racing 77 DBs fitted to the Attain have a shallow alloy rim and a pretty weighty build, with 28 spokes front and rear. They never put a foot wrong when it came to taking plenty of abuse on crappy road surfaces.

They use Fulcrum's two-way fit system, so are tubeless ready.

Tyre-wise Cube has gone with Continental's Grand Sport Race, in a 28mm width.

Continental offers a quality range of tacky compounds, found even on its entry-level tyres. The Grand Sport Races offer a decent amount of grip in the bends, even in the wet, making for plenty of confidence in the corners or when taking roundabouts at speed.

Rolling resistance is a bit average, so an upgrade along with some lighter wheels will really unlock the performance of the Attain.

As for durability, they can't really be knocked. In about 800 miles of testing they haven't picked up a single mark or show any signs of wear.

Value

At £1,999, the Attain GTC SL isn't bad money compared with some similar options.

I really liked the Orro Pyro Evo 105 Hydro, which had a very similar ride feel to the Cube – fun, easy to live with while delivering on the performance front, and comfortable too. It's 100 quid cheaper than the Cube, but you aren't getting the Ultegra components, and the Orro is a fair bit weightier at 9.2kg.

> Buyer’s Guide: 21 of the best bikes for long, fast endurance rides

Another similar riding and handling machine is the Lapierre Pulsium SL 500 Disc. It's a really comfortable endurance machine that also deserves a lighter set of wheels. It comes with a full 105 groupset, but the price is a bit higher at £2,199.

Conclusion

Overall, my groupset-mixing reservations aside, I really like the ride quality and the handling of the Attain GTC SL. Cube has delivered a really good frameset that's relaxed enough in its geometry that you can really tap out the miles, but if you have one of those days when you really want to get out and just smash it about it'll also deliver the fun factor.

Verdict

Some slightly unusual component pairing, but it's all attached to a very good frameset