- 2 years ago
The latest Canyon Ultimate was released towards the end of 2022 and since then, Sam Gupta has been riding it for a number of months to bring you a long term review. After a lot of miles covered, both indoors and out, on varying parcours and in a myriad of conditions, he's managed to get a very good understanding of what the bike is all about. Does the brand still provide value or does the new Canyon Ultimate look to offer more then it's rivals?
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00:00 For the past four to five months,
00:01 I've been riding this, the brand new Canyon Ultimate.
00:04 I've shown it a whole myriad of different rides,
00:06 but what's it really been like to live with?
00:09 When Canyon launched this bike,
00:15 they made quite a few changes
00:17 compared to the outgoing version.
00:19 But one thing that they did do
00:21 was actually adopt a lot of the geometry
00:23 that's found on the aeroad.
00:25 And that has made a huge difference to how this bike rides.
00:29 And for me, it's actually turned
00:31 into one of my favorite parts about it.
00:33 It feels incredibly planted,
00:35 it feels incredibly stable,
00:36 and it feels incredibly direct.
00:39 Like I say, on descents, it's really smooth and stable.
00:42 It really does inspire a lot of confidence.
00:45 And I think that's gonna be down
00:46 to the geometry of the bike itself.
00:48 And that's because it's very well balanced.
00:51 The aero geometry is obviously quite a racy one.
00:54 And this is something that I found with this bike.
00:56 Anything that you want to throw at it,
00:58 it will completely match you.
01:00 There's nothing that this bike can't do.
01:02 If Jay Vine can go and win
01:03 a couple of Grand Tour stages on it,
01:05 I'm sure this is gonna be the perfect companion
01:08 for the townside sprint.
01:10 And now usually, a race bike
01:12 doesn't tend to be that comfortable,
01:13 but that's not the case for the Ultimate.
01:16 They have built in compliance in a couple of different ways.
01:19 Firstly, it's this brand new seat post.
01:22 It's D-shaped, and that means it's got a flat back.
01:25 One, that's great for aerodynamics,
01:26 but two, like I say, very compliant.
01:29 Now when you pair that with this Selle Italia saddle,
01:31 which has got a big Superflow cutout,
01:33 it means that actually,
01:35 you're supported in all the right places.
01:36 And like I say, you've got the compliance.
01:39 When Canyon created this new Ultimate,
01:41 they actually added 30 grams of carbon fibre
01:43 to reinforce it and make it stiffer.
01:46 But they also laid it up in a different way,
01:49 again, to allow more compliance within the frame itself.
01:52 Now while you can build compliance
01:53 into the frame of a bike,
01:55 nothing smooths out a ride like the right set of rubbers.
01:58 Now this has a 25 mil on the front
02:01 and a 28 mil on the back.
02:03 And I find that having that 28 mil
02:05 really does do a lot of the heavy lifting,
02:07 especially since most of your weight goes through the rear.
02:10 There is clearance for up to 32C wide tyres,
02:13 so if you wanna make them even bigger, you can.
02:16 And actually, Mathieu van der Poel and his teammate
02:18 fitted 33 mil rubber to the front
02:21 and 35 mil rubber to the rear
02:23 when they used the Ultimate for the Gravel World Championships
02:25 and clearly it worked because, well,
02:28 his teammate won and van der Poel came third.
02:31 Now that does make me wonder if for the next Ultimate
02:33 in a few years' time,
02:34 if Canyon are gonna rebrand it as an all-road bike,
02:37 maybe a lightweight climbing gravel machine, who knows.
02:41 Maybe that would then mean that the Canyon Aero
02:43 takes a more of an all-rounder position
02:44 like the SL7 does for Specialized.
02:47 But at the moment, that's pure conjecture
02:49 and we're getting off topic.
02:50 But the point is, this bike does feel incredibly at home
02:53 on the climbs.
02:54 While you do have a set of deep sections
02:56 in this particular build and it does feel fast on the flats,
02:59 as soon as you point it uphill,
03:01 it really does dance up the climb
03:03 and it feels incredibly responsive.
03:05 Now there's a couple of key things that Canyon have done
03:07 to make sure that this bike does feel fast out on the roads.
03:11 And the first thing was the adoption
03:13 of the brand new CP18 cockpit
03:16 that's come across from the Aero.
03:19 The other thing that they've done
03:20 is actually create a brand new fork for this bike.
03:22 And actually you've got slightly more prominent
03:24 raised shoulders compared to the outgoing version.
03:27 And Canyon claim that with a rider on board,
03:30 this bike is five watts faster than the previous version.
03:34 That CP18 cockpit I find to be incredibly useful
03:37 because it is adjustable.
03:39 And I think it provides that really rare opportunity
03:41 for any rider to actually play around with their position
03:44 without needing to go to the bike shop.
03:46 So if you want to go narrow
03:47 and get as tucked in as Aero as possible,
03:49 you can.
03:50 If you want more control and you want to go wider,
03:52 again, you can do that.
03:54 It means that you're gifted the ability
03:55 to actually just play around with your position,
03:57 which these days is quite rare.
