Worth: £7,649 / €8,049 / $ NA
Weight: 15.9kg – S
Sizes: XS-XL
Motor: Bosch Efficiency Line SX
Groupset: Sram Power / Eagle XO
Wheels / Tyres: DT Swiss 1400 HGC1400 – Schwalbe G One Ultrabite
“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 believe there’s much more to the argument than that, as I am going to go on to clarify.
Canyon launched the Grizl:ON e-bike line in March and I have been testing one since then. Canyon known 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 have been testing the highest CF Path mannequin which is the bike most clearly geared 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 Path will get extra aggressive tyres, a Sram AXS dropper put up and ‘bailout’ Sram XO Eagle 52T cassette. Canyon has additionally developed a number of different attention-grabbing new particulars and elements which we’ll unpack additional within the evaluate.
It is out there in a single spec choice 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 Path simply appears burly and aggressive standing nonetheless. The large e-bike downtube enhances the deep part, broad DT Swiss wheels and aggressive tyres nicely. My measurement small with an honest quantity of seatpost displaying additionally appeared incredible. E-bikes with bigger quantity tyres simply look higher for those who ask me, one thing I discussed in my Specialised Creo 2 evaluate. The shiny grey-to-black fade and shiny Canyon emblem additionally look good and I believe will in all probability have most individuals on board.
The CF Path will get the identical carbon body as the remainder of the mannequin lineup, however the spec record is totally different and descriptions the mannequin’s objective fairly clearly.
There’s an entire raft of elements from the Sram steady for starters. Ranging from the entrance there is a RockShox Rudy Final fork which has lockout, 40mm of journey and the Charger Race Day damper. There are Sram Power 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 also be wired into the battery so that you needn’t fear about charging it, ditto for the Sram AXS Reverb 75mm wi-fi dropper put up which replaces the Canyon VCLS carbon seatpost different fashions have for extra pace within the descents.
The DT Swiss rims function a 24mm inner width and are fitted with Schwalbe G One Ultrabite 50mm tyres. Nonetheless, if clients need to match mudguards to this mannequin, they might want to downsize to 45mm tyres. With regards to mudguards, you possibly can match them, and Canyon additionally presents 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 evenly flared bar matches in nicely right here. It is 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 trip the Paris Roubaix problem earlier within the 12 months (on my highway bike) they usually offered an excellent agency maintain on the cobbles, holding my bottles protected.
Pondering outdoors the field
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Canyon has additionally rolled out a number of intelligent design touches with the Grizl:ON the primary of which is an built-in mild set in collaboration with Lupine which is wired into the battery system.
The hind lights are built-in neatly into the ends of the rear dropouts and keep consistently on when the motor is turned on. They’re replaceable as they’re in bash territory and will maintain knocks and bumps over time. The entrance headlamp could be managed through a neat swap mounted on the handlebars.
The hind lights are the Canyon x Lupine SightStays, while the entrance is the Lupine Nano SL. The battery may even reserve 2 hours of sunshine – for the lights, even for those who drain the battery which in concept ought to assist you to get dwelling at nighttime. I headed out on a number of gravel rides that completed at nighttime with buddies (after a cease on the pub on the best way dwelling) and never having to hassle to cost, discover and match lights was nice. They’re at all times there, you do not have to assume and it is a particular drawback solver, they’re additionally shiny sufficient to mild the best way in unlit lanes.
Canyon has additionally carried out what they name the Click on and Trip system. A collection of mounts on the body permits for an additional water bottle, battery vary extender, or the LOAD FidLock Quickloader pictured beneath to be fitted. This neat body bag comprises some necessities like tyre levers and a C02 canister and inflator with house for a bit of further and as talked about, neatly matches into the principle triangle nicely. The bike additionally arrived with a pair of comparatively respectable flat pedals, I appreciated this and I can not consider many bikes on this worth bracket that include a useable pair of pedals included.
My measurement small check bike has a stack of 592 and a attain of 398. The headtube angle is 69.5 levels on this measurement, while the seat tube angle is 74 levels throughout all sizes.
The numbers are good to have, however what do they imply in context? Properly, a neat comparability and one I am going to reference is the geometry of the YT Szepter, itself an MTB-influenced gravel bike with the identical Rudy Final fork fitted. And a motorbike I acquired 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 virtually equivalent geometry and it is one I’ve discovered to be nice driving off-road, confidence-inspiring and playful, but it does not go to date that it isn’t an interesting trip 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 Path.
The powerplant of the CF Path is offered by Bosh. On this case within the type of the Bosch Efficiency Line SX motor and Bosch Compact Tube 400WH battery.
It is a fairly light-weight system, weighing in at 4kg, break up evenly between the motor and battery. There’s additionally an non-obligatory vary extender out there.
The system gives 55Nm of torque and 600 watt max energy and I discovered this to be greater than sufficient. All could be managed and monitored through the Bosh e-bike move app.
Controlling the system is finished through the highest tube-mounted management unit and there are 4 trip modes to select from Turbo, Dash, Tour and Eco that are represented with 4 totally different colors. The system is intuitive and simple to familiarize yourself with and study. Mild bars on the management unit lower to point battery utilization and it’s extremely straightforward to see.
The Bosch move app gives vary estimations as could be seen beneath and updating firmware or finishing up updates is a breeze.
The ability supply and torque had been ample for me, greater than sufficient to deal with something in my means and ranging from a standing begin off-road in Turbo felt aggressive and torquey.
