Our trip to Cube was titled "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and we weren't to be disappointed as getting to Cube was not the most straight forward journey. Glasgow to Heathrow then onwards to Munich, catching 3 trains to get to our final destination of Waldershof. With none of us speaking a word of German it was bound to go wrong somewhere! We got caught out by the train carriages splitting up with our one going in the wrong direction, after a small wait in a random town and a nice coffee and bit of cake,  we eventually made it to our hotel just outside Cube and all I can say is Fawlty Towers and with with toilet doors made of see through glass it was definitely something else.

The next morning the guys and girls from Cube arrived to give us a lift to the factory we got a few goodies (everyone loves a freebie). Now this was a trip for the 2017 range launch but with a couple of extras, the morning started off with some mountain biking through the local forests on the new Cube Stereo 160 E-Bike, now the climb up was mainly fire roads with a few rock sections but the bike should have been a warning to the type of decent they had in store for us.

Full on tree roots everywhere, boulders the size of a van, with drops out of the blue on the other side. Now the E-Bike is a heavy machine with the motor strapped to it but I have to say TRY ONE it was awesome. The motor just helps you keep the speed up and pulls you out of those sections that would normally be to tiring.

The ride all in must have been a couple hours and even after having the battery on turbo mode I didn't even use half and felt as if I could drive it all over again and that was with a hangover from the German home brewed beers the night before.

Then we got back to base and were able to test the other brands, Specialized, Giant and Brose to name a few. None of them had decals on them but we know what ones are what.   I have to say the Bosch motor was the most impressive! Now that was hard to say as I have tested the Specialized Levo myself and was super impressed with it. So I can highly recommend both.

Then we moved on to the factory tour which for me was what I came to see (sorry no photos we weren't allowed). It's a new production line with some in house secrets but let's throw some number to give you a scale of the operation.

1000 bikes from frame to full bike assembled per day and during full production 3500 per day. That's a staggering amount of bikes being assembled each day all with little assembly needed at our end to be ready to ride.  What I really liked was there willingness to listen to issues we have had at our end and make the changes at there end. One of the new features is being able to trace back to who assembled it at their end so they can work on production issues and improve the service we all get and want.

Everything provided by Cube was amazing from the beers to the riding and the lunch afterwards, sirloin steaks, can't beat it unless your a vegetarian and even then they provided plenty of rabbit food.

Would I go again? In a heartbeat and would love to stay longer

Would I buy a cube E-Bike? In a heartbeat, even the hardtail E-Bike was great.

So a big thanks to everyone at Cube for there hospitality and all their hard work!

Dougie, Dales Cycles Workshop

To enter our Cube giveaway, click on the link below: