New Canyon Sender- Thoughts/ Opinions.

Interesting move by Canyon here. They’ve always made solid downhill bikes but nothing I’d consider race focused. I’m fairly taken by it in honesty, however that seat-tube is giving me nightmares (hence the post at almost 1AM)…

What do you think STW?

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/canyon–first-ride.html

Like most bikes it’s really hard to tell from a pic…
Whats the nightmare about?

Looks good – really interesting piece from Seb Stott over on BikeRadar:
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/canyon-sender-the-hottest-downhill-bike-of-2016-46749/

Looks rad bit I’d get the cheapest one, solid components with the same frame

Geometry looks awesome.

Design seems a bit fussy to me, I’d prefer external cable routing.

Bonus points for threaded BB and not looking like a Trek (does look a bit like a Demo though).

They reckon it’s paving the way for Barel to head up a DH team on the WC circuit.

What with Dirt / Propain’s excellent results at the BDS this weekend and Gwin off to YT the established brands have got to be worried now!?….Dirt even have the Solid Strike in their Dirt-100 range which is also direct sale.

For the established brands to ignore this and hope it goes away seems an ostrich in the sand strategy, they must have had meetings about this!…..especially with Canyon hoping to open up to the US next too.

Either way, I’m in favour…..if it gets more talented kids the factory rides they deserve then all the better in my opinion.

Looks brilliant. I wonder if the Strive will get the same treatment? If it does, they may have a new customer!

It’s a good looking bike and great value for money.

The rear shock seems to be a bit of an issue though with Dirt, PB and BR all needing to max out the volume spacers to get 30% sag and no bottom out. That doesn’t leave much room for future fiddling / tweaking.

I’ll be interested to see what the actual leverage curve is – I wonder if it’s similar to a Banshee Legend?

I’m not sure what the existing brands can do about Canyon, YT, et al. They can’t drop their prices because there isn’t spare margin in the sales chain whilst switching to direct sales would undermine all the shops who’ve supported them for years and lose their differentiation from the direct sales companies.

I suppose so, but I guess customer service will be the thing that will keep people using retailers, online or not! I have a good friend with a YT Noton who cracked his frame and had to wait 4 months for a replacement read triangle. Totally ruined his season bless.. There’s only so much these direct sale companies can do. Will be a really interesting one to see how Trek cope with their new strategy, however their prices will still be sky high,

I’d be tempted by the Vivid/Boxxer 8.0 model. Both are known performers and judging by the Dirt review of this and the Gambler I’d say the problem is the Fox X2 rather than the bike. The rest of the kit is pretty much the same. And I’ve always found Fox 40s to be a bit high maintenance from personal experience (not owned a pair in the last 2 years so can’t comment on recent versions) whereas Boxxers have always been solid performers.

Does anybody pay full whack for big brand DH bikes anyway?

A lot of racers must be on trade-price deals and there can’t be that many spoiled kids or uplift warriors splashing £5k-plus on a Session or Demo?

For the established brands to ignore this and hope it goes away seems an ostrich in the sand strategy, they must have had meetings about this!…..especially with Canyon hoping to open up to the US next too.

The EU prices might not translate too well.
Taken a quick look around the Carbon Capra in Oz is 6.5-8.5k (Au$) Spec are running the Carbon Enduro about 6.5-9
Canyons Strive frame is 4,600 Au and the Enduro is 4,500 and a Nomad comes in at 4,800.

The direct sales model doesn’t seem to be coping to well across continents.

As for what can the other brands do?
Santa Cruz, Specialized, Giant and a few others have free demo weekends touring the country, demo bikes in shops and no hassle with returns and sending stuff back to Germany when something goes wrong – which seems a little too common with some.

@chakaping on an uplift day last year a lad let slip that his dad had bought him two DH bikes. One for racing, one for training. Total cost £15,000. I seem to remember it being a Pivot of some sort. He’s probably an outlier. A lot of the lads on the uplift were on 2nd hand beauties. Iron Horses, 5-6 year old DH bikes that were still going and being ridden well, but there are folk out there who spend on that sort of thing.

peatybike – Member

I suppose so, but I guess customer service will be the thing that will keep people using retailers, online or not! I have a good friend with a YT Noton who cracked his frame and had to wait 4 months for a replacement read triangle. Totally ruined his season bless.. There’s only so much these direct sale companies can do. Will be a really interesting one to see how Trek cope with their new strategy, however their prices will still be sky high,

Is having to wait for a replacement 4 months that much worse than a major manufacturer?

