- 3 minutes ago
We might have found the ultimate bargain superbike! Cube's new Litening Aero C:68X packs a World Tour punch without the astronomical price tag. We also check out the Gearrista, a wild new gadget that promises a perfectly clean drivetrain while you relax. Plus, we analyse the new Trek Domane and ask if we've finally reached 'peak bike'.
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00:00This aero bike might be Europe's answer to Chinese direct-to-consumer brands.
00:05With the release of the new Trek Zamane we ask the question have we reached peak bike
00:11and how much would you pay for a machine that cleans your bike whilst you drink coffee?
00:17All that and lots more of the latest tech so this is Cycling Weekly let's get into it.
00:24Right I want to kick off with this it's called the Gearista and it's been all over my Instagram
00:30for the last few weeks. Now initially I must admit I did think that it was AI but no it
00:38appears it
00:39really does exist it is real tech and it is available to pre-order. Now according to the
00:44Danish company you could be losing 5 watts from light particle build up on your bike's drivetrain
00:51or around 20 to 30 watts in extreme abrasive conditions.
00:57Their answer is this preventative maintenance rather than infrequent drivetrain cleaning.
01:04The process it takes around 10 minutes you don't have to do anything you just put your bike in it
01:08and leave it. It uses a brush to clean particles off your chain and cassette to keep your road or
01:15gravel
01:15bike's drivetrain running smoother and faster for longer. There's two brush sizes depending on your
01:21cassette size and apparently I'm not too sure how this works it leaves the wax or your chain lube in
01:28place. Obviously we haven't tried one yet as they're not available to anyone yet but let me know whether
01:35you'd consider dropping 800 euros for one of these down in the comments below. Right next I've got a new
01:42bike it's called the Cube Lightning Aero C68X. The C68X means it's the top tier carbon layup the
01:50lightning is spelt wrong and this replaces the old Cube Lightning Aero which was I believe the oldest
01:58bike in the professional peloton so these updates don't come around very often it looks like they've
02:03made some significant improvements so this version is 150 grams lighter that means that you can get
02:09complete builds under seven kilos which I know isn't setting the world on fire but take a look
02:15at how deep this handlebar is and that's also with 60 66 mil deep wheels so like there's plenty of
02:23carbon
02:23fiber being used here. It's also apparently 6.2 watts faster than the previous version 10% more comfortable
02:31a much more welcome update is that it's now got space for 34 mil tires because that was something that
02:37was holding back the previous generation. It comes with a power meter it comes with these Neumann carbon
02:44spoke wheels this top spec build with full Dura-Ace full total NGs spec a world tour level bike for
02:53£7,500
02:55I understand that is a hell of a lot of money but it is £5,000 less than what you'd
03:02pay for something
03:03when in a similar spec if it had Colnago or Specialized or Trek or Cannondale or even a Canyon
03:12with a power meter and a Dura-Ace build is going to set you back significantly more than that so
03:17this
03:18might be the best value race bike of 2026. Let me know whether you agree or disagree with me in
03:25the
03:25comments below and we will have a full video looking at all the other bikes in Cubes 2027 range coming
03:32very
03:32soon so make sure you subscribe to the Cycling Weekly channel for that. August has seen some other bike
03:39releases though this is the new Trek De Mane and well the Trek De Mane used to be one of
03:45the most popular
03:46endurance bikes on the market then it sort of feels like it got superseded in terms of spec for price
03:55by the likes of the Canyon Endure Race for example maybe the giant Defy as well now Trek appears to
04:03be trying to return the De Mane to its roots which kind of feels like we were wrong we made
04:11some mistakes
04:11but that might not be such a bad thing so this fifth generation bike gone is the ISO speed gone
04:18is the
04:21weight and gone are some of the proprietary components so this new generation De Mane will
04:27take a regular round profile seat post I like that it will fit up to 40 mil tyres so it's
04:34sort of
04:34endurance bike all road bike even light gravel and then there's also this riser bar which will make the
04:41effective stack 20 mil higher I think that's going to be really welcome for a lot of De Mane riders
04:48there's some other updates of course it's now got UDH like most modern bikes it's still got mudguard
04:54and fender mounts it's 305 grams lighter than the previous frame set the lightest build 6.63 kilos
