Who is behind Cube?
Marcus Prüner founded Cube in 1993 in Waldershof in the Fichtelgebirge region of the Upper Palatinate. The company is still owner-managed today. In 1992, Pürner and his business partner at the time invested 40,000 Deutschmarks in a risky venture. The two of them bought a container with 160 inexpensive, functional mountain bikes from Asia. It was a point load: it was the time when the mountain bike became a mass product. Thanks to this investment, they were among the first to hear the starting signal for mass-produced sports bikes in Germany.
Where does Cube produce?
In 2002, Cube built its first large production facility in Waldershof. Due to the steady growth, the building was soon no longer sufficient. In addition, a new 55,000 square metre bicycle and logistics centre was built in 2016. As a result, up to 4,000 models can be produced per day. Although the company operates in well over 60 countries, Cube remains loyal to its location. With 1000 employees, Cube is one of the most important employers in the region in the north-east of Bavaria.
Cube Headquarters
The Cube headquarters in Waldershof is the company's "think tank" for administration and development. This is where all new Cube bikes are designed and developed. Directly adjacent is the former production building, which has been remodelled as a showroom. It has an exhibition of products from the current model year. Fittingly for a bicycle manufacturer, the buildings are connected by a cycle path.
Production facility
In 2016, Cube opened a production and logistics centre covering an area of over 55,000 square metres. On over 35,000 square metres, 600 employees work in two shifts to assemble all types of bikes. This enables them to produce up to 4000 models per day. A further 100 employees ensure the provision of almost 35 million individual bicycle parts per year. In 2018, Cube built another logistics centre. Over 200,000 fully assembled bikes can be stored on the 20,000 square metres. These warehouses are state of the art and function almost autonomously.
Where are the Cube frames made?
Cube's carbon and aluminium frames are manufactured in Asia, as is the case with almost all bicycle manufacturers. Most of the components for the various bike categories also come from Asian countries, for example Taiwan or Cambodia. However, in order not to be even more dependent on suppliers, almost all wheels are manufactured at Cube. A machine spokes the wheels, which are then completed by hand. Some high-end models are even made entirely by hand.
How good is the Cube brand?
To ensure that the new Cube bikes are stable and safe, the bikes undergo a whole host of in-house tests and a wide variety of stress tests. Starting with the most important component of a mountain bike: the brakes. To do this, the engineers test different brake systems in a wide range of weather conditions. Each brake is subjected to at least 3000 braking cycles. Only those brakes that pass this test are later used on a bike. Cube also uses a so-called drum test bench during development. The bike is attached to the drum with standard parts. To simulate the weight of the rider with luggage, a total of 140 kilograms is suspended from the handlebars, saddle and pedals. The rotation of the rollers on the drum generates typical road situations. The bike travels a set distance with a real load and rides over a wide variety of obstacles.
Special Cube mountain bike test
The head tube area is a very sensitive area, especially on mountain bikes. This area is subject to various torsional and compressive loads from the fork. For this reason, Cube has its own test procedure for these phenomena. The test rig simulates driving over obstacles, braking manoeuvres and jumps. During development, each head tube must withstand at least 50,000 of these so-called "load cases" without damage before it goes into series production.
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