CANYON Bikes

drummer

Has anybody got any experience of ordering from Canyon?

Their bikes look really good quality, but there seems very few reviews on any of them!

Thanks

Rich

superkenners

Yeah, have been looking at these myself, look quite nice bikes but reviews very thin on the ground, any thoughts much appreciated

jonmack

There's quite a few posts on Canyon if you have a search, they're brought up almost weekly these days!

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid ... Fforums%2F

Pokerface

I think they only recently became available in the UK? And they are a mail-order company so not as many of them around as other brands.

(Obviously) ridden by Omega Pharma Lotto with great success.

Haven't read anything bad about them to be honest.

Gazzaputt

Ordering is not a problem at all. Ordering my frame was a breeze and delivery was 5 days.

Shipping is via UPS and the packaged can be tracked.

Search this forum plenty of posts on Canyons

sjaeger

I am from Germany and here Canyon won nearly every test in the magazines Tour or Roadbike - O.K. we should belive everything in this tests but the value for the money is amazing.

I bought a Canyon Ultimate Pro frame this year at the TdF Special. Only check if the geometry fits you. For me it was to comfortable and I changed the headset to get a lower front (same as the Omega Pharma Lotto Team is doing).

Squillinossett

I know they have recently re vamped their custimer service, so a now very good level. (it was awful before as they were based in germany, but now have a point of contact in the UK)

If you look for some reviews by people on here, I am yet to hear a bad word spoken about the bikes, and they are stonking value for money!

kfinlay

most of what I've read about poor customer service was from Canada and USA as Canyon don't offer support in those countries. I've not heard of a lot of poor service to UK customers and as has been said they now have a specific UK service centre on 0208 5012582.

AFAIK you cannot customise the spec so if you need a different length stem, you need to arrange a replacement after you have taken delivery of the bike (or frameset). Someone may be able to correct me on this if I'm wrong.
With the stems, remember they are for 1 1/4 inch steerers (not the more usual 1 1/8") so stem choice is very limited - Ritchey WCS, Syntace F119 and maybe an FSA one - again not 100% sure on this.

wildmoustache

kfinlay - they are a1 and 1/4 inch steerer tubes that don't taper ... i.e. unlike Giant TCR, SL3, Madone etc. etc. you can only use a small number of stems on these, and AFAIK the only aftermarket stem available is the Syntace.

It IS possible however to change the stock stem length when ordering for no additional charge.

PieterM

...unless you want a 135mm stem, which they don't stock. I don't know why they supply relatively short stems with their frames and a 120mm is the largest they will replace it with. Syntace makes the F119 in 135mm but if you need that you'll have to source it yourself.

EKIMIKE

...and name any manufacturer in the world who supplies 135mm stems as standard (or even on request)?

Seriously, Canyon are good company in my experience but they are subject to a few myths.

Myth 1) Customer service is 'useless', 'poor'
Myth 2) They won't change your stem
Myth 3) They are too stiff

All are myths. As said above - most of the customer service issues were raised on WeightWeenies by North American owners. Even their German customer advisor's spoke/wrote pretty good English when i dealt with them.

They will change your stem. Even if you ride it for a bit and decide it's too short. Providing it's in saleable condition they will exchange it. They did this for me.

The frame's are perfectly ride-able on British roads. Several reviews by magazines and websites now confirm this. Personally i find the Ultimate CF a very comfortable ride whilst also having a sprightly feel and solid handling.

dcj

I did my research. i would love to own a canyon. the frames are cracking [in a good way] and the pricing is often much much more approachable for whats on offer.

andyrr

Agree - I personally love the look of these : have done so since at least they were being ridden by the Unibet team, simple white/graphics but the 'correct' 'pro' look in my eyes.
Prices are very competitive for what appears to be top-line uber stiff/light carbon frames, only thing for me that I am bauling at is (ok it's 2)
a) I don't really need a new frame
b) One of the variety of direct-sourced Chinese frames is, for my abilities, likely to be well up to my requirements and around 1/2 or 3/5 the price. If I had £800 or so burning a hole then I'd get one for sure.

