Over the weekend in Daun, Germany an all-new prototype Canyon x DT Swiss short-travel gravel suspension fork was spotted racing on some muddy tracks and rocks. And lucky for us, a photographer friend of Bikerumor was there shooting the race, and sent us over some excellent Spy Shots.
So what do we know?
Canyon x DT Swiss race-ready gravel suspension fork proto
At German gravel nats in Daun – which happens to be just 70km from Canyon HQ in Koblenz – Peter Schermann of the Embrace The World gravel team sponsored by Canyon, raced a somewhat camouflaged DT Swiss gravel suspension fork. He still races the Canyon team dazzle camo paint job of sponsored athletes before the current Grail officially launched last summer. But now he has a new suspension fork with a new type of more-handwritten Canyon camo patterning.
Of note, there’s a distinct label on the underside of the prototype fork’s crown calling it a Canyon product (designed or engineered?) by DT Swiss. That’s key as it will likely be an exclusive to a Canyon gravel bike, at least at first. But it looks very much like a DT Swiss suspension product, in line with their previous mountain bike fork designs.
Now let’s just start off with a quick statement that, we don’t have official details at all yet. And most likely this isn’t hitting the market too soon. It’s the first and only instance we’ve heard about of this new fork, and it’s on a solid racer, but not one really fighting at the front for the podium. This looks a lot like Canyon & DT Swiss collecting performance and durability data in a real-world racing situation to us.
Tech details
Of course, most notable is the reverse arch design… just like we see on Fox’s latest lightweight XC & gravel forks since the Manitou patent has opened up. What we can surmise based on zooming and measuring how the bike sat at the start of the race with Schermann leaning on the bar… I’d guess that this prototype Canyon x DT Swiss gravel suspension fork offers 40mm of travel, with 30mm stanchions.
We also see a remote lockout, with controls either wireless or mechanical routed internally to a lever that Schermann has mounted on the left-hand drop of his handlebar. And front brake line routing that comes out of the back of the fork crown. Plus, there are bolts at the base of either side of the arch, maybe for a fender mount, perhaps?
The prototype DT gravel fork features the same style of integrated covers on both sides of the fork crown like we first saw on their original 535 One all-mountain fork. And then, there’s a similar cutout in the stepped lower left leg to provide access to a rebound damping adjuster like their 232 One XC fork.
Canyon x DT Swiss gravel fork timeline?
We reached out to DT Swiss for a comment and they did then actually admit that it is a new gravel fork they are working on. And they even confirm what the label on the fork crown says – it is “a co-development” between Canyon & DT. But beyond that most basic level, it was more of a ‘no comment’ type response, acknowledging ongoing product development and real-world testing in the suspension realm. No official comment yet from Canyon.