05:03and that's a kilo lighter or just under a kilo lighter than the top spec fourth generation build
05:09there's some big changes going on here one of the less good changes is that you've now only got six
05:15sizes to choose from whereas you used to get nine looking through the website it does at least appear
05:20that you get some more sensibly sized cranks so 160 mil on some of the smaller sizes 170 mil on
05:26some of
05:26the larger ones so I like that too complete builds they start from 2400 dollars although the De Mane SL4
05:35the lowest tier one that's available only in the US at the moment that's cheaper than the previous
05:42generation and then you're looking at the range topping De Mane SLR model that's £11,250 or $11,499
05:53is this too little too late or is this a returned form from track let me know in the comments
06:00below
06:00I'm a bit torn I think a lot of the changes are very welcome I think they will be far
06:06more competitive
06:07than the previous generation but to me it does look a lot like the previous generation of Canyon
06:14Enduro race so maybe track and playing catch up let me know your thoughts down below right next let's
06:21talk Shimano because there's some new Dura race wheels uh Shimano's gone for carbon spokes these aren't
06:27much of a surprise because they've been well Mathieu van der Poel's been using them for absolutely ages
06:34but yeah carbon spokes they're wider they're everything you'd expect from a carbon wheel
06:39they've got sensibly sized internals they're a sensible depth they're a really sensible weight
06:44they're not mind-blowing they certainly do seem competitive and I'm sure that will make a lot
06:48of the Shimano sponsored teams in the world tour very happy now we were just going to talk about a
06:5413 speed free hub leak from Shimano but it seems like they weren't happy with that and they wanted to
07:01share a load more details because they sent one of the Alphazin premier tech riders to the Vuelta
07:06Espana knowing damn well that they would be photographed using what appears to be the new
07:11Shimano Dura race so this is Dura race r9300 um and the big news is that it's 13 speed there
07:20is now
07:20multiple evidence that that is what's happening and uh well that's not to be unexpected considering that
07:27SRAM has already gone 13 speed with its gravel explore group set and Campagnolo has already gone
07:3313 speed both on its e-car gravel group sets and of course now on its latest super record road
07:39group
07:39sets now Shimano Dura race it was i believe the current generation the 12 speed generation was
07:46launched back in 2021 so some five years ago whereas SRAM Red its top flight road group set that came
07:53out in
07:542024 so SRAM Red is definitely a lot more modern than uh Dura race and so it's fair play to
08:01Shimano
08:02it's made a group set that can still compete five years later um so what does the group set look
08:08like
08:08that could take us into the 2030s so yes to save you doing some counting that cassette does indeed have
08:1613 sprockets whilst we can't see what the smallest cog is Shimano and SRAM have both been making the
08:24smallest cog smaller and smaller so on Shimano XTR for mountain bike that's a nine-tooth sprocket
08:29and SRAM use a 10-tooth sprocket to get more range out of their cassette um i wouldn't mind betting
08:35that
08:36they that Shimano is going to go for a 10-tooth sprocket on this 13 speed group set because it
08:42means
08:42you can get more gear range i think they're going to do this because it looks like they've got a
08:47new
08:47cassette body we spotted this leak and it indicates that uh you're going to have to use a different
08:54set for Shimano 13 speed the only reason you do that is to be able to fit a smaller cog
09:00what else can
09:01we see well the cranks are rather surprising now obviously this is just a prototype so this is by no
09:07means the finished article but they do still appear to be alloy which i know is gonna i don't know
09:14about
09:14upset but i know a lot of people were expecting and maybe even hoping for a carbon crank set assembly
09:20which well it could be lighter Shimano cranks are not known for their low weight and also the other
09:28interesting thing is the chain rings now Shimano has always used hollow forged chain rings they've got a
09:35load of patterns on them which is preventing lots of other manufacturers using them and then you'll
09:42often find that the chain ring on the 12 speed ones and 11 speed ones they meet the crank spider
09:47really
09:47smoothly but here it appears that well they might be aftermarket chain rings maybe but they're not as
09:54flush to the chain set the other interesting thing is you will notice a little wire coming out the back
10:01of this frame which would indicate that shimano r9300 is not going fully wireless like sram red
