Fabien Barel Posts Video of the Canyon Dis/Connect, Sender

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by David Hayward September 1, 2016 1

UPDATE: While the Canyon Disconnect System was shown off at Eurobike 2016 we haven’t actually seen it make its way on to a production bike, but this could all change. Fabien Barel recently posted the following video on his Instagram account along with a description of the system:

@canyon_bikes DisConnect Project “Imagine being able to boost your chassis performance at the touch of a button – this was the idea behind project DisConnect. The combination of a bar-mounted remote and decoupling hub allows you to disconnect and re-engage your drivetrain when you want. That means no forces pushing on your pedals or interfering with your suspension when tackling the rowdiest terain. Unleash the full potential of your chassis.” “Imaginez être capable de booster la performance de votre châssis en appuyant sur un bouton. C’était l’idée derrière le projet DisConnect. La combinaison d’une manette sur le guidon et d’un moyeu se découplant vous permet de déconnecter et connecter votre transmission quand vous voulez. Cela signifie aucun pedal kickback et aucunes interférences avec vos suspensions en abordant les terrains les plus caillouteux. Libérez le potentiel complet de votre suspension.”

A video posted by Fabien BAREL (@fabienbarel) on Jan 5, 2017 at 11:20am PST

We don’t know what this video could mean, but if rumours of the brand entering the Downhill World Cup in 2017 are true then we might finally see the Dis/Connect system in action at the races.

Original Content: Canyon don’t have a massive amount of new stuff to show this year, but one project does leap out: Dis/Connect. The idea is that on rough terrain, your drivetrain and suspension can interfere with each other, so for sections where you won’t be pedalling, with Dis/Connect you can disengage the drive and simply use the pedals as platforms, letting your suspension get on with it’s job.

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Or so the theory goes. Reckon we can all pin it like Gwin with this?

Cable runs down the driveside chainstay to the special hub, which…

… disengages or re-engages the drivetrain depending on your input.

Fluoroo, oh so endooro! But wait, it’s on a downhill bike.

Here’s the remote. Note that it appears to be SRAM Matchmaker compatible.

With Dis/Connect, you no longer have to break your chain off by launching yourself off the start of that downhill with Gwin-scale force.

Here’s one of the bikes in all it’s glory.

The Canyon Sender

No word yet on whether it’s suitable for dadjumps or dadwhips (I’m not a dad, but those the the kind I do), but looks like it’d take plenty.

All the cool bikes are sporting these little integrated mudguards now.

Less range than most riding would require. If you’ve ever been tempted to buy a DH bike for your local non-uplift trails, caveat emptor.

A burly, presumably own-brand chainguide.

In an alternate dimension, this bike is the preferred machine of Chipps Whippendale.

DT Swiss hubs and SRAM stoppers.

What’s that up there? That box with wires in?

Along with the gubbins on the forks, it’s a DIY suspension telemetry rig made by Canyons engineers. Funnily enough, not for sale. Or for journos to touch, they had this *well* out of reach.

David Hayward

David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly. Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.