Cube litening c 68x12/31/2023 ![]() I liked the wide, flat tops of the aero bars they’re comfortable to rest your hands on, distributing pressure well. This certainly felt like the Litening’s natural environment, unlike its predecessor, which would have been a little laboured at such speeds on fast flat roads. Hitting the gas on flat rides the bikes easily hits a 40kph speed, that isn’t usually my bad when it comes to riding bikes. It’s a bike that wants to be ridden fast. Running a wider rear tyre doesn’t impact aerodynamics though. There’s clearance for 28mm tyres and some 30mm tyres will fit when paired with some rims.īut it says that it found optimum aerodynamics with narrower front tyres and says that it’s important to preserve the gap between the fork crown and the tyre to keep the aero benefits when this gap is too narrow, additional turbulence and drag ensue. But Cube looked to add compliance, building 20 prototypes to optimise the carbon lay-up while maintaining strength and safety.Ĭube has aero tested the Litening C:68X with a range of wheelsets and tyres. Because of their wider section, aero posts often transmit road buzz and bumps to the saddle. Plus it’s compatible with K-Edge adapters for Lezyne units and GoPros.Ĭube has worked on the Litening C:68X’s seatpost design too. It comes with an adaptor for Wahoo Elemnt computers as well as Garmin units. So Cube has developed its own Garmin mount that positions the computer lower down and out of the airflow. There’s not much point in having an aero cockpit if a bike computer sticks up above it and disrupts the airflow. But it says that, as with the Scott Addict, there’s enough room to use mechanical cables to the shifters too. ![]() So far, all of Cube’s Litening C:68X test bikes have been built up with electronic transmissions, either cabled or wireless, including the SRAM Red eTap AXS-equipped bikes that we tested at the launch. ![]() That results in quite a chunky profile to the stem and Cube has included a stop to prevent the bars from rotating too far and damaging the cables. But Cube has passed the cables and brake hoses round the sides of the steerer tube, entering the frame behind it. Hidden cables normally pass either in front of the headset bearings or through them. With the round section of external cables generating significant drag, it’s an area where there are still aero benefits that manufacturers are now looking to exploit. Like many of the latest crop of bikes, including the just-launched Scott Addict RC and Wilier Zero SLR climber’s bikes, Cube has also enhanced its cockpit integration, with a one-piece bar/stem and internal cable routing. And Cube 3D printed many different bar shapes and wind tunnel tested them. So the head tube, for example, is waisted. Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using Zwift’s stock 32mm carbon wheelset.Cube concentrated on reducing the Litening C:68X’s frontal area, again while skimming the UCI regs. By comparison, the fastest climber in game ( Specialized Aethos) completes the test is 48:50. The Cube Litening C:68X currently turns in an Alpe climb time of 49:14.5. But as we said with the just-released Chapter2 TOA, that’s all silly talk until Zwift gets the bug fixed. Without the bug, the frame would theoretically climb around 19 seconds faster, which would boost it to the top 5 overall climbing rankings. It turns in the same time as the Giant Propel Advanced SL Disc, ranking in the lower 40th percentile. Climb Performanceĭue to Zwift’s Dura-Ace 9200 bug (see “Still Not Fixed” note at bottom of page here), we already knew the Litening C:68X wouldn’t be winning any hill climbs. By comparison, the fastest frame in Zwift ( Cervelo S5 2020) turns in a time of 51:17.5 on our test course, which is two laps of Tempus Fugit, totaling 34.6km. Its test time of 51:34 is just 2 seconds faster than the default Zwift Carbon frame given to all Zwifters. The Litening C:68X turns in a poor aero performance, matching the previous Litening precisely and thus falling into the lower 23% of frames. Here’s everything you need to know about the performance of the new Cube Litening C:68X frame in Zwift. So we ran the new Litening through our standard battery of tests. Of course, Zwift’s star ratings aren’t precise enough to communicate actual performance in game. ![]() It is rated 2 stars (!) for aero and 3 for weight, which immediately made us question just how speedy it would be in game. This frame is priced at 373,500 Drops and level-locked at 32. It certainly looks sweet… and fast! The Cube Litening C:68X Race in real life We’re not sure if the “hot knife through butter” analogy was the best choice, but clearly Cube thinks their latest Litening is one fast machine. ![]()
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