canyon strive cf

jonnyashworth

Normally I like to wait for new technology to go through a couple of generations before adopting it myself however from looking at the new strive cf race 8.0 and 9.0 I have to say im very tempted and with the most popular canyon bikes selling out early im seriously considering ordering one up.
Im keen to see what people think of the new bikes though and also which model is the better value of the two for the money?

lawman

Certainly looks interesting, geometry looks great on paper, should be more versatile than a YT Capra and I I like how it uses a standard shock for suspension duties so in theory if something does go wrong with the shapeshifter you should be able to carry on riding and it looks incredibly well protected from the elements. I think the 8.0 is great value but personally I'd want the race geometry so would probably go for the 9.0 team. They all look excellent value for money though, and it could be an ideal quiver killer for many and with 130mm for xc riding at home and 160mm for gnarlier trails in wales and uplifts it certainly seems to for the bill for me, plus it's hard to look past the value when the 8.0 is just £400 more than a Santa Cruz 5010 frame I was looking to get and you get a whole bloody bike! :shock: look forwar to hearing some reviews, it's certainly a great looking bike with huge potential!

ej2320

The spectral was spot on apart from the huge sizing cock up

If they've sorted sizing out to accommodate for riders over 5 10" it should be brilliant
Good geo, light, good value and innovative design

IDave

It looks absolutely awesome!

Can anyone explain to me why the 8.0 Race is cheaper than the regular 8.0? It looks like a better bike to me?

Angus Young

That's a lot to go wrong on a bike without dealer back-up...

ej2320

Angus Young wrote:

That's a lot to go wrong on a bike without dealer back-up...

That would be my worry.. It's a shame that can't link up with some large UK bike shops or get a few of their own showrooms/workshops set up

lawman

That's the risk you take but when the bikes under cut their rivals on price by such a huge margin it's hard to look past. It's supposedly been in development for a number of years and it looks well protected from the elements so it could prove to be pretty reliable. I can't believe how tempted I am by one, I'm never normally a fan of adjustable shocks like Scott and Cannondale use but this really is appealing to me and you just can't ignore the price.

Angus Young

lawman wrote:

I can't believe how tempted I am by one...

Me too.

Dick Scruttock

The perfect blend would be the race geometry with the CC inline IMHO.

lawman

Rick Draper wrote:

The perfect blend would be the race geometry with the CC inline IMHO.

Possibly! Though tbh you can get similar geometry on the standard geometry by going up a size, the lx only has a 19" seat tube so it's certainly an option.

Dick Scruttock

It's a shame they did not size up the seatpost like SC have done on the Nomad. If they had done that it would be pretty much perfect on paper. I love my 150mm dropper, gets the saddle nicely put of the way on the stem stuff.

lawman

Rick Draper wrote:

It's a shame they did not size up the seatpost like SC have done on the Nomad. If they had done that it would be pretty much perfect on paper. I love my 150mm dropper, gets the saddle nicely put of the way on the stem stuff.

Well the large race geometry frame has a 30mm shorter seat tube than an XL nomad and a 13mm longer top tube, so if anything they've gone even further than SC. The small 9.0 race frame is 15mm longer than your medium nomad!

Imo the geometry is damn close to perfect, the spec is damn close to how I'd build a bike (a brake and tyre swap and it's bang on), it's incredibly well priced and potentially super versatile with the shape shifter it's just whether I really need/want 160mm travel and a 170mm fork! That and the fact I don't have the cash right now to splash on one is all that's holding me back from pressing the order button, though I'd probably be peeved if they bought out a spectral CF with race geometry if I did order one!

Dick Scruttock

lawman wrote:

Rick Draper wrote:

It's a shame they did not size up the seatpost like SC have done on the Nomad. If they had done that it would be pretty much perfect on paper. I love my 150mm dropper, gets the saddle nicely put of the way on the stem stuff.

Well the large race geometry frame has a 30mm shorter seat tube than an XL nomad and a 13mm longer top tube, so if anything they've gone even further than SC. The small 9.0 race frame is 15mm longer than your medium nomad!

Imo the geometry is damn close to perfect, the spec is damn close to how I'd build a bike (a brake and tyre swap and it's bang on), it's incredibly well priced and potentially super versatile with the shape shifter it's just whether I really need/want 160mm travel and a 170mm fork! That and the fact I don't have the cash right now to splash on one is all that's holding me back from pressing the order button, though I'd probably be peeved if they bought out a spectral CF with race geometry if I did order one!

I meant go to a 31.6mm post.

The worry is it's just another thing to remember to set, we have all gone downhill with our forks or shock set in trail or climb, now you need to remember to change that and the rear travel setting.

