Opinions/experience of Canyon latest road bikes?

Opinions/experience of Canyon latest road bikes?

Author
Discussion

BlueNGT

Original Poster:

701 posts

221 months

Wednesday 18th February 2015
quotequote all
I am looking at a new road bike this year. I am no expert and have had my trusty Giant TCR for 8 years now and want to get a bang up to date bike and would like electronic group-set like Di2 which I hope will last me another 8 years or more.

Over the last 3 months I have been reading review after review of various brand sportive/endurance/not full out aero race bikes.

The obvious stuff came up, Cannondale Synapse, Giant Defy, BMC Granfondo etc. The Synapse seems to come out top in most reviews but it is frustrating you have to spend £3,600 to get the Hi-Mod if you want the lighter frame plus ok all-round equipment, but to get Di2 and the lighter frame you have to buy the Black Hi-Mod that is £6,500, now it looks superb but I couldn't justify, nor extract the best from a £6,500 bike.

So then my attention went back over to Giant, the Defy Advanced Pro 0....great looking bike to me, Di2, disc brakes but rims are in-house Giant and it is only the Advanced SL's which get the one piece frame/seat-tube etc and Di2 equipped Advanced SL 0 is £8,000.

After these I started look at alternatives away from the usual suspects and looked closer at Canyon, the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX to be exact. The weight, group-set and rims make it interesting. I have read the frame you buy is the same those run buy the Canyon Sponsored pro teams but of course they have the very best of everything bolted on!!

The same money as the Defy Advanced Pro 0 buys a Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8.0 Di2 which weighs in a 6.7 kilos, is Ultegra Di2 equipped and has Mavic Ksyrium SLR Rims as standard.

With no retail outlets in the UK a test ride is not going to be easy. And not being able to find many reviews of Canyon aside from those quoted/linked on their site I would be interested to hear if anybody has any real life experiences of Canyons latest bikes good or bad.

Thanks in advance.

tjdixon911

1,911 posts

236 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
This isn't going to help you but I have recently (November) taken delivery of a Canyon MTB and it is brilliant.

As other alternatives, have you looked at Rose Bikes / Radon both from Germany and, speaking from experience (looking at lower end road bikes myself), look a little more VFM than Canyon, don't know what the higher end bikes are like.

Alternatively take a road trip to Canyons Showroom, they are very helpful there and let you try the bikes out (albeit in their carpark only) - I've been wondering if you could buy the bike in Euros (with the current exchange rate) would it be cheaper?

SixPotBelly

1,922 posts

219 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
tjdixon911 said:
I've been wondering if you could buy the bike in Euros (with the current exchange rate) would it be cheaper?
Yes, if you buy a "bike to Go" from the showroom it'll be sold in Euros, so quite a bit cheaper at the mo'. Canyon only calculate their Sterling prices every so often, at the beginning of their financial year probably, and the exchange rate has moved somewhat since they last did.

Rose, on the other hand, calculate often with prevailing rates. So there's not much difference between their Euro and Sterling prices.

Don't know about Radon. Didn't look into those when I was researching n+1 recently.

Only thing to remember about buying a "Bike to Go" from the Canyon showroom is the brakes will come the other way around, so you'll probably want to swap them over to match your muscle memory when you get it back.


Edited by SixPotBelly on Thursday 19th February 08:03

Gruffy

7,212 posts

258 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
I just bought my Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7.0 in Euros, because it was 10% cheaper. I'm collecting it from a friend when I visit France next weekend. Having looked around the usual suspects I couldn't see anything getting close to the value of the Canyon. That's a hell of a lot of bike for the money and, thankfully, the press reviews are starting to trickle in and they're all gushing with praise.

Edited by Gruffy on Thursday 19th February 08:33

BlueNGT

Original Poster:

701 posts

221 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies so far. I have actually looked at Rose before but not Radon. A 6 year guarantee with Canyon is very appealing and they are a bit different to what you see out on the road.

It is interesting you can buy in Euro, half my family live in Barcelona so that make it more interesting...also got friends in Germany, Stuttgart, so road trip not out of the question. Suppose if I was buying and used a Credit Card so I have the protection they provide they would calculate on their own exchange rate and make a charge for it. Looking at the Euro price it would take it under £3k in GBP!!





nacnac

103 posts

190 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
I own two Canyon's a mtb and a 2013 Ultimate CF SLX.

Regarding Euros if you email them and ask them to pay in Euros I'm sure they'll let you whilst also shipping to the UK. They have always been prompt at replying and helpful when I've emailed them.

In terms of value for money, I don't think anyone gets close to Canyon and I will keep buying their bikes for this reason alone. I've had zero issues with mine other the the usual wear and tear you would expect and that is after 9000 miles.

jfdi

1,033 posts

174 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Big Canyon fan here, started with a couple of mountain bikes (his n hers), excellent service and great quality so when it was road bike time it had to be Canyon again so we've got 4 Canyons in the fleet now 2 road and 2 mtb and have had no problems with any of them.

BlueNGT

Original Poster:

701 posts

221 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
nacnac - interesting if paying Euro but getting UK delivery was doable. saves the switching of brakes.

jfdi - good feedback and you have bought more after the experience of your first.

Did either if you manage to test ride before delivery or did you buy from reading other reviews?

I cannot see how a test ride can be dome in the uk frown

stripy7

806 posts

186 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
[quote=nacnac]I own two Canyon's a mtb and a 2013 Ultimate CF SLX.

Regarding Euros if you email them and ask them to pay in Euros I'm sure they'll let you whilst also shipping to the UK. They have always been prompt at replying and helpful when I've emailed them.

quote]
Unfortunately, they wont- I've already asked, not unless its being shipped out of the EU.

