First Ride: CANYON SPECTRAL CF 9.0 EX – Hold on to Your Socks!

Canyon bikes are relatively unknown here within the US of A, BUT that is about to change!   Rumor’s have it that the company will be up and running in the US later this year.  If you haven’t heard, Canyon is a consumer direct German company known for their high-quality light weight bikes.  I had the opportunity to throw a leg over the Spectral at last months Sedona Mountain Bike Festival and was quite impressed.

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The Spectral represents a nice middle ground trail/enduro bike with 150mm front and 140mm rear travel, 67 degree HT and steep 74.5 degree seatube.  The short 425mm seatstays caught me off guard at first with the ease of lofting the front end up over obstacles.

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Unfortunately the Rock Shox Reverb was failing (sinking about 1″) during my test ride forcing me to stand a little more than normal to get power down for the punchy Sedona terrain.  The Spectral surprised me with how well it responded to my pumping on the pedals.  If I didn’t know there was 140mm of travel outback I would have assumed that it didn’t have quite that much judging by the minimal monkey motion felt.   That is until I hit the chattery slickrock sections of Sedona’s Hiline descent. The Spectral gave me total confidence in the hairball sections tracking very well in the rough and steep.

Why should we care about this bike if it isn’t currently available in the US?  By cutting out the middle man and selling directly to the consumer the cost savings compared to traditional brands could save you some serious $ and allow more time for big adventures on your bike!  If this short experience with Canyon gives an accurate glimpse of what’s to come, its no reason the bike industry is watching this brand so closely.  The Spectral is definitely a bike that I would love to spend more time on.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]