Hold onto your gravel tires and get set for electrified bikepacking, the new Canyon Grail:ON e-bike is bringing pedal-assist power to adventure riding. It’s hardly the first e-gravel bike to pop up on our radar, but consumer-direct Canyon getting behind the idea is sure to broaden its adoption across a number of big cycling markets with their concept of “using motorized support to get a quick adventure fix, regardless of time constraints”.
Canyon Grail:ON Bosch pedal-assist carbon gravel e-bike
Calling the bike an “Electrified Escape”, Canyon has neatly tucked battery & motor into their already uniquely angular & integrated carbon Grail gravel bike design to create a new e-gravel platform designed to pedal-assist more riders out and up those long off-road climbs. It’s not a huge surprise to see Canyon jump on the combo, as both gravel bikes and e-bikes are booming. Bringing them together isn’t going to necessary make your rides any faster on the top end – a gravel rider can usually spin out past the 25km/hr support limit in Europe pretty easily. But it’s really meant to speed up & ease any extended elevation gain, so you have more energy in your legs to go further and enjoy the flats & downhills. (It’s a bit different in the USA, where you get pedal-assist support up to much higher speeds of 20mph/32kph!)
More than simply strapping a motor onto the regular Grail though, Canyon says they’ve reshaped the entire e-bike with updated more relaxed geometry, longer rear end, and even room for massive 50mm tires even on 700c wheels. It of course also gets a decidedly larger and boxier downtube to fit the hardware to power this new e-bike, but Canyon does a pretty good job with black paint on the two-tone finishes to blend in the e-bikeness of this thing.
Canyon e-gravel – Tech details
Many of the unique elements of the original Grail that you need to pedal do carry over to this new motorized vehicle.
So you still get similar angular carbon frame look & performance, the signature comfort-focused Double Decker Hover handlebar, the split flexible VCLS 2.0 leaf-spring seatpost, and high volume tires now at 50mm wide no matter the wheel size.
Plus, with a wide seven size range with 650b wheels for the smallest three & 700c for the larger four (XXS-XXL), it is meant to fit almost anyone with the Double Decker-specific geometry.
As for the powertrain, Canyon selected the latest fourth generation Bosch Performance Line CX system that was recently boosted with 85Nm of torque from the 250W motor, matching rider input at the pedals by up to 340% at peak Turbo-mode output.
A 500Wh battery inside the downtube is claimed to offer up to 120km/80mi of range. The standard charger that ships with the e-bike will take 8hrs to replenish that, but Bosch makes aftermarket chargers that can cut that time in less than half, too.
The 1x-only Grail:ON features Boost rear-end spacing, 12mm thru-axles, internal cable routing, mounts for a custom set of full-coverage fenders, a 27.2mm seatpost, 160mm flat mount brakes (can run 180mm up front with an adapter) & e-bike specific FSA carbon cranks arms. Yes, 12mm Road Boost. All e-bike builds feature tubeless-ready DT Swiss Hybrid-series e-bike specific wheels and 50mm Schwalbe G-One Bite tubeless-ready gravel tires.
All that and Canyon says the new Grail:ON comes in at weights under 16kg at the most expensive build, or just over 17kg in the more affordable spec.
Canyon Grail:ON – Pricing, options & availability
The new 2021 Canyon Grail:ON gravel e-bike is available globally starting today, in four different complete e-bike builds sharing the same carbon frame & fork, carbon Double Decker one-piece bar & stem, and carbon VCLS seatpost (the US will get just the top two specs.)
Starting with the Grail:ON CF 7 & 7WMN for £4700 / 5000€, the 17.1kg (37.7lb) complete build features a Shimano GRX 600 1×11 groupset and DT Swiss HG1800 e-bike-specific alloy wheels. It is offered with the same overall spec as a WMN model featuring women-specific contact points at the same price.
The $5800 / £5000 / 5300€ Grail:ON CF 8 steps up to a GRX 800 1x 11sp group, with otherwise the same spec, dropping down to a claimed weight of 16.7kg (36.8lb).
Lastly, the top-spec Grail:ON CF 8 eTap jumps up to $7000 / £5700 / 6000€ with a premium complete build featuring SRAM Force eTap AXS 1×12 and carbon DT Swiss HGRC1400 hybrid e-bike wheels at a medium weight of 15.9kg (35lb).
All e-gravel builds are available to order now direct from Canyon, with shipping starting on some sizes at the start of August, and all by the end of the month. Now all you will need is some giant foldable solar array to lay out for a few days to power the ride home from your next bikepacking trip…