10:09the most likely situation is this will remain the same setup as the 9200 system where it's semi-wireless
10:16so you've got your shifters which are wireless but then you've got one battery connecting the rear
10:22derailleur and the front derailleur and the final thing i want to draw your attention to is this little
10:27extra button on the shifters yeah it looks like it's kind of going to go campagnolo-esque and you're
10:33going to get an extra little thumb button let me know whether you think you'd use that down in the
10:39comments below now before we get on some other cool bikes if you are considering getting your bike
10:45already have your dream one in your garage then have you considered getting it insured if so then today's
10:52video sponsor the insurance emporium is well worth checking out they've got a de facto five star rating
10:58a trust pilot score of great and a fifo platinum trusted service you can cover up to six bikes on
11:05one policy all of which can be protected from things like theft loss or accidental damage having anything
11:11bad happen to your pride and joy is always going to be painful unfortunately but with an insurance policy
11:17you can at least mitigate some of that heartache by knowing that someone's got your back
11:21especially when they offer new for old for life so you can replace your bike with a new one of
11:28similar
11:28value should it be stolen lost or accidentally damaged if you want to check them out then there's a link
11:34down
11:34in the description below and also some details of how to take advantage of up to 20 off right before
11:41i get
11:42on to some new bikes i thought that we should probably cover the news that uh raleigh and lapierre
11:50are in trouble um we recently wrote an article on the website if you want to read it and it's
11:56got all
11:56the tech details in and uh a really a title that i found particularly poignant um pat kinsella one of
12:04our writers wrote this nostalgia does not pay wages well that basically says it all doesn't it uh rally
12:10they've been in trouble before rally is one of the oldest bike brands in existence i think it was
12:18found in 1887 which was actually four years before cycling weekly was founded it's of course done a lot
12:25since then including the very famous rally chopper which i know a lot of a lot of our audience will
12:30be uh hold very dearly to their hearts um well excel group is who owns rally and lapierre as well
12:38as
12:38a load of other brands and the dutch company has begun its insolvency proceedings um it was declared
12:46bankrupt and no one quite knows what's going to happen to the brands under it oh how could i forget
12:51the
12:51rally ti as well if you want to see me ride a replica of that bike against a modern bike
12:57then
12:57we'll pop the video up there but yeah let me know do you think that rally or lapierre which one
13:04would
13:04you save if you could only save one which one would it be right following on with some more bad
13:11news
13:11and that is that those of you in the us can't buy this next bike it's the merida speeder we
13:17cover a
13:17lot of very expensive bikes on the channel and people are always asking for cheaper bikes and
13:22this one might be it because the merida speeder is available from 800 pounds um it's a flat bar
13:29commute touring style bike um it's got loads of mounting points it's also got space for up to 50
13:35mil tires there's some good spec options to choose from um which is very exciting i'm also reviewing a
13:44reader reacto at the moment so stay tuned for that video which will be dropping shortly subscribe and
13:51we'll finish off with this um does it make a lot of sense no probably not is it really cool
13:58do i like it
13:59yeah absolutely um so this is a collaboration between albion the clothing brand and sturdy who are
14:07famous for making titanium very pretty bikes and they've built this the albion x sturdy tt bike which
14:15will be used at the uk national 24 hour tt championship that's a bit of a mouthful we've
14:22obviously got a tri-spoke on the front full disc on the back um watch shop components i just really
14:29like
14:29the look of it you don't often see titanium mixed with all-out aero aero chain ring and those wheels
14:38and things like that also i love this paint job and there's also some matching kit it'll be used by
14:46charlie stewart see how far he can get in 24 hours um he's the co-founder of albion so yeah
14:52let me know
14:52what you think of that one down in the comments below as always let me know your favorite tech down
14:58the comments have i missed anything what do you want us to cover next what bikes do you want to
15:02see us review make sure you subscribe to the channel if you enjoyed this video then please
15:06do give it a like and we'll see you next time