Canyon factory visit

[itsnotarace]

Had a 'ring trip this weekend and took the opportunity to visit the Canyon factory in Koblenz. No photos im afraid but you can test ride every model providing they have your size. I tested the Ultimate CF SLX with Record and SRAM Red and boy am I happier with Shimano (that's another story). Onsite is a showroom with all their bikes including Gilbert's spring classic winning bike from last year, Cadels TDF bike from a couple of years ago and various others in trophy cases including some historic Canyon frames from the 80's and some prototype concept TT bikes that may get released next year

You get given tokens for free coffee in their proper cafe (even serves food) while you wait for your test ride and you ate given one of those flashing disc things they use in restaurants to tell you your tables ready to call you up. They gave us full measurements and we handed over some photo ID and signed their disclaimers and then went out on the bikes. You only get to ride their road bikes round the huge car park but they do have a proper MTB track for testing their MTB ranges on. All in all we were treated very well and it was an enjoyable few hours. The SLX was a lovely ride but I am so glad I visited before ordering as going by the sizes on their website I would have ordered 1 size top small and the aesthetics were all wrong. Anyway, still haven't made my mind up for my next frameset so the hunt continues. Anyway can thoroughly recommend a trip if you are in the area

[Rouleur]

I considered their frames but their geo gets very odd once you get up to the biggest sizes - the top tube doesn't lengthen much in proportion to the seat tube.

It's a shame, I really liked to idea of the carbon one at ~£800, although a choice of something other than black or white would be nice even if you had to pay a premium.