Daveyraveygravey

2,018 posts

183 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
OP - you could look at Sensa and Dolan, both have a shop up north so it may be easier for you to see and try before you buy. Cervelo and Storck should have something you could afford too.

My budget is half yours, and Rose seem to offer more than Canyon at this price point. If nothing else, they offer other colours apart from black and grey, and I want my next bike to stand out.

Having said that, if I buy something around £1500 and get cycle to work scheme discount, it means I can buy something locally and it will be as good vfm as Canyon/Rose.

Can I ask why you have ruled out an aero bike? I'm looking at Giant Propel or Fuji Transonic and people say they are pretty comfy. I ride about 5k miles a year, most are about an hour, so I'm not worrying too much about how comfy it will be on an 8 hour ride. I don't do that many long long rides so am not letting it influence my decision too much.

jfdi

1,033 posts

174 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Purchased the bikes without test riding any of them just based on the reviews, not been disappointed at all and would buy another tomorrow if the garage space allowed smile

BlueNGT

Original Poster:

701 posts

221 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Daveyraveygravey said:
OP - you could look at Sensa and Dolan, both have a shop up north so it may be easier for you to see and try before you buy. Cervelo and Storck should have something you could afford too.

My budget is half yours, and Rose seem to offer more than Canyon at this price point. If nothing else, they offer other colours apart from black and grey, and I want my next bike to stand out.

Having said that, if I buy something around £1500 and get cycle to work scheme discount, it means I can buy something locally and it will be as good vfm as Canyon/Rose.

Can I ask why you have ruled out an aero bike? I'm looking at Giant Propel or Fuji Transonic and people say they are pretty comfy. I ride about 5k miles a year, most are about an hour, so I'm not worrying too much about how comfy it will be on an 8 hour ride. I don't do that many long long rides so am not letting it influence my decision too much.
Hi, I am looking at endurance/sportive stuff as I have have a lopsided vertebra and approaching 40 so not getting any younger therefore airing towards more comfort this time.

astroarcadia

1,710 posts

199 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
I have a 2014 CF SLX.

It's an amazing bike and worth waiting for, genuinely feels special to ride.

The spec is incredible VFM, the size is perfect.

Ask me any questions you want.

nacnac

103 posts

190 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Funny what they said about the Euros. I ordered my road bike to the UK, I emailed them before and said I wanted to pay in Euros, they said ok but when it came to paying it only seemed possible if you changed the shipping country on their website. I set the shipping country to Austria (It had the same 20% Vat rate hence the choice) and filled out a UK address, made a note in the order with the reference to the email.

I got confirmation of shipping that it was going to be sent to Austria so sent another email which I think at this point was then handed over to Canyon UK, (I think I had been dealing with Canyon in Germany until this point). The UK lot kicked up a fuss, "it won't be shipped", "we'll have to recreate the order" etc. Well there wasn't a problem and it arrived in the UK. Brakes were the "wrong" way around but I've left them that way as it's only the road bike.

The mtb was shipped outside the UK so by default I paid in Euros, the brakes were the wrong way around again but Avid levers so very easily changeable.

I accept I didn't use their website as I was supposed to but I did email them before saying what I was going to do. I suppose this is one downside to Canyon that they are not flexible, you can't customise the bike etc but if they did allow this I doubt the bikes would cost the same.

Finally, no I didn't test ride the bike. I read a few reviews, looked at pictures etc and decided it should be fine. If the geometry is what you are expecting then I don't see what a short test ride would tell you anyway. It always takes me some time to get my bikes the way I want them so a ride around a car park or even an extended test ride I don't think would be that helpful. All three of my current bikes I've bought without riding first and my next ones I'm sure will be the same. I think they do offer some service for sending them back which may give you some more peace of mind.

Edited by nacnac on Thursday 19th February 21:18

TSCfree

1,681 posts

230 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
The only other bike I can think of that comes close to the Canyon with DI2 is the Focus Izalco pro DI2 Limited edition, leaving enough cash for another set of wheels.

JEA1K

2,485 posts

222 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Gruffy said:
I just bought my Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7.0 in Euros, because it was 10% cheaper. I'm collecting it from a friend when I visit France next weekend. Having looked around the usual suspects I couldn't see anything getting close to the value of the Canyon. That's a hell of a lot of bike for the money and, thankfully, the press reviews are starting to trickle in and they're all gushing with praise.

Edited by Gruffy on Thursday 19th February 08:33
I must say from an aesthetic pov, I think the Aeroad range really looks the business. I'm a fan of Treks Madone but the Aeroad looks stunning.

tuffer

8,849 posts

266 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
astroarcadia said:
I have a 2014 CF SLX.

It's an amazing bike and worth waiting for, genuinely feels special to ride.

The spec is incredible VFM, the size is perfect.

Ask me any questions you want.
What did you have for breakfast last Wednesday?

ALawson

7,814 posts

250 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
tuffer said:
What did you have for breakfast last Wednesday?
hehe

Gizmoish

18,150 posts

208 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
I went to the Bike Show last week to lay hands on the Canyon and Rose bikes. Didn't get a test ride.

Both are outstanding value. Canyon proportions for both the Ultimate and the Endurace are spot on, squarish tubes are nice, colour schemes are very subtle (black/grey). Level of finish looked flawless (as of course you should expect of a show bike).

Rose down tubes are rounder and utterly huge (especially the CGF), not sure about the way the top tube on the CGF sweeps upwards and didn't really like the big graphics with the T30/40 etc, looked a little bit low-rent. The CDX (a CGF with the R785 discs and in a more muted blue/black scheme) was very tempting though.

anthonysjb

524 posts

135 months

Friday 20th February 2015
quotequote all
Bloody good, as good as all the competition for cheaper, whats not to like? Mate has their Speedmax CF TT bike, wonderful thing