Quietly snuck into the peloton at the Tour de France’s first hillier stage by a coupe of Katusha riders yesterday, Canyon has a new superlight evolution of their Ultimate disc brake road bike that is easy to miss. Even lighter than their previous Evo rim brake frame, the latest Ultimate CF Evo Disc pushes the limits of how light & stiff a carbon road bike can be made – under 650g – creating a complete disc brake bike you can but under 6kg / 13.2lb complete!
Canyon Ultimate CF Evo Disc ultralight carbon road bike
The new Ultimate CF Evo Disc is Canyon’s latest ultra lightweight road creation. They have done the stupid light thing before with a kinda rideable 3.7kg Evo bike back in 2004, a reliable 6.8kg bike in 2006 to address the UCI, then the more recent sub 5kg bikes that you could actually buy in 2015 & again for even less money in 2017. Canyon’s concept for ultralight road bikes has evolved with the technology – from a crazy idea of a bike to bikes that you can actually ride & race.
This latest disc brake iteration is the epitome of a rideable ultralight bike – it is actually race-able on the world’s biggest stage, le Tour de France, as long as it gets kitted out with a few heavier extras to make sure it doesn’t break the UCI minimum weight rules.
And breaking weight limits is the goal of the new Ultimate Evo, the lightest disc brake road race bike Canyon has ever built – and while built-to-last it’s one of the lightest disc brake road bikes you can buy.
The complete Ultimate Evo Disc starts with a 641g carbon frame, a 285g full carbon fork & a 270g one-piece carbon cockpit.
At just a claimed 641g for the Medium sized frame without the small alloy parts, that’s still 24g lighter than the rim brake Evo, or 140g lighter than the already premium SLX Disc frame we’ve loved in the past. The 285g Evo disc brake fork is 15g heavier than the rim brake Evo, but that is still a net savings over the Evo framesets. The new 270g CP20 Evocockpit is a good 50g lighter than the CP10 Aerocockpit version of the standard SLX bike, again helping to scrape away grams.
It is more precise carbon layup that allows Canyon to trim back the weight with what they call an optimized mix of ultra-high modulus (UHM) & ultra-high tension (UHT) carbon fiber – the most advanced layup they’ve ever produced on a commercial scale. And that takes Canyon’s most experienced frame builders to craft this new ultralight frameset. The carbon itself claims to be 10% lighter per square meter at key frame junctions than with the last rim brake Evo, while retaining the same strength & stiffness.
With the improved material & optimized layup also comes a bump in stiffness:weight ratio – improved by almost 10% over the rim brake Evo. So the new bike is lighter, at the same time as becoming stiffer, and more impact & fatigue resistant.
Looking into the details, the new Evo Disc integrates the front derailleur into the carbon to save a few grams. It also gets a lighter titanium hardware seatpost clamp, lighter aluminum 12mm thru-axles. The fork uses the Ultimate’s typical 1.25″ tapered steerer, but in a lighter build. The one-piece Evo bar+stem cockpit yields an integrated ergo, aero setup, but shares a carefully UHM + UHT carbon construction to shed grams.
Canyon even pares back the graphics for the bike. We all know that paint is extra weight, so the Evo Disc gets a dark raw finish, and the most minimal logo treatment.
Geometry
The lightweight Ultimate CF Evo Disc is available in Canyon’s regular wide seven size range (XXS-XXL). The Evo Disc comes in a single complete bike build with premium ultralight, but reliable components.
Canyon was looking to build a proper lightweight race bike that still delivers “incredibly immediate power transfer, a lively feel, and remarkable comfort” – a superlight road bike without compromise.
Complete spec highlights
To stay under 6kg/13.2lb you need a lightweight build to match a light frameset. Along the line of no compromises, the CP20 Evocockpit is 15% lighter than the standard CP10.
The bike then gets a full new SRAM Red eTap AXS 2×12 wireless drivetrain with 48/35 x 10-28T gearing, and including reliable HRD hydraulic disc brakes.
Moving back, contact points get a bit more extreme. A 120g Schmolke 1K carbon seatpost supports the rider, topped by a 61g padding-free full carbon Selle Italia C59 saddle. While those two look pretty thin & light, both claim comfort and real-world durability.
At least it looks like the bike gets proper bar tape. No pedals though, so you’ll have to pick what you think is light enough, and probably push it over the 6kg threshold (still not enough to be allowed to race it by the UCI!)
Lastly, the Evo build gets DT Swiss’ latest limited 25th Anniversary Edition 1283g DT Swiss PRC 1100 24mm deep carbon tubeless clincher wheels. They get wrapped with 190g Schwalbe GP TT 25mm clinchers, but I suspect it would be worth an the extra 100g to go for a tubeless Conti tire when you can drop the inner tube as well.
Pricing & availability
This new Ultimate CF Evo Disc is available globally starting today for $10,100 or 10,000€ – the same price as the 5.1kg rim brake Ultimate CF Evo 10.0 SL that was introduced two years ago. While that is certainly a ton of money, it still seems like a surprisingly good value for a pro race-level disc brake road bike under 6kg.