If Protour pros have been winning races on these very frames that we can by right now, and did so in just the past couple of years then they'll do for us mere mortals.

weightweenies seems to have criticism of some poor communication with orders but the product quality itself seems to be pretty darn good.

wildmoustache

andyrr wrote:

Agree - I personally love the look of these : have done so since at least they were being ridden by the Unibet team, simple white/graphics but the 'correct' 'pro' look in my eyes.
Prices are very competitive for what appears to be top-line uber stiff/light carbon frames, only thing for me that I am bauling at is (ok it's 2)
a) I don't really need a new frame
b) One of the variety of direct-sourced Chinese frames is, for my abilities, likely to be well up to my requirements and around 1/2 or 3/5 the price. If I had £800 or so burning a hole then I'd get one for sure.

If Protour pros have been winning races on these very frames that we can by right now, and did so in just the past couple of years then they'll do for us mere mortals.

weightweenies seems to have criticism of some poor communication with orders but the product quality itself seems to be pretty darn good.

On (b), the Canyon is very like to be a better frame, and might be quite a lot better. Also, bear in mind the Canyon, assuming it's not pranged, has re-sale value ... the chinese no-name frame ... not so much ..

Wilflfc

I am looking to buy an Ultimate CF after the holidays and as I live in Japan I can apparently claim the German VAT back by filling in a form and returning it.
Does anyone have experience of this procedure, please?

I am looking forward to building up the bike and will write my views of it , after the snow has disappeared.

dzdale

EKIMIKE wrote:

They will change your stem. Even if you ride it for a bit and decide it's too short. Providing it's in saleable condition they will exchange it. They did this for me.

This is NOT True, I have a brand new Stem which I want to swap for a shorter 75mm Stem, Ive been told there is no stock , the 90mm also appear to have vanished from stock. ....... One of Germanys largest Bike manufacturers and considering that all there S and M frames come standard with 75mm stems, and they dont have any Stock ???? , yeah right !!

schweiz

Wilflfc wrote:

I am looking to buy an Ultimate CF after the holidays and as I live in Japan I can apparently claim the German VAT back by filling in a form and returning it.
Does anyone have experience of this procedure, please?

I am looking forward to building up the bike and will write my views of it , after the snow has disappeared.

I live outside the EU too and most companies just knock the VAT off as soon as I set the delivery country to Switzerland. However, it seems that Canyon make you fill out a form which they will provide which is more like the Retail Export Scheme (VAT 407) in the UK. With that, when I buy goods in the UK, the shop fills out the form, I sign it, then on export I get customs to stamp the form and then it gets posted back to the shop or their VAT refund agent (usually Global Blue or Global Refund) and the VAT minus an admin charge gets refunded to my Credit Card. I've just got £250 off a BMC Racemeaster frame by doing just that. It does seem strange the way Canyon do it as you are not exporting the bike, they are.

EKIMIKE

dzdale wrote:

This is NOT True, I have a brand new Stem which I want to swap for a shorter 75mm Stem, Ive been told there is no stock , the 90mm also appear to have vanished from stock. ....... One of Germanys largest Bike manufacturers and considering that all there S and M frames come standard with 75mm stems, and they dont have any Stock ???? , yeah right !!

Ok so it IS true (they will replace your stem) but they don't have stock. As far as i'm aware every company in the world runs out of stock at some point. (If you have any suggestions with regards to a solution to this age-old problem then i suggest you write some sort of thesis and get it published asap! You will be a very rich man(and a magician))

Again, it's easy to see how myths arise out of nothing on internet forums.

My advice is frankly, if you don't know your size (to the mm), don't order a Canyon. It's too much hassle to be getting stuff sent to and from Germany. Measure, Measure and Measure again... then order.

prawny

Looking at the website, they've not got many bikes left. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I was just pricing up an Ultimate CF 7 and there's only freak sizes and or standard double chainsets left, pfft, I'm neither freakish nor any good, back to playing with the ribble bike builder for me!