Battery life was strong on the highway and I accomplished some on-the-road off-road longer gravel loops of thirty miles or so with out situation and with an honest battery stage left. Using 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 believe however I’d simply been letting issues rip.
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Efficiency
I am a roadie at coronary heart and at all times shall be, however I am but to set off on an e-bike and never begin grinning. They’re simply downright enjoyable bikes to trip and the CF Path is not any exception.
My first trip on the bike was an hour-long lunchtime blast within the rain, and this was an attention-grabbing one. The ability 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. It is a level to e-bikes basically but it surely was an incredible reminder of how a lot floor you possibly can cowl and what you possibly can slot in. I descended again to my home coated in mud and grinning, off to an excellent begin.
Off-road, the bike can deal with a hell of quite a bit, with the fork, dropper, tyres and good geometry you possibly can push issues so far as you need. I like tackling technical terrain on gravel bikes and the CF Path will not disappoint for those who’re into this too. I additionally rode on highway loops with buddies on common gravel bikes and the bike is nippy there, it definitely is not sluggish 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 when the facility is there, why not match aggressive rubber?
The Grizl:ON in its CF Path guise is so succesful and aggressive that I knew I needed 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 needed to discover this with the bike.
I headed to my native MTB path centre, Cannock Chase, and rode the roughly 15-mile Observe the Canine and Monkey Trails red-graded trails. I am conversant in these trails, however hadn’t ridden them for a 12 months or two and shortly felt at dwelling on the CF Path, 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 needed to check. I used to be on a slight time restrict so it was nice to energy across the trails, excellent for those who’re on a lunchtime blast. However MTB-focused riders will in all probability 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 would dropped my automotive key within the forest on the trip however that is one other story!
On technical, mtb terrain I famous I’d have appreciated a mode swap on the handlebar drops ideally to cycle via motor modes with out taking my palms off the bars. Turbo as an illustration was simply an excessive amount of on tight, twisty singletrack however I needed to wait to clear the part to vary mode utilizing the highest tube button with out stopping or fully slowing down. I checked with Canyon and a shift button could be retrofitted with no drawback, however given this mannequin’s spec and objective, one from the manufacturing facility can be good.
On tough and rocky sections, there was additionally a bit of little bit of inner rattle, but it surely wasn’t too distracting, and I’ve heard noisier highway bikes if I am trustworthy. I felt a bit of little bit of motor ‘lag’ coming off the facility and freewheeling into a piece, there was only a second or two generally when the bike felt actually slowed down. I believe for those who had been driving technical terrain on a regular basis you’ll study to accommodate this – it is a part of studying to trip an e-bike in my opinion.
The final massive descent on the loop is simple to session (roadies, that is MTB converse for repeat) because of a fast entry highway 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 shall 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 shortly so you possibly can benefit from the descent once more.
Worth
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 would need to add is the aforementioned extra mode shift button on the bars.
How does it examine to rivals, reminiscent of they’re? Properly, the Specialised Turbo Creo 2 Knowledgeable which I’ve ridden is £7,500 / €8,049. It is a lighter bike with no suspension fork, but it surely does not have an AXS dropper, as an alternative makes use of a cable-operated one. I would say the Canyon spec beats it. The Cannondale Topstone Neo Carbon Lefty can also be barely cheaper with its mechanical groupset and Lefty entrance suspension fork. However this house available in the market is one which’s rising which suggests 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?’ Properly, that is fairly far-off from a mountain bike.
a motorbike like this you’ll assume that it’s primarily a hardtail MTB however there’s nonetheless an excessive amount of distinction between the 2. Right away there’s the slacker body angles, generally quite a bit slacker. Greater than double the quantity of entrance suspension journey, totally different driving positions as a consequence of flat bars and doubtlessly decrease gearing that the majority trendy hardtail mountain bikes have. On plenty of actual MTB terrain for my cash, a hardtail can be the quicker and extra succesful bike, you can simply trip 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.
It is a extra nimble, light-handling bike that while extremely succesful off-road, will hold you in your toes a bit greater than a mountain bike. There’s numerous room on the spectrum between highway and mountain bikes and this kind of bike has added one other band of color to it over the previous few years.
So, when you’ve got the money and need a enjoyable, aggressive gravel bike to trip on and off the highway, however that crucially is not as aggressive as an MTB, you will not be dissatisfied.
Verdict
The Grizl:ON CF Path has been nice enjoyable to trip and is good to trip off-road, consuming up the technical off-road terrain.
I have never had a single situation with the bike over the entire evaluate interval, and all the pieces has labored precisely because it ought to have. The built-in lights particularly are a intelligent Concept and add worth to the general package deal.
I believe 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 specific mannequin shall be on the high 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 on the lookout for a strong gravel e-bike this is a wonderful choice.
| Design and aesthetics | A nicely executed design with some nicely considerate and attention-grabbing design concepts just like the built-in mild system | 8/10 |
| Construct | Strong, massive identify, excessive spec elements, i would similar to to see a distant mode button on the bars | 8/10 |
| Efficiency | Nice, eats up technical off highway driving, nonetheless feels energetic on the highway, hasn’t did not put a smile on my face | 9/10 |
| Weight | 15.9kg a non situation with the e-power on faucet, not too unwiledly when transferring the bike round | 8/10 |
| Worth | Within the present local weather this may very well be a costlier bike, practically each choice field is ticked and there aren’t many concessions actually, a distant mode button can be my solely need | 7/10 |
| Total score | Row 5 – Cell 1 | 80% |
