Cube Cross Hybrid One 500 2019

[gstheo119]

Have now covered about 500 miles so thought I'd share my thoughts on this bike.
Firstly went for this model as, at £1800, it was more affordable than most, the battery is really well integrated into the frame and it has the latest Bosch Active Line Plus motor which is simpler, lighter and produces less drag than the CX design. My commutes are mostly in London so don't need monster power, just a nice push in the back so that I can get to work (7-12 miles) without breaking sweat.

I changed a few things quickly as I knew I would: Saddle, grips, pedals and added mudguards. Main thing is ditching the rubbish knobbly tyres for Schwalbe Big Apples, These are awesome E-Bike tyres. Loads more comfort and masses of grip, stopping and cornering is greatly improved. Oh, and its derestricted using the speed sensor relocated to crank method.

So what's good, whats bad...

PROS

• The Plus motor is super quiet and its 50Nm is just enough power for London, can cruise on the flat at 25mph in Turbo or Sport without massive effort which is what I wanted. Can't say I wouldn't like a bit more sometimes but probably just as well I don't!
• Glad I went for the 500 battery, need all the charge you can carry (addicted to Turbo)
• Very comfortable, good looking frame, I wanted a sit up position but still sporty handling, this is a good compromise. finish is good, paint hasn't chipped or scratched easily.
• Basic Shimano hydraulic brakes are adequate, may put a larger rotor on the front at some point but OK for now.

CONS

• Cheapo Suntour front fork which slightly spoils the handling, may upgrade or go for a rigid carbon fork.
• Derailleur gears are not the best solution for a pedelec - in turbo its especially easy to make horrible chain noises. - I think the chain is already showing signs of wear! I find myself shifting 3 gears at a time - 4 or 5 wider spaced gears would be fine. I may go for an Alfine 8 speed hub gear in the future
• Needs a higher top gear (for obvious reasons) and there's no need for such a low first. Needs 4 or maybe 6 more teeth on the chainring - the parts are in the post so looking forward to seeing how it cruises with slightly longer legs.

Overall I'm very happy I bought this model. At the price you're basically paying around £1100 for the excellent Bosch power train and battery and about £700 for a pretty average hybrid - but one that is fully upgradeable (forks and gears). Yes, I know the warranty is potentially void if its re-geared and derestricted and I know derestriction carries legal risks, but so does using a phone while driving - and how many people do that now and again?

 

[Adams1311]

Hi, thanks for your post. I have just purchased the same bike. How can I get it derestricted? Is it DIY or a specialist. Ray

 

[Eagle]

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/best-derestriction-for-bosch-active-line.32494/

 

[Willinliv]

Hi gstheo,

Again - great post. This looked a great bike for me to get partly on our cycle to work scheme and I bought one the other week from Rutland Cycles and took delivery of it and have been riding on the ~7mile commute all of this week and very happy with it. Main reasons for purchase was the Bosch system and 500wa battery.

How did you get on with your gearing upgrade (I think adding extra teeth to go fast is how it works?).

The bit which I have found is a bit pants is the plastic battery cover. It almost exactly fits in the hole which means that there is very little keeping it in place. It's almost like they supplie a cover for a smaller bike but sure that is the case. The other negative is that I like to use a rear rack and pannier but have found the eyelights are on the underneath of the seatstays and also the dropouts have a nice channel for a rack but requires something specific. Tredz have recommended a Cube Acid rear rack (they said it required RILink compatability but as far as I can see that's only for fitting wicker baskets so might be rubbish). Anyway once that arrives I'll give it a go. I did try fitting an old rack but it was a pain getting the rods to match the underneath eyelets (I was using a right angle bracket from a hardwear store), so descided to see if something better from Cube. Also fitting some mudguards while I'm at it. Will upgrade to Big Apple tyres soon too.

With the battery I see in some places it's best not to run below 20% (I guess that's one bar on the display), and if charging not to leave at 100% too long - some people are topping up to 80% night before and either leaving as this or topping off to 100% in the morning. I think for me I am going to rig up a wifi/smart socket with a timer that I can get to come on the required number of hours so that it's at 100% at time for commute. I am running on Turbo and getting about two days commute (14miles/day). Might consider dropping to Tour if I could get out of bed earlier!

Thanks again, and interested to hear from other's experiences

 

[gstheo119]

Hi Willinliv
I never did fit a larger chain ring - mainly because the removal tool is Cube specific and I haven't been able to source one. Ridiculous given this is a regular service part. TBH, I'm not bothered about raising the gearing anymore, unless you have massive downhills around you there's no real need - I'm in London and going too fast is not the best idea - really don't want to be involved in an accident.
Can't tell you much about fitting a rack, except to say fitting a mudguard was a pain so it seems Cube are not helpful in this respect. I stay off Turbo power if I can, as it absolutely canes your range, chain and sprocket (only got 500 miles out of the first one) and I need a 26 mile range for my commute. Agree the battery cover is a little poorly designed, but once you have it in the right position is secure and solid, you may have it not quite on right - I did this once and realised my mistake. Once its on correctly you can leave it alone as no need to fiddle really.
I personally don't worry about battery management and leave it plugged in all the time. Its a very expensive charger/battery set up so you'd hope it could cope with trickle charging and not damaging a full battery. If it was a Chinese cheapo unit I'd be more concerned. So far I've probably recharged it 100+ times and if anything found it has increased in range!

Definitely want to get some rigid carbon forks. Suspension not really helping handling at all.

