Trekking bikes

Curly bars aren’t the only way to tour. Simon Withers tests two keener-priced, flat-bar alternatives from Cube and Trek

Even in these inflationary times there’s a way to buy a brand new, fully equipped tourer for under a grand: choose one with a flat handlebar. Euro-style trekking bikes come with all the components you need for touring or commuting, including a rear rack, mudguards and lights, yet cost hundreds of pounds less than a drop-bar equivalent.

Both the Cube Travel and Trek Dual Sport 2 Equipped Gen 5 look to be great-value bikes. They’re suitable for long-distance touring straight from the shop. Additionally, their tough wheels and wide tyres make them ideal for commuting on our perpetually potholed roads and for leisure rides over a variety of surfaces, whether that’s the light gravel of some Sustrans routes or unsurfaced towpaths. Both bikes are fairly hefty, at around 15kg, so you won’t be speeding to your destination, but they’re commensurately strong: the Trek has a 136kg limit for the bike, rider and luggage combined, while the Cube’s limit is 145kg.

A lower price isn’t the only advantage of a flat bar over drops. Gears often go lower and brakes are typically better. Hydraulic discs only feature in manufacturers’ higher-end road groupsets, yet even Shimano's lower-level off-road groupsets – as fitted to the two test bikes – include such brakes. Both bikes are available with step-through frames, too. Few drop-bar tourers come in this format.

Frame and fork

It’s an all-aluminium affair when it comes to both bikes’ frames and forks, and both also come with a pleasingly comprehensive range of fixtures and fittings. If you were being hyper-critical, you might want top tube ‘bento box’ fittings or bottle bosses under the down tube, but those are the only absences. Both forks do have bosses for low-rider racks, however. The Cube Travel has front and rear quick-release axles, with Trek using its own ThruSkew fork axle, a halfway house between a quick release and thru-axle. Even without thru-axles, there was no issue with the quality of braking on either bike. Both bikes also have similar frame angles, with relaxed head tubes and steeper seat tubes. The angular-looking Cube’s geometry is noticeably more stretched out, with a much longer wheelbase, top tube and front centres measurement, which makes for great stability. Tyre clearances are very generous on both bikes. Even with full-length mudguards and big tyres, there’s no toe overlap.

The cabling is routed internally on both bikes, with the exception of the Cube’s rear brake hose, which runs under the down tube. Trek’s decision to route cables and hoses directly into a dedicated headset top cap isn’t going to make the home mechanic’s life any easier. I feel that routing like this is best left to road bikes. Do you need an aero advantage and trickier-totinker-with components on a tourer? Not really…

Components

Compared with drop-bar tourers at this sort of price, you get a lot of a bike for your money, with brand-name components throughout, hydraulic brakes, lights, racks and mudguards. The two companies have taken slightly different approaches but there are few kit compromises on either.

Crucially, both bikes have touringfriendly bottom gears. The Trek has an unbranded, super-compact 46-30 double chainset, while the Cube has a 48-36-26

Tech spec

Cube Travel

Price: £999.

Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL.

Weight: 15.5kg (M).

Alivio SL-M3100-R trekking triple that you don’t often see these days. Derailleurs and shifters are from quite well down the Shimano mountain bike groupset hierarchy. The Trek mixes Altus and Acera, while the Cube is all Alivio apart from an Altus front mech. But both bikes’ shifting was spot on, albeit solid and accurate rather than smooth and light. The Cube’s 3× system ensures there are much smaller gaps between gears, allowing you to ride more easily at a consistent cadence, which is what I want when touring. I’m not sure I ever used its 48/11 top gear, however.

Cube has specified Shimano disc brakes and Trek Tektro, but frankly given their looks and performance they could have come from the same factory. Braking from both setups is light, controlled and very powerful, requiring just a finger or two no matter how much weight you’re carrying. The braking performance is fabulous and both systems use noncorrosive mineral oil. Fettling a hydraulic system in the back of beyond might be more complicated than cables but there’s no questioning the stopping power.

Frame & fork: Superlite aluminium frame with rack and mudguard mounts, post mount disc, kickstand mount, 135mm QR.

Aluminium rigid fork, internal brake routing, rack and mudguard mounts, 100mm QR.

Wheels: 55-622

Schwalbe Marathon Almotion tyres, Cube EX21 tubelessready rims, 32 14g spokes, Shimano

DH-3D37 Centerlock front hub dynamo, Shimano FH-M3050

Centerlock rear hub.

Transmission: platform pedals, 48-36-26 175mm

Shimano FC-T4060 chainset, Shimano SM BB52 bottom bracket, KMC X9 chain, Shimano

CS-HG200 11-34t cassette. Shimano

Rapidfire-Plus shifters, Shimano Altus FD-M370 Topswing front mech, Shimano Alivio RD-M3100-SGS rear mech. 27 ratios, 22-126in.

Brakes: Shimano BR-MT200 hydraulic discs, 160mm rotors.

Steering & seating: Acid Travel Comfort grips, Cube 660 ×31.8mm

Comfort Trail Bar, Cube 31.8mm

Performance Pro stem, Cube FPH868 semi-Integrated headset. Natural Fit Sequence saddle, 27.2×350mm Cube seatpost.

Equipment: Acid Semi-Integrated Carrier, Cubestand Cmpt kickstand, Acid 65 BB-Mount mudguards, Cube Shiny 50 front light, Acid Mudguard PRO-D rear light. cube.eu