While Canyon had some interesting new bike tech on show at Eurobike this year, their new DH DisConnect and disc brake road bikes were both things that we can’t actually buy, at least not anytime soon. But back in reality they did actually have three, maybe four new bikes that you can but right now. Taking advantage of true trickle down tech they’ve taken their top, lightweight carbon time trial/triathlon bike, disc brake endurance road bike, and cross country hardtail mountain bike and given them each a more affordable carbon option. The new Speedmax CF, Endurace CF & Exceed CF SL lower the cost of entry to pretty much all of the features of their high-end siblings with the addition of a couple hundred grams. Also in a bike that isn’t really new, the full suspension alloy Nerve mountain bike has gotten rebranded as the Neuron. Get a closer look at what’s new below the crease…
Speedmax CF
The Speedmax CF shares the same general look as the more expensive Speedmax CF SLX, but gets down in price by paring down a bit of the integration. It shares the same Trident 2.0 shapes originally developed on the Aeroad to optimize slicing through the wind.
First off the CF uses a more standard headtube and stem arrangement. That generally puts the rider in a slightly more upright position, something that tends to work well with the amateur competitor who they target this more affordable version towards. So the CF gets slightly higher frame stack and an incrementally shorter reach. Otherwise angles are the same as the CF SLX, and the CF comes in 5 sizes from XS-XL.
While it uses a conventional V21 stem layout, the bike works with Canyon’s H30 carbon base bar and adjustable Profile Design T4+ extensions to dial in an aero fit. The Speedmax CF uses the same aero fairing for the rear wheel with a close cutout to the rear tire, designed specifically to mesh well with wide, deep section wheels. The bike sticks with more conventional direct mount brakes in front of the fork and on the seatstays for easy to use, easy to maintain braking that still is quite low-profile in the wind.
The bike uses a hidden seatpost clamp like the CF SLX but drops the integrated storage solution inside of the seat cluster. Tucked behind the stem, the Speedmax CF adds a flexible rubber bento box to store fuel for your race. Building in adjustability, two heights of this Energy Source storage box are available. A taller version comes stock with the bike to pair with a 25mm headset spacer under the stem, while this shorter box is designed to smoothly integrate with a lower bar position without the spacer, and is available separately.
The Speedmax CF starts out with pricing at 2300€ with a 105 mechanical group and climbs to 4500€ with an Ultegra Di2 build kit with Reynolds Strike carbon clinchers.
Endurace CF Disc
Like the tri bike the Endurace CF Disc builds on its CF SLX brethren. But here there really isn’t any tech lost, it’s just a matter of weight gained. While the Endurace line-up has already offered an AL (aluminum) and CF (carbon fiber) version in 2016, disc brakes had been exclusive to the Endurace CF SLX Disc introduced earlier this year.
Now disc brakes are making their way down to the roughly 1000g frame, about 220g heavier than the SLX. The same tech is expected to carry over including flat mount discs and 12mm thru-axles with RWS levers. The bike also shares the integrated seatpost clamp low in the frame for more seatpost flex and the spec of the flexing VCLS post. It also gets the aero shaped tubing sections of the CF SLX, modular internal routing, integrated cockpit options, and clearance for up to 33mm tires.
Pricing and availability haven’t yet been released for the Endurace CF Disc, but we expect it to be on par with the rim brake Endurace CF, with maybe a small premium. That means pricing could start as low as 1700-1800€ with 105 and increase to this expected top-level Ultegra Di2 hydraulic version.
Exceed CF SL
The hardtail mountain bike tech of the Exceed CF SLX trickles down too. Maybe it doesn’t have as far to go as the road bikes, because Canyon has still tagged this bike as the Exceed CF SL (frame weight is said to be about 1050g, up from 820g for the SLX). At first glance the frame looks identical to the race bike introduced last summer. Like the more expensive carbon bike the CF SL includes full internal routing for mechanical and electronic group sets, and uses a Di2 internal battery mount inside the downtube just in front of the bottom bracket to keep weight low.
Even though it is an XC race bike, it does also build in dropper seatpost compatibility. The CF SL also incorporates the special headset/stem with an integrated limit stop to keep the bar from swinging around and crashing into the toptube in a crash. This lets Canyon build the tubing a bit lighter for an overall more comfortable ride.
Again Canyon hasn’t officially released details on the new bike, but we’ve been told that the bike will likely add a couple hundred grams to the overall weight, and at the same time bring the price dow a bike.
Neuron
From what we’ve been told the Neuron AL is just a rebranding of the current Nerve AL. The 110mm aluminum trail bike is completely unchanged for 2017, although it does get updated build options. Under the new name the bike is available in both 29″ and 27.5″ wheels depending on rider, size, style and preference (XS-L come in 27.5″; M-XL in 29″). Complete bikes start out as low as 1400€ and climb all the way up to 4000€ depending on the spec you pick, with plenty of options in between for both men and women-specific builds.
