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Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5 x 3.8″ on exclusive new DT Swiss BR2250 wheels

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", glacier skiing
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Canyon’s carbon Dude fat bike has been around for years mostly unchanged. But for 2021 it gets a facelift – moving to larger diameter 27.5″ wheels with a new wheelset developed with DT Swiss, and a longer travel suspension fork option. More capable across a wider range of terrain – the new Dude doesn’t have to stick to the snow, although there is still plenty of winter fun to be had…

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5 x 3.8″

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8"
c. Canyon

This new iteration of the Dude certainly isn’t the first fat bike to move to 27.5″ wheels vs. the original fat 26″, but it follows a long running trend to make fat more fun across a wider range of conditions. In fact, we broke down the difference of legacy 26″ fat tires sizes vs. the more recent crop of 27.5″ fat tires in detail three winters ago, explaining just how they all measure up. That’s a good place to start if you are considering buying a Dude, as Canyon’s fat bike has made this exact transition from 4″ on the first Dude we test rode back in 2014 to more recent 4.8″ spec to 3.8″ tires now, just like Zach explains in the fat bike Tire Tech feature.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", wet snow shred

Canyon calls their two latest Dude builds “more awesome.. more capable and more fun than ever before.” And that pretty much boils down to two things: larger diameter but narrower 27.7 x 3.8″ tires and tweaked geometry for a longer travel suspension fork.

Fat Dude – Tech updates & Geometry

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", detail

Canyon says the carbon Dude frame is essentially unchanged since its original launch, keeping key features like the two-position 439/455mm chainstays to adjust its ride between nimble trail handling or soft-terrain stability, plus Canyon’s headset-mounted steering stop, and simple full-length external brake/internal shift routing… now updated with full internal stealth dropper routing.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", geometry

Geometry is said to be the “exact same” as before, but the numbers suggest some incongruous changes like:  7mm extra BB drop but 7mm less frame stack; 7mm shorter reach & 7mm shorter wheelbase, but 3mm shorter toptubes; headtubes are also 0.5° steeper even with a longer travel fork, yet seattubes are 1° slacker seattubes.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", angled

What is sure, the larger diameter wheels rollover obstacles better, with less bounce thanks to shorter sidewalls of the smaller tires, yet retain pretty much all of the same float & grip that make fat bikes a blast to ride over snow, sand, mud & other extremely soft terrain.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", DT Swiss BR 2250 wheels

Just like with the first Dude in 2014 when DT debuted their Big Ride 2250 26″ fat bike wheels, Canyon & DT have again worked together for an exclusive set of 27.5″ DT Swiss BR 2250 wheels with 78mm internal width. Those tires are wrapped with the popular 3.8″ wide Maxxis Minion FBF & FBR tires.

2021 Canyon Dude – Pricing & availability

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", spec

Two complete builds are available of the carbon Dude: Pick from the 2200€ Dude CF 8 with the rigid carbon Rude CF fork, or the 3000€ Dude CF 9 with a 120mm Mastodon Pro fork. Both get a 30T SRAM Eagle 1x 12 builds with wide 11-50 cassette, and Iridium dropper posts.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", CF 8 & CF9
2021 Canyon Dude CF 8 & CF 9

Each bike is available in two color options: Volcano gray for either, or Deep Forest green for the 8, Aurora blue for the 9.

2021 Canyon Dude carbon fat bike goes 27.5x3.8", sled dogs

Canyon.com

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booyah
booyah
4 years ago

Disappointed to see another fatbike with no rack mounts.

David
David
4 years ago

Wouldn’t consider anything with under 4″ tires a fatbike. That’s just an overgrown poorly thought out plus bike.

Zach Overholt
Admin
4 years ago
Reply to  David

In my experience, it depends greatly on your intended use and terrain. For pure snow riding, generally I also prefer larger than 4″ tires. But on my bike I bring down to the beach, I’ve been riding 27.5″ wheels with 45NRTH 4.0 VanHelgas, which measure under 4″ on the 65mm rims I’m using. It provides plenty of flotation for the sandiest sections, but also rolls really nicely on pavement, gravel, and dirt trails, so it’s a great mix of the two. A plus bike wouldn’t be enough for most of the sand, but a full on fat set up would be overkill for everything but sand. As soon as winter hits, I’ll switch it back to 26 x 4.6″ Dunderbeist/Flowbeist, but if you lived somewhere without much snow, or only rode groomed snow trails, it seems like a great set up.

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
4 years ago

Does it count as exclusive if all you have to do is buy enough? Asking for a friend.

MN Fats
MN Fats
4 years ago

A rigid $2,600 carbon fat bike weighing 30+ pounds in 2020?!?!? CRIKEY!
I just built up a fattie around a used Borealis Crestone frame. It came in at 24.14# – with the same Maxxis tires. Total cost ~ $2,500. No un-obtanium, just smart spec. Which these clearly lack. C’mon, Canyon!

Luca
Luca
4 years ago

What disturbs me of the new Dude cf 9.0 is the weight. 15.08kg versus 13.80kg of the Dude cf 9.0 Trail of 2020. I reckon that the new fork and the new wheels/tyres setup must be heavier, but 1.28kg difference is massive

mike
mike
4 years ago

Looking closely at the parts spec it’s difficult to conclude anything but that this is a fatbike designed and spec’ed to appeal to someone that doesn’t need a fatbike. Got it.

Kona
Kona
3 years ago

I’ve had my eye on a Canon Dude for several year, but was impossible to get in Canada.
And now that it has changed to a 27.5″ it is totally useless in the winter, where there is snow.
The Clubs are starting to ban tire sizes under 4.5 for winter riding, they wreck the trail due to the lack of surface area. Would make a good summer bike but I have areal bike for that.

sean jackson
sean jackson
3 years ago

I bought a 2020 cf8 dude and ride the beaches on it, i would have been less likely to go for this new one

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