The Sting WLS 140 SL marks our first entry into the realms of all mountain bikes for the WLS series. Built around the 27.5 inch wheel size with an emphasis on high quality equipment, it blends maximum trail fun with almost limitless potential for every kind of riding from fast rides to epic days out in the mountains. Just like your best friend, this is a bike that won't let you down.
Just as with our other all mountain bikes, we've thrown everything we know about aluminium frame construction at the Sting WLS 140. That's why it features a triple butted tubeset, complex hydroforming, a tapered head tube, PressFit bottom bracket, X-12 Adaptable dropous and internally routed cables. Agile Ride Geometry and Efficient Trail Control suspension design work together to make a bike that's lightning-fast but with real reserves of strength. The forged Trail Motion Rocker linkage and strongly sloping top tube aren't just there for dynamic good looks - they also improve standover clearance and trail manouevrability.
A bike with such amazing trail potential deserves the right equipment. Fox's 34 Float air suspension fork - with 15mm quick release axle - and Float DPS rear shock - with 140mm travel - work together to provide easy adjustment and superb comfort and control on the trail. The new Shimano 2x11 XT groupset delivers optimum gear and brake performance, even in the most difficult conditions. DT Swiss AM 2.7 wheels combine high stability and low weight for easy climbing and huge fun on descents. The cockpit is specially adapted to female ergonomics, with a comfortable and high performance Selle Italia X1 Lady saddle. The CUBE dropper post ensures the best mobililty in tricky trail situations.
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.
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.
Very 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 triple butted, giving very light tubesets with a high level of stiffness.
Our Efficient Trail Control series works so that everyone can have more fun on the trail. With 27.5 and 29er wheel options our frames cover the widest range of riding on every terrain you can imagine. The low leverage ratio and linear rate curve makes the bike very sensitive, avoids bobbing and offers full usable travel all the time. Steep seat tube angles and slack head tube angles make these dream machines ready for action on the descent where you can use the full amount of travel to be on the safe side.
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.
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 new STEREO , FRITZZ and HANZZ models are built using Advanced Hydroforming. Conventional hydroforming processes cannot achieve these custom shapes and technical advantages. As this manufacturing method reduces the number of welds, the weight is reduced while durability is increased. All
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.
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.
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.
The Trail Motion Rocker features optimized leverage ratios for every bike and intended use, giving fast reacting yet stable suspension in every situation. The computer-designed one piece rocker construction gives maximum stiffness for the best suspension performance while still being extremely lightweight.