I am the god of hell fire

I bought a Canyon this year and am mostly happy with it

My niggles were, as would be expected, to do with the mail order process - the bike itself is great

Basically I spent 2.5k and had the front mech and cable badly set up
In lieu of a trip back to a shop I replaced the cable myself at Dura-ace prices as they werent interested at Canyon in giving me areplacement

Im also frustrated that I waited too long to get the stem swapped for a different size and so they will now only sell me a new one not swap
The geometry is eccentric, I am 6' 1" and the bike shipped with a 110mm stem which is 20mm shorter than anything else I have ever ridden however is still too long, when I realised this I was outside their 'honeymoon' period

And they use a stem size that only they use and only they sell
Ritchey obviously supply them however none of my LBS's can get one, and the Syntace ones are invariably out of stock

So my conclusion:

Great bike
Superb price
Expect some niggles and tinkering

Cheers

mooro

just ordered a bike and a frame in the sale and am still wondering if it is the exact size. basically I am 6'2 with quite long legs.

a 62cm frame sounds enormous but really is a 60 cm everywhere else but a fraction taller. This also comes with 44cm bars and a normal (120cm stem).

My dilema though is that i like quite a low front end and am concerned that the 20cm headtube is too long. They used to do 17deg stems but no more apparently.
I have ordered a 60cm and asked for the bars and the stem to be changed on the assumption that its better to be smaller and extend stem and seatpost.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

zoso7

I am 6' 1.5"ish I ordered a 60 with standard stem and bars, pretty good fit, still tinkering slightly to get it bang on. There is plenty of adjustment available with the seatpost and there are 2 5mm spacers under the stem so if you take them out I think you will get it nice and low at the front so I wouldn't worry about it having a slightly longer head tube than other bikes. A 60 will be pretty good for you i would've thought.

Mccaria

I am 6'2 with 35 inch inside leg. I have tried both the 60cm and the 62cm in the Canyon frames and settled on the 60cm but with a 12cm stem (the 60cm comes standard with the 11cm stem).

The front end is high on the Canyon and if you like a lower position I doubt you will get that on the 62cm frame. Also it is not as though you can easily switch to a lower angled stem to compensate given the limited availability of stems fitting the head tube.

mooro

60cm it is. ordered today. Thanks for the advice guys!

Peter

thesquireofbanwell

A less well known advantage I found with Canyon when i was looking some time ago,and I don't know if this still applies,was they were offering a percentage off their bikes for Race Licence holders. These are apparently easy to get for a modest outlay
and a lot cheaper than paying full price but some up to date research may be required.

velo.2010

Ordered An AL 9 last Friday, got the Order Confirmation email same day. I gave my card details etc. but there was no sign that I'd actually paid! I contacted them and they said my account would be debited once the bike was shipped. Still no sign today. Hope I did tick all the boxes correctly. Can anyone tell is this their experience or have I messed up somehow/ or are they simply very busy with the sale?

Cheers.
BTWFirst purchase of a complete bike online and Canyon's ordering appears clunky compared to ordering bits from other retailers.

mooro

It is a bit of a clunky system, They basically check you have funds in your account or that the card is live when you order, then they take the funds when it is despatched.

I found the ordering experience was alright but if you ring up you are ringing the uk customer support who then deals with the plant.

Plus i think there are a few additional pressures this time of year clearing their old stock.

flintlock

Mooro,

What saddle height will you have and do you have an idea what you would like your tip of saddle to centre of bars wiil be?

Thanks

velo.2010

Thanks Mooro. A week today and still no sign but I'm hoping as you say that they're simply very busy at the moment. Still have the thought at the back of my mind that I fecked up the order somehow!

mooro

I ordered on Sunday night, frame was arriving today and bike has just been shipped so seem quite quick.

I will have a look for the saddle - bar measurement this evening.

flintlock

Thanks Mooro, that would be great as I'm aiming to order one this weekend!

Which model did you order as theyre doesnt seem to be much stock in size 60?

Cheers