Cube Editor Hybrid SLX

The Editor Hybrid SLX is for the rider who wants city journeys to stay simple: help when the traffic stacks up, luggage with a proper place to sit, and gears you can trim as your speed changes. The current UK model is the Editor Hybrid SLX 400X FE, and you can have it as a Classic frame or a lower-access Trapeze.

Set up for the ride to work

Both frames are ready for commuting and errands from the first outing. The Bosch Performance SX motor, maximum 60 Nm, helps you pull away and deal with the short rises between lights, and the Mini Remote changes the assistance from the bars. The fitted Schwalbe Motion Big Apple tyres are 50-622, a wide road size, so there is more air under you on patched tarmac, drains and painted lines. Shimano BR-MT200 hydraulic discs, with 180 mm rotors front and rear, take care of the repeated stops.

Full mudguards, front and rear lights, a rear carrier and a kickstand are fitted as well. That is the practical difference if you want to ride to work on a bike that already has the wet-weather and luggage kit, instead of adding those parts yourself.

The hub and belt you are choosing

What marks this SLX out is the transmission. An Enviolo stepless hub, with an MC-TWIST control, runs a Gates CDC belt. You twist until the ratio suits the speed you are already doing, and the belt and enclosed hub are the low-maintenance setup for a wet commute. Easy adjustment, with the drivetrain enclosed, is the reason to want it ahead of a basic exposed chain.

Editor Hybrid SLX 400X and SLX FE 400X are names that also turn up on earlier bikes, so the equipment is what separates them. This MY2027 FE has the Enviolo hub and the Gates belt. Earlier SLX FE bikes use a Shimano Alfine eight-speed hub, and earlier non-FE SLX bikes are separate, less-equipped builds. On those earlier bikes, FE means the equipped build of that generation, with its own kit and its own UK list price. Either current frame has an official suggested retail price of £2,599. Treat that as list-price context, not as today's selling price.

Model-year 2025 SLX and SLX FE bikes are the ones covered by Cube's crank-bolt recall. The remedy is a dealer inspection unless the bolt already has the specified checked marking. This MY2027 FE is the later build.

Classic or Trapeze

Choose the frame by how you get on, and by the sizes on offer. Classic comes in 50, 54, 58 and 62 cm. Trapeze, the lower-access frame, comes in 50, 54 and 58 cm. At those shared sizes the published reach and stack match, and the Trapeze has the lower published protrusion height. If stepping through the frame matters, Trapeze is the one. If you need 62 cm, Classic is the frame that has it.

Those geometry figures, including the protrusion height, are the fit information Cube publishes for each size. There is no rider-height or inseam band to match you to a size, so the decision rests on the measurements for the exact frame and on how you prefer to get on. The motor, battery, gears, brakes and everyday kit match across both frames. Each has a manufacturer-published weight of 19.8 kg, which is a bike weight for the model and not a confirmed weight for every size. A rigid full-carbon fork and the aluminium Superlite frame are shared, and that is how this equipped urban bike stays relatively light.

Charging and carrying

The battery is a Bosch CompactTube 400, 400 Wh, fixed in the down tube, and the bike comes with a Bosch 4 A charger. There is no rider-accessible hatch, so you'll charge it where you park it. If you later want more capacity, Cube describes an optional Bosch PowerMore 250 Wh range extender. That pack is an accessory you add. The 400 Wh figure is battery size only, and it carries no guaranteed distance.

The limits are separate, and each one counts. The fitted rear carrier takes up to 25 kg. Rider weight, including worn equipment, needs to stay within 100 kg. Rider, bike and luggage together need to stay within 135 kg. A carrier load inside 25 kg can still take the combination over 135 kg if you are near the rider limit. The carrier on the bike is the rear one. An optional compatible front carrier is there if you want a second luggage point, and that carrier's own load limit applies as well.

Sort a socket where the bike lives and the fixed battery becomes an overnight habit. After that, the week is what this bike is built for: assistance between the lights, a carrier for the bag, and mudguards and lights already on when the weather turns.