Sadly there is no availability until September! They need to take a leaf out of other manufacturers books and have stuff ready to go!

jonnyashworth

I have to say that I also think the geometry and sizing look perfect on paper.
Admittedly there is an extra setting on the bike to "use" however the shape shifter concept should totally negate the need to change the compression setting on the rear shock as when the shock moves into the 130mm travel position the forces going into the shock are different so the back end of the bike will feel firmer. remember this doesn't adjust the damping of the shock though so the performance should be just as good. I'm deffinately not one for having cluttered bars but thing I can manage having 2 x brake levers, 1 x shifter, 1 x reverb remote and the shapeshifter remote. Especially as the cables are routed internally.
Also I think demand for these bikes will be huge! ordering mine ASAP so by doing a preorder at least it gives canyon a chance to supply to demand for the whole year.

I am thinking of ordering the race 8.0 because the only difference I can see is the chainset and the wheelset.

lawman

Rick Draper wrote:

lawman wrote:

Rick Draper wrote:

It's a shame they did not size up the seatpost like SC have done on the Nomad. If they had done that it would be pretty much perfect on paper. I love my 150mm dropper, gets the saddle nicely put of the way on the stem stuff.

Well the large race geometry frame has a 30mm shorter seat tube than an XL nomad and a 13mm longer top tube, so if anything they've gone even further than SC. The small 9.0 race frame is 15mm longer than your medium nomad!

Imo the geometry is damn close to perfect, the spec is damn close to how I'd build a bike (a brake and tyre swap and it's bang on), it's incredibly well priced and potentially super versatile with the shape shifter it's just whether I really need/want 160mm travel and a 170mm fork! That and the fact I don't have the cash right now to splash on one is all that's holding me back from pressing the order button, though I'd probably be peeved if they bought out a spectral CF with race geometry if I did order one!

I meant go to a 31.6mm post.

The worry is it's just another thing to remember to set, we have all gone downhill with our forks or shock set in trail or climb, now you need to remember to change that and the rear travel setting.

Sadly there is no availability until September! They need to take a leaf out of other manufacturers books and have stuff ready to go!

Oh my bad I see what you mean! I'm hoping we see more bikes with this kind of geometry though, manufacturers must be starting to realise there's plenty of people after this kind of longer geometry

poah

Rick Draper wrote:

The perfect blend would be the race geometry with the CC inline IMHO.

is that from your extensive use of the CC inline?

Dick Scruttock

POAH wrote:

Rick Draper wrote:

The perfect blend would be the race geometry with the CC inline IMHO.

is that from your extensive use of the CC inline?

As I have a DBA CS and the inline uses the similar ideas by the same company and has received great reviews that's enough for me Vibrio.

jonnyashworth

To be honest I'd be more than happy with the rockshox shock. I really rate my monarch plus.
I've gone well off Fox stuff these days so not at all interested in the team model however.....
I would be really interested to know what the main differences between the sram roam 40 wheels and the sram rail 50 wheels is??? this will help me to choose between the 8.0 race and the 9.0 race.

lawman

jonnyashworth wrote:

To be honest I'd be more than happy with the rockshox shock. I really rate my monarch plus.
I've gone well off Fox stuff these days so not at all interested in the team model however.....
I would be really interested to know what the main differences between the sram roam 40 wheels and the sram rail 50 wheels is??? this will help me to choose between the 8.0 race and the 9.0 race.

I don't get the grief with Fox. Sure CTD is a step back from the old RLC damper in terms of fine tuning, but of the forks I've ridden they haven't felt anything like as bad as some people claim they are. Maybe I tried good sets, who knows! The pikes are mighty impressive but the new 36 could have beat in every department barring price, though I'll reserve that judgement til I've tried a set.

Srams website should detail the differences between 40 and 50, tbf there probably isn't a huge amount in it.

As I said before the best thing on paper at least is the geometry and hopefully it filters to the spectral which is probably more suitable for the riding I do. A carbon spectral with a 650mm top tube? Yes please!!

Thewaylander

The fact that the fox forks i have ridden have been awful!

This is the first cayon i'd consider owning in terms of geometry.. though i'd go with out hte suspension change melarky... i just see it as more to break!

felix.london

Thewaylander wrote:

though i'd go with out the suspension change melarky... i just see it as more to break!

+1

Angus Young

Should probably dump forks as well, then. And rear shocks. And droppers. And derailleurs. And hydraulic brakes. And multi-link suspension. And...

adamfo

ej2320 wrote:

The spectral was spot on apart from the huge sizing fool up

If they've sorted sizing out to accommodate for riders over 5 10" it should be brilliant
Good geo, light, good value and innovative design

No, that's just the UK mountain bike press getting confused. Canyon say if you are 6" plus get the Spectral 29er which goes up to a XL frame size. Or if you want 650b wheels get the Strive race large which has a 648mm TT

lawman

adamfo wrote:

ej2320 wrote:

The spectral was spot on apart from the huge sizing fool up

If they've sorted sizing out to accommodate for riders over 5 10" it should be brilliant
Good geo, light, good value and innovative design

