Whether it's an epic day ride or tackling technical singletrack, we designed the Sting 120 Race 2X to be the ultimate choice for discerning women. The combination of lively but stable handling, a new and even lighter aluminium frame and high quality, performance-orientated equipment with 2x11 transmission and top name suspension components makes it the obvious candidate. This is a bike built for hard trail use; it'll inspire you to go further and faster than you ever thought possible.
The entirely new 2016 Sting WLS 120 isn't short on refinement. The extraordinarily high quality four pivot, triple butted 7005 Superlite aluminium frame is lighter than before for the best possible climbing performance, but also even stiffer for excellent steering precision and safe descending. Our well-respected Agile Trail Geometry gives the bike its lively character, while Efficient Trail Control suspension design ensures that the 120mm of travel works perfectly regardless of frame size.
Every Sting WLS 120 rider has the ability to conquer even the toughest of trails with confidence, thanks to the smooth, custom-tuned Fox Float DPS rear shock with remote lockout. Shimano's XT disc brake system puts powerful stopping and easy modulation within finger-tip reach - perfect for the longest of Alpine descents. The brand new Shimano XT drive group features 2x11 gears and XT's legendary hard-wearing reliability, giving clean shifts and peace of mind. Fulcrum's Red 44 wheelset backs this performance up with superb acceleration. And Shimano's I-Spec puts shift and brake controls within easy reach of the rider in CUBE's ergonomic cockpit design, which means you'll be relaxed and comfortable even after a long day on the bike.
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.
Sophisticated suspension kinematics are only able to work correctly if the associated shock is properly tuned. We researched and found a specific shock setup in cooperation with Fox Racing Shox, using extensive testing for almost every CUBE full-suspension model.
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.
We optimized our new dropout design based on the Syntace X12 through-axle system, enlarging the area of the frame where the hanger is mounted. We can now fit the longer Direct Mount hangers. Shifting precision and stiffness is therefore improved. With the new design it's also possible to swap the whole contact area of the axle with the hanger should the system be worn out.
The Agile Trail Geometry carries over the Agile Ride Geometrys benefits but with more focus on aggressive trail use. This can be achieved through a more compact frame construction with an even lower top tube and improved standover height. The result is more freedom of movement on the bike for the rider and a lower centre of gravity which guarantees agile handling and more riding fun.
For our high end bikes we use High Performance 7005 Aluminium alloy which has a very low density combined with high strength due to the alloy elements and the hardening heat treatment. By triple butting or even quadruple butting (as in the REACTION , HANZZ and AERIUM models) to give different wall thicknesses in one tube, aluminium tubes are reinforced where required and made lighter where possible. In this way, we succeed in getting material where its needed most. In addition we use special tube shapes, manufactured with hydroforming technology to better cope with directional forces. The low density and high strength as well as the butting and the hydroforming technology enable us to make high performance frames with an ultimate level of stiffness.
Dropper seat posts are getting more and more widespread, but to integrate them optimally in the frame, they have to be factory fitted. With the Stealth Ready frames, it is possible to build in a dropper seat post with internally routed cables, which besides the clean look, helps prevent any cables getting jammed. The exit of the cable on the frame if not required will be sealed with a cover for protection.
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.
In this system, a cone is used to form a play-free connection. It is only necessary to tighten the axle from one side. The position of the wheel is done by an insert in the right-hand dropout which is secured by a bolt. The main advantages of the Syntace system are quick and simple changing of the wheel, reliable position of the brake disc and higher stiffness of the rear of the bike. This allows the assembly to be made lighter than a conventional through-axle.