04:00 Now, while these bars are width adjustable,
04:02 you can also raise them up without needing to cut steers
04:05 or fiddle about with too many different components.
04:07 So again, I like the fact that Canyon
04:10 have kind of made something which will work for the masses.
04:13 Now what Canyon have always set out to do with the Ultimate
04:16 is to make it the ultimate road bike out there.
04:19 And while it may not be the stiffest or the lightest
04:21 or the most aero bike,
04:23 it punches really highly in each of those three categories.
04:27 And it means essentially you're left with something
04:29 which has a bit of a jack of all trades.
04:31 If you're looking for something to pair with fast riding,
04:33 then this is it.
04:35 However, if you're wanting to do those longer plodding days
04:38 in the saddle and you value comfort over speed,
04:42 then make sure you go for the Enduro Race.
04:44 Now the build that I've got here
04:45 is called the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 Di2.
04:50 Incredibly catchy, of course.
04:51 Now to break it down,
04:52 we've got a full Ultegra group set
04:54 with a four-eye power meter on the left-hand crank arm.
04:57 We've got DT Swiss 1400 Arc wheels.
05:00 And mated to those, we have got some Shroud Pro 1 tires.
05:04 And as I mentioned previously,
05:06 there's a 25 on the front and a 28 mil on the rear.
05:08 Now the perch, well, that is a Selle Italia Boost SLR
05:13 with the Superflow cutout,
05:14 which means it is very comfortable.
05:16 However, one downside is that this bike
05:18 doesn't actually ship with the adapters
05:20 to allow you to mount a carbon fibre saddle,
05:23 because obviously carbon fibre rails
05:24 are slightly bigger than metal ones.
05:27 Canyon have fitted their own bottle cages to it,
05:30 along with their own computer mount,
05:33 to which I've got my Garmin Edge 1040 Solar.
05:36 Now there's one thing that actually kind of annoys me
05:38 about this mount,
05:39 and that's the angle at which it has your Garmin.
05:42 It's kind of angled up,
05:43 and that's really quite frustrating.
05:45 I'd love it if it was just flat instead.
05:47 Usually when I'm left riding a bike for many weeks,
05:55 I tend to find myself wondering which parts I would replace.
05:59 But on this build,
06:00 it leaves me wanting absolutely nothing.
06:03 In my opinion, nothing needs to be changed on this.
06:06 The only thing you may consider doing
06:07 is actually changing up the tyres between summer and winter.
06:12 Now, while you can go and buy a Dura-Ace version of this one
06:14 within that SLX family,
06:16 you can also go up to the CFR version
06:19 and get something which is 6.8 kilos,
06:22 but also costs nearly £11,000.
06:25 Quite frankly, I'd save your money and just get this.
06:29 The difference in weight of about 500 grammes
06:31 isn't enough in my opinion
06:33 to really warrant the extra cost.
06:35 Canyon have long been known to be the brand
06:37 that undercuts their rivals by producing bikes
06:40 which deliver a lot of bang for buck.
06:41 Now, while this bike in this specification
06:44 does beat some of its rivals on price,
06:46 for example, an SL7 Tarmac Expert
06:49 will cost you about £7,250 here in the UK.
06:52 This obviously comes in at just under £6,500.
06:55 However, there are bikes
06:57 that are coming in cheaper than this.
06:58 For example, the Giant Defy Advanced Pro,
07:02 which comes in at £5,500.
07:04 The only key difference between the two though
07:07 is the fact that this comes with the power metre.
07:09 But when you consider that you can pick a power metre
07:11 up for a few hundred pounds,
07:13 there is still a pretty big cost differential between them.
07:16 When you look at what this bike was designed to do,
07:19 that being provide the ultimate road riding experience,
07:22 I think they've absolutely nailed it.
07:24 For riders who want a bike
07:25 that they can virtually ride out of the box
07:28 and have something that delivers a purposeful,
07:30 exciting, balanced ride feel, look no further.
07:34 This is what you want.
07:35 For me, there's really not too many downsides to this bike,
07:38 apart from maybe the slightly annoying Garmin mount,
07:41 potentially the shape of the bottle cages,
07:44 'cause you can only use some bottles in there.
07:46 Really, there's nothing here for me to get upset about.
07:49 And in this spec choice,
07:51 I don't think you'd ever need to change anything on it.
07:53 However, I don't think this bike
07:55 really provides the same level of value
07:57 that Canyon's of old used to.
07:58 If you are going to buy this bike,
08:00 you're going to be buying it on the strengths of its merits,
08:03 of which there are many.
08:04 Quite frankly,
08:05 Canyon doesn't need to undercut its rivals anymore.
08:08 If this ultimate is anything to go by,
08:10 it's completely worth the money.
08:12 With that being said,
08:15 how much would you pay for this brand new Canyon?
08:18 Let me know down in the comments below.
08:20 If you enjoyed the video,
08:21 then please do drop it a like.
08:22 Subscribe to the channel for more content,
08:24 and I'll see you again very soon.
08:26 (motorcycle engine roaring)
08:29 (silence)
08:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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