The Canyon Grizl:ON CF Trail reveals why ‘simply purchase an MTB’ is nonsense

“Why do not you simply purchase a mountain bike” it is an argument that appears to get levelled at among the extra aggressive drop bar gravel bikes available on the market at occasions, e-bikes included. And I simply do not buy it. I feel there’s much more to the argument than that, as I’ll go on to clarify. 

Canyon launched the Grizl:ON e-bike line in March and I’ve been testing one since then. Canyon referred to as the bike its ‘swiss military knife on wheels’ at launch and the bike is claimed to take inspiration from mountain bike geometry. Summed up the Grizl:ON is designed to be a succesful bike you possibly can commute on, blast within the woods or tackle an extended journey.

There are 4 fashions within the Grizl:ON vary and I’ve been testing the highest CF Trail mannequin which is the bike most clearly aimed toward aggressive off-road driving; it even has some MTB elements specced. All fashions are constructed round a RockShox Rudy 40mm suspension fork, however th CF Trail will get extra aggressive tyres, a Sram AXS dropper publish and ‘bailout’ Sram XO Eagle 52T cassette. Canyon has additionally developed just a few different attention-grabbing new particulars and parts which we’ll unpack additional within the evaluate.

It’s out there in a single spec possibility and is priced at £7,649 / €8,049. The mannequin is not out there within the US, however the CF 9 and CF 7 fashions are.

Design and Aesthetics 

The CF Trail simply appears burly and aggressive standing nonetheless. The huge e-bike downtube enhances the deep part, vast DT Swiss wheels and aggressive tyres nicely. My dimension small with an honest quantity of seatpost exhibiting additionally seemed improbable. E-bikes with bigger quantity tyres simply look higher in the event you ask me, one thing I discussed in my Specialized Creo 2 evaluate. The shiny grey-to-black fade and shiny Canyon emblem additionally look good and I feel will most likely have most individuals on board. 

The CF Trail will get the identical carbon body as the remainder of the mannequin lineup, however the spec record is completely different and descriptions the mannequin’s function fairly clearly. 

There’s a complete raft of elements from the Sram secure for starters. Starting from the entrance there is a RockShox Rudy Ultimate fork which has lockout, 40mm of journey and the Charger Race Day damper. There are Sram Force brake levers and calipers, and 180mm discs, paired to an XO Eagle rear derailleur and 10-52T cassette. Then there are a pair of FSA carbon crank arms mounted to a 42T FSA 1x ring. A Canyon chainguard retains the chain in place up entrance on rougher terrain. The rear derailleur can be wired into the battery so that you needn’t fear about charging it, ditto for the Sram AXS Reverb 75mm wi-fi dropper publish which replaces the Canyon VCLS carbon seatpost different fashions have for extra pace within the descents. 

The DT Swiss rims characteristic a 24mm inside width and are fitted with Schwalbe G One Ultrabite 50mm tyres. However, if prospects wish to match mudguards to this mannequin, they might want to downsize to 45mm tyres. On the topic of mudguards, you possibly can match them, and Canyon additionally provides a entrance fender for the Rudy fork on its web site. 

Handlebars and stem are Canyon’s personal aluminium fashions, and the shorter 60mm stem once more underscores what the bike is about. I additionally really feel the aluminium, spherical, non-integrated flippantly flared bar suits in nicely right here. It’s unfussy and also you needn’t fear about smashing your carbon handlebars. The bottle cages are additionally Canyon’s personal and use metal bolts with Loctite utilized. I took these bottle cages with me to experience the Paris Roubaix problem earlier within the yr (on my street bike) and so they offered agency maintain on the cobbles, protecting my bottles secure.   

Thinking outdoors the field 

Canyon has additionally rolled out just a few intelligent design touches with the Grizl:ON the primary of which is an built-in gentle set in collaboration with Lupine which is wired into the battery system. 

The taillights are built-in neatly into the ends of the rear dropouts and keep always on when the motor is turned on. They are replaceable as they’re in bash territory and should maintain knocks and bumps over time. The entrance headlamp might be managed by way of a neat swap mounted on the handlebars. 

The taillights are the Canyon x Lupine SightStays, while the entrance is the Lupine Nano SL. The battery may also reserve 2 hours of sunshine – for the lights, even in the event you drain the battery which in concept ought to will let you get dwelling at the hours of darkness. I headed out on just a few gravel rides that completed at the hours of darkness with pals (after a cease on the pub on the way in which dwelling) and never having to trouble to cost, discover and match lights was nice. They are all the time there, you do not have to assume and it is a particular downside solver, they’re additionally shiny sufficient to gentle the way in which in unlit lanes.