No, that's just the UK mountain bike press getting confused. Canyon say if you are 6" plus get the Spectral 29er which goes up to a XL frame size. Or if you want 650b wheels get the Strive race large which has a 648mm TT

But not everyone wants 160mm travel, so your point is kind of, well, pointless. The spectral sizing is on the small side of things, the geometry of the strive is much better but it could be a little too much bike for many. Certainly for me a strive would be overkill 90% of the time. If you want long top tube, carbon and slightly shorter travel there's the mondraker Foxy, but it is considerably more expensive. If the spectral gets revised geometry and a carbon version for 2015 it's going to be an even more popular bike because they are superb value.

adamfo

The Spectral isn't going to get revised geometry in 2015. The press in other countries don't even mention size issues. The TT on the L is 612mm and reach 440mm which is a typical figure in the industry. There may be an XL frame size and a cheaper alloy Strive 650b coming.

Take a look at the geo of the large Cube which was the runner up in the WMB 'trail bike of the year' test.
It's shorter :roll:

http://www.cube.eu/uk/bikes/fullsuspens ... -race-275/

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -14-48299/

felix.london

Angus Young wrote:

Should probably dump forks as well, then. And rear shocks. And droppers. And derailleurs. And hydraulic brakes. And multi-link suspension. And...

Not at all but I don't see the point in jumping on these systems (wheels that are slightly bigger, a frame that changes geo at the flick of a button, Scott's TwinLoc, Lappiere's e:i etc ) unless you're racing proper enduro events regularly. Just seems like overkill to me - these systems are designed so the best riders in the world can shave a couple of seconds off a section...I for one I'm not in that much of a hurry to get to the trail head

lawman

adamfo wrote:

The Spectral isn't going to get revised geometry in 2015. The press in other countries don't even mention size issues. The TT on the L is 612mm and reach 440mm which is a typical figure in the industry. There may be an XL frame size and a cheaper alloy Strive 650b coming.

Take a look at the geo of the large Cube which was the runner up in the WMB 'trail bike of the year' test.
It's shorter :roll:

http://www.cube.eu/uk/bikes/fullsuspens ... -race-275/

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -14-48299/

And you know for sure because?... Not saying you're wrong but discounting it all together is a bit harsh. Having not ridden one I can't comment on anything other than what I've read and looked at on paper and tbf I think it is a little short for what I personally would want and where trail bike geometry looks to be going, judging by the mondraker and strive and the sheer number of people sizing up to get the longer reach so they can use a shorter stem. It would make sense for canyon to follow on from the strives race geometry and introduce it to other models, such as the spectral. If like me you want a longer reach and don't want to go 29er for an XL or go up in travel to the strive you're kinda buggered if you want a canyon. As I say hopefully more manufacturers follow and produce bikes with longer reachs and top tubes.

t0pc4t

adamfo wrote:

ej2320 wrote:

The spectral was spot on apart from the huge sizing fool up

If they've sorted sizing out to accommodate for riders over 5 10" it should be brilliant
Good geo, light, good value and innovative design

No, that's just the UK mountain bike press getting confused. Canyon say if you are 6" plus get the Spectral 29er which goes up to a XL frame size. Or if you want 650b wheels get the Strive race large which has a 648mm TT

That's not what they said to me. I'm 6'2" and they said a large Spectral would be fine.

adamfo

lawman wrote:

And you know for sure because?...

Because for it to be changed after only one season would be an admission of a costly error. It's reasonable to conclude Canyon designers don't have such a mindset, particularly as the bike is a group test winner in the German press their biggest market.

What percentage of Canyon MTBs are sold into the UK ? My guess is 8%, or at least that's what a photo of their production line computer screen seemed to indicate !

adamfo

t0pc4t wrote:

That's not what they said to me. I'm 6'2" and they said a large Spectral would be fine.

So, how do you find the bike ? It's your view that counts.

lawman

adamfo wrote:

lawman wrote:

And you know for sure because?...

Because for it to be changed after only one season would be an admission of a costly error. It's reasonable to conclude Canyon designers don't have such a mindset, particularly as the bike is a group test winner in the German press their biggest market.

What percentage of Canyon MTBs are sold into the UK ? My guess is 8%, or at least that's what a photo of their production line computer screen seemed to indicate !

Or conversely as an improvement to an already very good bike which could broaden it's appeal even further.

Canyon are pretty big company, they ship all over Europe and if they really prioritized the German market then we wouldn't have the new strive, because enduro is tiny in Germany compared to the rest of Europe, sure individually Germany will likely be it's biggest market, but catering purely for that market alone would be naive. More broadly speaking the European market, particularly where enduro is growing rapidly such as the UK, France and Italy. is going to be a bigger provider of sales than Germany on its own. So it would make sense that move with the larger market than focus on their homeland.

Tbh who really knows what we can expect, I'd certainly look closely at a revised spectral and given the approach they've taken with the Strive we could see the standard Spectral remain unchanged and see a separate spectral model that adopts the Strive's "race" geometry.