Happy Pedelecing

 

[Willinliv]

Been a bit of a time, but thought I'd outline details of how my bike's going at 375miles:
Fitted mudguards, rear rack, and Cube stand from Tredz. ("Okay you will need one of cubes own rack for this as it needs to be Rilink compatible. Here is what you will need: https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Acid-Rear-Pannier-Rack_210666.htm and you can use the 28 or 29 fit version.). The mudguards actually work quite well with this carrier but I had to check out a video on bike-discounts.de (

). All three add quite a bit of weight though.
Have been using mostly in turbo, however about a week ago on the top gear the chain started to 'slip' or skip on the highest gear. Took it to lbs (Cube dealer) and thy're all using ebikes there with similar setup and straight away recommended new chain and cassette (£90), they replaced with ebike specific chain so should now happen less regularly I hope!
All else good and enjoying very much daily commute

 

[Andy McNish]

I have the Cube Hybrid One Iridium edition (£1570) and it's done just under 2000km since Xmas.

It's a great touring bike. Super comfortable. Just chews up the miles. Whether on a 100km charity Sportive, on my daily 20km each way offroad commute or just heading off down rivers and canal two paths into the unknown on a weekend it hasn't missed a beat.

Battery life is simply a non-issue - it can go all day with the assist levels I need (even the 100km 4500 foot elevation Sportive alongside my friend on a 9kg triathlon bike only used 3 bars of battery).

Only changes to default set up have been Marathon Plus Touring tyres (47mm) and switching the bell onto the right hand side (so it;s no longer nxt to the controller).

It's heavy of course and isn't fun to portage or get up stairs, but otherwise it's very hard to fault.

 

[Charles_Minty]

Have now covered about 500 miles so thought I'd share my thoughts on this bike.
Firstly went for this model as, at £1800, it was more affordable than most, the battery is really well integrated into the frame and it has the latest Bosch Active Line Plus motor which is simpler, lighter and produces less drag than the CX design. My commutes are mostly in London so don't need monster power, just a nice push in the back so that I can get to work (7-12 miles) without breaking sweat.

I changed a few things quickly as I knew I would: Saddle, grips, pedals and added mudguards. Main thing is ditching the rubbish knobbly tyres for Schwalbe Big Apples, These are awesome E-Bike tyres. Loads more comfort and masses of grip, stopping and cornering is greatly improved. Oh, and its derestricted using the speed sensor relocated to crank method.

So what's good, whats bad...

PROS

• The Plus motor is super quiet and its 50Nm is just enough power for London, can cruise on the flat at 25mph in Turbo or Sport without massive effort which is what I wanted. Can't say I wouldn't like a bit more sometimes but probably just as well I don't!
• Glad I went for the 500 battery, need all the charge you can carry (addicted to Turbo)
• Very comfortable, good looking frame, I wanted a sit up position but still sporty handling, this is a good compromise. finish is good, paint hasn't chipped or scratched easily.
• Basic Shimano hydraulic brakes are adequate, may put a larger rotor on the front at some point but OK for now.

CONS

• Cheapo Suntour front fork which slightly spoils the handling, may upgrade or go for a rigid carbon fork.
• Derailleur gears are not the best solution for a pedelec - in turbo its especially easy to make horrible chain noises. - I think the chain is already showing signs of wear! I find myself shifting 3 gears at a time - 4 or 5 wider spaced gears would be fine. I may go for an Alfine 8 speed hub gear in the future
• Needs a higher top gear (for obvious reasons) and there's no need for such a low first. Needs 4 or maybe 6 more teeth on the chainring - the parts are in the post so looking forward to seeing how it cruises with slightly longer legs.

Overall I'm very happy I bought this model. At the price you're basically paying around £1100 for the excellent Bosch power train and battery and about £700 for a pretty average hybrid - but one that is fully upgradeable (forks and gears). Yes, I know the warranty is potentially void if its re-geared and derestricted and I know derestriction carries legal risks, but so does using a phone while driving - and how many people do that now and again?

Interested to note others such as you have thought, like me, about adding a higher gear to pedal at de-restricted speeds. If you know any more about how to do this, or where to get the parts, I would be grateful to hear from you. I have a Bosch CX on Cube Reaction Pro 500 Mountain Bike.

 

[soundwave]

you just need to remove the crank arm and remove the lock ring.

E Bike Spider Tool

E-Bike Tuning

www.ebiketuning.com

Bosch Active / Performance Spider Tool – e-bikeshop.co.uk

This is the necessary tool to remove the Bosch spider. On the Active / Performance Bosch eBike systems.

www.e-bikeshop.co.uk

20t is about as big as you can go

 

[gstheo119]

Interested to note others such as you have thought, like me, about adding a higher gear to pedal at de-restricted speeds. If you know any more about how to do this, or where to get the parts, I would be grateful to hear from you. I have a Bosch CX on Cube Reaction Pro 500 Mountain Bike.

Yes, in fact I only just did put it on having bought the chainring ages ago. It came from Tredz, exact spec as in picture attached, they also sell a protector , Ideally you need a special chain ring tool to remove the lock ring but just use a blunt punch, it comes off OK, - NOTE - its reverse thread. 42Teeth is 4 more than standard and basically ups it all one gear so its perfect, nicer slower cruising cadence but still flying!

Note on battery charging. I dont pay any attention to how much its charged or how long its been on charge and the battery now has about 20% more range than when it was new!

 

[Gringo]

Hi gstheo,

while reading through some older posts I found one this thread and I realised I may have what you were after.

i have some “on one”/“Planet X” 29er carbon forks not being used (previously fitted to my last E-cube) and a “Taylor wheels” 700c rear wheel with a Shimano 8 speed hub, it’s in a bike at the moment but I’m about to switch to 9 speed derailleur, purely for convenient mind, (wheel changing between bikes and the like)

If you’re still in need we could do a deal

 

[gstheo119]

Hi -possibly yes. Can you send me your contacts in a private link ? Also pictures of the parts - the forks need to have big clearance as I have chunky tyres in - and have disk posts -
Cheers