Canyon Endurace AL(frame)- first hand experience?

RodeBike

Hi, first post here, I'm digging around the internets looking for info on the best AL road bikes around. I'm drawn to the Domane ALR, but they've discontinued the rim brake option- aka, 'progress'. I like the Emonda ALR, but to be honest, it's a bit too aggressive for me- yeah, sad I know. My dream bike is the CAAD12, but I just can't seem to contort myself to fit it... oh well, they say acceptance is important at least!

Anyway, my question in the title, does anyone have any quality experience with Canyon's Endurace AL bikes, rim brake versions? Their spec is just so good that they're impossible to ignore, but is it all at the expense of the frame? Is it a shite frame?

RodeBike

This was clearly a cracker of an intro... oh well. :oops:

RodeBike

I suppose further to my investigations, has anyone any experience of Trek's Domane ALR bikes? Or their quality relative to their Domane AL bikes?

I'm not sure why they'd use the Domane name on their Domane Al, as there's no isospeed, but in terms of the quality of the aluminium, does the AL rate highly against other standard AL bikes, does anyone know?

grenw

Missus had/has one - the Endurace. Great frame and great components for the price, full carbon fork too - works out a very light build. She did a 220 mile ride coast to coast on it... in one day, So I guess it's comfortable

It's now on permanent turbo duty as we've both got CF Enduraces based on that initial bike.

RodeBike

Nice one, thanks Gren...

Just looking there at the Tiagra spec Endurace AL vs the similarly specced Domane Al, any thoughts on whether the Trek bike would be worth the extra hundred quid? Not even Tiagra brakes on the Trek bike...

RodeBike

A full Ultegra Canyon AL is basically the same price as the 105 Trek AL. is the Trek frame so much better as to justify it? Or even better at all?

timothyw

Canyon bikes tend to get excellent reviews but the customer experience often isn't so great - you can end up waiting a long time for your bike and have to deal with them in Germany if you have problems.

Trek sell via retailers, so there is extra cost there to pay for those retailers. But conversely you get the in personal experience which a lot of people would put some value on.

I don't think you'd be unhappy with either. Not much difference between 105 and ultegra so far as I can tell nowadays either, I wouldn't make that the deciding factor.

RodeBike

TimothyW wrote:

Canyon bikes tend to get excellent reviews but the customer experience often isn't so great - you can end up waiting a long time for your bike and have to deal with them in Germany if you have problems.

Trek sell via retailers, so there is extra cost there to pay for those retailers. But conversely you get the in personal experience which a lot of people would put some value on.

I don't think you'd be unhappy with either. Not much difference between 105 and ultegra so far as I can tell nowadays either, I wouldn't make that the deciding factor.

Nice one, thanks for the thoughts...

Do you reckon one frame/bike is better than the other, though? Ironically, would the Ultegra Canyon be better by default due to the better components? Even though that shouldn't be the deciding factor? I guess I just don't know either way...

timothyw

OK, so I guess you are looking at the Domane AL 5:
https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bike ... 5/p/23528/

and the Endurace AL 8.0:
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road/endur ... l-8-0.html

Just looking at the quoted weights, the trek is 9.43kg, the canyon is 8.1kg. That's a huge difference - much more than the difference between a 105 and ultegra groupset.

I mean, you shouldn't really buy on weights, but on the spec sheet, it's Canyon all day long.

Just be aware that you might have to wait a while for it to show up.....

asprilla

I've got an Endurace AL 105 that I use as my commuter. It's my longest serving frame and I think it's a great bike. There are times when I fall out of love with it and start browsing the sales (usually in winter when I keep thinking about something that will accept mudguards) but I can never actually find something that I think would be an improvement. I also have a Cervelo R3 and a Genesis Vapour CCX so 'better' in this case means better at being a bike that's fun to ride day in day out but that can take a beating, not get cleaned as often as it should and still carry on.

That's not to say I only commute on it, as I did the Ride London 100 on it in sub 5hrs last year and it does club runs when the weather is less than perfect.

It's pretty upright (stack / reach ratio of around 1.6) but I've got long legs and a short body so that's what I need.

When I eventually get round to changing it, it will be for a Dolan Titanium ADX or a Kinesis Tripster ATR, both of which are around the same geometry but offer guard and and rack mounting. And the frames alone cost more than the entire Canyon including delivery.

All in, I find it difficult to knock.

RodeBike

Great info, guys, thanks for the replies. It's a tricky decision, I came across a Domane ALR in my size which is the higher end AL Domane with the isospeed that they've discontinued, it comes with Sora but it comes in around the same price as the 105 Endurace AL. It could be one of those that the quality of the frame is worth the drop in groupset...

Asprilla, do you mind me asking what height you are and what frame size you went for? I'm just over 6 ft and come in in the L size according to Canyon, but I'm uncertain about not seeing it first. The Domane ALR is relatively local so I'll be able to check it out first, which is probably worth a few quid in itself.

Anyway, thanks for the info and taking the time...

asprilla

No probs. I'm 5'9" in old money and ride a medium.

The stack and reach of the two frames in almost identical (the Canyon is 8mm higher at the front) so take into account the number of spacers on the Domane and the stem angle when you try it.

The Canyon is slightly shorter at the back and steeper at the front so it will feel slightly less stable, but a bit more responsive. Can't say I've noticed mine being unstable though.