Can’t see that it is.

Believe so, the second a hairline crack appeared on my Superfly Trek had sent me out a new 2016 Frameset. All arrived within two weeks. Maybe I’m the anomaly, but 4 months sounds crazy to me…

I have a good friend with a YT Noton who cracked his frame and had to wait 4 months for a replacement read triangle. Totally ruined his season bless.. There’s only so much these direct sale companies can do. Will be a really interesting one to see how Trek cope with their new strategy, however their prices will still be sky high,

Had to wait 3 months, twice now, for a replacement rear tri from Yeti. It’s not just the direct companies that this kind of thing affects.

@chapaking. Believe it, not just DH, every area of cycling. If there’s an expensive bike/associated bit of kit, a rich kid will have it. Lbs once sold a £1200 turbo trainer with every bell and whistle to a 14 year old, paid for by daddy. Checked his name for any results but nothing came up anywhere

there can’t be that many spoiled kids or uplift warriors splashing £5k-plus on a Session or Demo?

Don’t know many downhill riders then? It’s the new motocross. Up here everyone wants to be the next Danny Hart and their Dads have the cash to let them try.

If you havent seen it.. heres an independant video examining the Senders rear suspension charachteristics..

8)

No pictures yet so,

It’s a very pretty bike. I’d struggle to decide between this and the new Tues. The YT’s BOS suspension was a major selling point but it’s gone now.

Looks good, spec is strong for the price even against the direct sales competitors, geometry seems ideal, stupid name.

<3 grand for a very well specced (<4 for the top spec) Carbon DH bike, designed(ish) By Fabien Barel

they will sell a shitload !

and so they should,

I could see Senders appearing at a lot of races in the near future!

If you havent seen it.. heres an independant video examining the Senders rear suspension charachteristics..

Interesting! Looks a good design. Not quite sure why they ended up needed another linkage to drive the shock as it’s a straight-forward linearly progressive leverage curve, which shouldn’t be too hard to achieve with a 4-bar arrangement. But it’s a pretty elegant solution anyway, despite the extra moving parts.

Hello guys! Thank you for sharing my video 😀

Yes, there was no need to created an additional shock linkage. You can achieve a similar result with a traditional 4-bar linkage. Actually, the YT Tues has a similar leverage profile (more progressive at the end), and many other bikes also have the same (even my old Big Hit 2010 have a very similar profile… Tripe Phase System – TPS eheh).

But, brands like to differentiate their products. In this case, having a “MX-link derived from the motocross” sounds cool and it sells! Having a “MX-link with a TPS system” sells even more (although they are just marketing acronyms…).

But overall the bike is quite good, and that’s what matters.

Bye 🙂

It’d be interesting to ride it back to back with a Tues in a similar size and similar suspension.

Do we think over-complicated suspension systems help sell bikes then? I find them a turn-off myself.

I think a lot of people assume more complex systems must be better otherwise why do it.

Looks great. YT & Canyon are getting pricey now though, still cheaper than the usual brands, but less of a bargain than they were.

It’s a very pretty bike. I’d struggle to decide between this and the new Tues. The YT’s BOS suspension was a major selling point but it’s gone now.

No bos is a plus point for me!

Hopefully they will make an ali one in the future also, as I dont want a carbon bike.

I think a lot of people assume more complex systems must be better otherwise why do it.

You could point at Evil to support that, for sure. But on the other hand I’m sure Knolly would have sold more bikes if their suspension system didn’t reek so strongly of convoluted patent avoidance.

And of course Orange continue to shift plenty of single pivot filing cabinets.

Horses for courses I guess. I’m happy with a decent 4-bar or modified single pivot personally.

there can’t be that many spoiled kids or uplift warriors splashing £5k-plus on a Session or Demo?
Don’t know many downhill riders then? It’s the new motocross. Up here everyone wants to be the next Danny Hart and their Dads have the cash to let them try.

But that helps the second hand market – I’ve just bought a carbon Demo for a pretty good price. It’s an awful lot of bike.

It’s not just spoiled kids – there are plenty of adults treating themselves to some pretty serious kit looking around our local DH trails.

I admit I only do a few uplifts a year now, but it seems to me I’m seeing fewer high end DH bikes than a few years ago.

More high-end enduro bikes though, probably.