BikeYoke recently sent us info about a tuning part they’ve developed for Canyon’s shape shifting Strive enduro bike. We saw the Strive when it was introduced with its Shapeshifter tech about a year and a half ago, but we haven’t had proper test of the bike. Its remotely activated geometry adjustment promises XC bike climbing and Enduro bike descending. At first glance (to someone who doesn’t ride this bike) the Modefixxer appears to take away some shape shifting functionality for a minimal weight savings. Looking into it a bit further, though, it seems that some riders have had issue with the durability, or rather longevity, of the Shapeshifter system and were looking for a simple alternative.
That’s where BikeYoke Modefixxer comes back into play. After seeing their early work on the Specialized Enduro shock yoke, a Strive owner from Italy worked with the German company to come up with a solution that pares down weight and simplifies things by eliminating the adjustable setup, but still delivering the same ride. If you’ve got a Strive and ride it hard, this could be worth looking into…
Poke around the forums or ask riders (we’ve done both) and it seems enough Strive owners have one-time or repeated problems with that little Shapeshifter. While likely valid warranty issues, the Modefixxer replaces the shifting parts with tooled adjustments for a potentially more solid fix.
It’s a simple device that drops about 150g off the total bike setup, by replacing the Shapeshifter with a small fixed link for a more simple overall setup. Two versions are available; one that fixes the bike in its descending geometry, and a second that offers the DH setup and a trail mode that’s somewhere in between the Shapeshifter’s own two extremes. While the original Shapeshifter extends about 15mm from DH to XC modes and changes bottom bracket height by ~20mm and the head angle by 1.5°, the Modefixxer Plus at +7.5mm in its TR mode offering a change in the middle of those two original positions.
Installing it means losing the unique shape shifting function of the Strive, but BikeYoke says that they are simply responding to customer demand. As company head Stefan Sack puts it they are a company that likes to be able to work with consumers directly to solve problems that might not make sense for bigger companies. They are both open to customer input and want their customers to feel like a part of their team by coming up with solutions together.
Both versions use all of the original mounting hardware to install the link directly in place of the Shapeshifter can. The standard 7075 fixed Modefixxer weighs just 60g and can be bought for 70€, while the adjustable Modefixxer Pro adds about 40g and climbs to 90€, both prices including delivery worldwide and 19% VAT for European customers. Pricing outside of the EU will be lower factoring out that tax.
Presale of the Modefixxers has already gone live on BikeYoke’s website. And they are currently in production with deliveries anticipated around the end of April 2016.