Canyon has additionally carried out what they name the Click and Ride system. A sequence of mounts on the body permits for an additional water bottle, battery vary extender, or the LOAD FidLock Quickloader pictured under to be fitted. This neat body bag accommodates some necessities like tyre levers and a C02 canister and inflator with house for a little bit further and as talked about, neatly suits into the principle triangle nicely.  The bike additionally arrived with a pair of comparatively respectable flat pedals, I preferred this and I am unable to consider many bikes on this value bracket that include a useable pair of pedals included.  

My dimension small check bike has a stack of 592 and a attain of 398. The headtube angle is 69.5 levels on this dimension, while the seat tube angle is 74 levels throughout all sizes.

The numbers are good to have, however what do they imply in context? Well, a neat comparability and one I’ll reference is the geometry of the YT Szepter, itself an MTB-influenced gravel bike with the identical Rudy Ultimate fork fitted. And a motorcycle I obtained on rather well with driving off-road. 

The Szepter in a medium (the scale I rode) and the Grizl:ON small share precisely the identical attain variety of 398, and the Canyon has a 5mm taller stack peak. The headtube angle is .1 of a level slacker on the YT and the seat tube angle is .4 of a level steeper. 

In brief, each bikes share nearly equivalent geometry and it is one I’ve discovered to be nice driving off-road, confidence-inspiring and playful, but it would not go up to now that it isn’t an attractive experience again on the tarmac. The stack heights of each bikes particularly imply you possibly can hook into the drops and simply get caught into technical off-road driving which is precisely the case with the CF Trail.  

The powerplant of the CF Trail is offered by Bosh. In this case within the type of the Bosch Performance Line SX motor and Bosch Compact Tube 400WH battery. 

It’s a fairly light-weight system, weighing in at 4kg, cut up evenly between the motor and battery. There’s additionally an non-obligatory vary extender out there. 

The system supplies 55Nm of torque and 600 watt max energy and I discovered this to be greater than sufficient. All might be managed and monitored by way of the Bosh e-bike circulate app. 

Controlling the system is finished by way of the highest tube-mounted management unit and there are 4 experience modes to select from Turbo, Sprint, Tour and Eco that are represented with 4 completely different colors. The system is intuitive and simple to familiarize yourself with and study. Light bars on the management unit lower to point battery utilization and it’s extremely simple to see. 

The Bosch circulate app supplies vary estimations as might be seen under and updating firmware or finishing up updates is a breeze. 

The energy supply and torque had been ample for me, greater than sufficient to deal with something in my method and ranging from a standing begin off-road in Turbo felt aggressive and torquey. 

Battery life was strong on the street and I accomplished some on-the-road off-road longer gravel loops of thirty miles or so with out subject and with an honest battery degree left. Riding off-road at my native path centre and letting it rip drained issues quicker, although it’s a pretty climbing heavy loop. I completed a 15-mile off-road MTB loop on round 10% I feel however I’d simply been letting issues rip. 

Performance 

I’m a roadie at coronary heart and all the time will probably be, however I’m but to set off on an e-bike and never begin grinning. They are simply downright enjoyable bikes to experience and the CF Trail is not any exception. 

My first experience on the bike was an hour-long lunchtime blast within the rain, and this was an attention-grabbing one. The energy on faucet was apparent right away and I simply headed to my native woods and lanes. I ended up taking two new trails I’ve ridden previous all my life however by no means taken and linked collectively a model new loop, which was thrilling and enjoyable. This is a degree to e-bikes normally but it surely was an excellent reminder of how a lot floor you possibly can cowl and what you possibly can slot in. I descended again to my home lined in mud and grinning, off to begin. 

Off-road, the bike can deal with a hell of loads, with the fork, dropper, tyres and good geometry you possibly can push issues so far as you need. I really like tackling technical terrain on gravel bikes and the CF Trail will not disappoint in the event you’re into this too. I additionally rode on street loops with pals on common gravel bikes and the bike is nippy there, it definitely is not gradual and sluggish. Lock the fork out, and even match quicker tyres if you wish to and there would not be a lot of a handicap. But if the facility is there, why not match aggressive rubber?

The Grizl:ON in its CF Trail guise is so succesful and aggressive that I knew I wished to check it on some correct MTB terrain (for the Midlands within the UK) too, past that of my native woods. Canyon itself says the bike takes inspiration from MTB geometry and I knew I wished to discover this with the bike. 

