The Axial WLS Race is the new spearhead among CUBE's performance aluminium race bikes - a lightning fast racer for demanding road enthusiasts. The high performance package of quality aluminium frame, full 2x11 transmission from the legendary Shimano 105 stable, and Mavic Aksium wheels all help make the WLS Race the ideal companion for bashing out fast road miles.
The Axial WLS Race features a superior double butted Superlite aluminium frame. Details like the oversized, cross-ovalised down tube, tapered head tube, PressFit bottom bracket and 3D forged dropouts all help provde the Axial WLS Race's frame with an exceptional weight/stiffness ratio. The Axial frame concept ensures superb long-distance comfort thanks to the balanced WLS ride position, supported by slim seat stays and the vibration-absorbing CUBE CSL carbon fork. Naturally, we've routed all cables internally to ensure long-lasting gear shift performance and clean, tidy looks.
To complement the high quality frame, we kitted the WLS Race out with a Shimano 105 gear and brake groupset - ensuring the ultimate in versatility as well as the best possible gear and brake performance. Combining a 34x50 T compact chainset with an 11-32 comfort cassette gives the widest possible gear range to cope with any ride. Mavic Aksium Elite wheels are perfectly matched to the very light and durable Mavic Aksion tyres - a real, performance wheel system. The Selle Italia X1 Lady saddle and ergonomic CUBE cockpit complete this race bike built especially for women.
To protect our high-end aluminium frames from damage, they are built with the CUBE Frame Save System replaceable derailleur hanger. The mounting thread is in the hanger and not in the frame as usual. In case of a crash, this hanger can be easily and quickly replaced by a new one.
Internally routed cables offer many advantages. Cables are protected from dirt for longer life, weight is saved thanks to the absence of external housing and the bike has a clean, sleek appearance.
On polished, brushed aluminium and all HPC frames, the logos and graphics are applied in multi-layer wet paint. We use this surface treatment technology mainly to save weight.
Our new WLS models come with different wheel sizes for different frame heights. The 14 and 16" frames have 27.5" wheels, the 17,19 and 21" frames are built as 29ers. Depending on body height, every woman gets the perfect riding character and geometry. The models of our Woman Like Series feature a compact frame geometry with shorter top tubes and longer head tubes, giving a riding position that is more upright than on the mens models. This riding position relieves the pelvis and offers more comfort. The top tubes of the WLS mountain bikes are lowered, making the bike more comfortable and safe to mount and dismount.
Extremely high tensile strength heat-treated 7005 aluminium alloy is developed for the highest requirements. It is very stiff, fatigue resistant, corrosion resistant and has high elongation. Our Superlite tubes are double butted, giving very light tubesets with a high level of stiffness.
With Press Fit bearings, the bottom bracket bearings are pressed directly into the frame and not screwed in as usual. This gives a wider bottom bracket shell and allows us to build a wider down tube and more broadly-spaced chainstays. Every millimetre of additional width gives a significant improvement in lateral stiffness.
This steerer tube design is stiffer than a conventional straight steerer and yields a more secure ride feel even in difficult terrain. Minimal flex at the front of the frame means the greatest possible steering precision. With the larger steerer, the forks become more rigid. At the same time weight is saved due to the absence of bearing shells as the lower bearing is fully integrated into the head tube. On all of our CUBE carbon models the upper bearing shells are also directly in the frame, so that once more a few grams are saved and the energy transfer is very direct.
With our Advanced Mechanical Forming technology we can mechanically transform different frame tubes and thus optimize them without material-wearing welding work for the respective requirements. Along the obtained organic look, the production method is primarily motivated by functional reasons. Multiple converted tubes enable us to manufacture lighter and also stiffer aluminum frames.