I headed to my native MTB path centre, Cannock Chase, and rode the roughly 15-mile Follow the Dog and Monkey Trails red-graded trails. I’m aware of these trails, however hadn’t ridden them for a yr or two and rapidly felt at dwelling on the CF Trail, it did not miss a beat actually and I rode it just about like I’d a mountain bike.  

Climbing is not any sweat with the digital energy on faucet, I additionally did not have any points with the body headset bump stops on actually tight switchback turns, one thing else I wished to check. I used to be on a slight time restrict so it was nice to energy across the trails, good in the event you’re on a lunchtime blast. But MTB-focused riders will most likely simply take pleasure in linking the ‘boring’ pedally sections of path to get to the extra thrilling stuff faster. I additionally seemingly was having an excessive amount of enjoyable to note I’d dropped my automotive key within the forest on the experience however that is one other story! 

On technical, mtb terrain I famous I’d have preferred a mode swap on the handlebar drops ideally to cycle by way of motor modes with out taking my fingers off the bars. Turbo as an example was simply an excessive amount of on tight, twisty singletrack however I needed to wait to clear the part to alter mode utilizing the highest tube button with out stopping or fully slowing down. I checked with Canyon and a shift button might be retrofitted with no downside, however given this mannequin’s spec and function, one from the manufacturing facility could be good. 

On tough and rocky sections, there was additionally a little bit little bit of inside rattle, but it surely wasn’t too distracting, and I’ve heard noisier street bikes if I’m sincere. I felt a little bit little bit of motor ‘lag’ coming off the facility and freewheeling into a bit, there was only a second or two typically when the bike felt actually slowed down. I feel in the event you had been driving technical terrain on a regular basis you’ll study to accommodate this – it is a part of studying to experience an e-bike in my opinion.

The final huge descent on the loop is simple to session (roadies, that is MTB converse for repeat) because of a fast entry street and climb as much as the highest. I repeated this and it was an ideal instance of utilizing the e-power to benefit from the descents. This will probably be nothing new to MTB riders, but it surely’s good to incorporate it right here, flick the bike into turbo and get to the highest extra rapidly so you possibly can benefit from the descent once more. 

Value

At £7,649 / €8,049 this Grizl: ON mannequin is not precisely low cost, however it’s kind of of a monster spec and the one factor I can actually assume I’d wish to add is the aforementioned further mode shift button on the bars. 

How does it evaluate to rivals, comparable to they’re? Well, the Specialized Turbo Creo 2 Expert which I’ve ridden is £7,500 / €8,049. It’s a lighter bike with no suspension fork, but it surely would not have an AXS dropper, as a substitute makes use of a cable-operated one. I’d say the Canyon spec beats it. The Cannondale Topstone Neo Carbon Lefty can be barely cheaper with its mechanical groupset and Lefty entrance suspension fork. But this house available in the market is one which’s rising which implies it is open to interpretation. 

This worth part brings me again to the unique query which was ‘why would not you simply purchase a mountain bike?’ Well, that is fairly distant from a mountain bike. 

Looking at a motorcycle like this you’ll assume that it’s basically a hardtail MTB however there’s nonetheless a substantial amount of distinction between the 2. Straight away there’s the slacker body angles, typically loads slacker. More than double the quantity of entrance suspension journey, completely different driving positions resulting from flat bars and probably decrease gearing that the majority fashionable hardtail mountain bikes have. On a number of actual MTB terrain for my cash, a hardtail could be the quicker and extra succesful bike, you may simply experience it another way and let issues go much more. There’s nonetheless a component of taking care of and managing the bike when driving a drop bar gravel bike off-road.

This is a extra nimble, light-handling bike that while extremely succesful off-road, will preserve you in your toes a bit greater than a mountain bike. There is a whole lot of room on the spectrum between street and mountain bikes and one of these bike has added one other band of color to it over the previous few years.

So, if in case you have the money and desire a enjoyable, aggressive gravel bike to experience on and off the street, however that crucially is not as aggressive as an MTB, you will not be disenchanted. 

Verdict 

The Grizl:ON CF Trail has been nice enjoyable to experience and is good to experience off-road, consuming up the technical off-road terrain.

I have not had a single subject with the bike over the entire evaluate interval, and the whole lot has labored precisely because it ought to have. The built-in lights particularly are a intelligent Idea and add worth to the general bundle. 

I feel the bike is specced nicely and competitively for the cash, the Canyon direct mannequin is partly to thank right here. I do not assume this explicit mannequin will probably be on the prime of riders’ buy lists, with maybe different sorts of bikes taking priority however if you’re available in the market, have the money and are in search of a strong gravel e-bike this is a wonderful possibility.