Canyon Quality Problems

I was thinking of getting a Canyon (you know, as a 5th bike) but
I’ve heard some local riders round here are reporting quality problems with their brand new Canyon bikes. The issues are simple build problems but also frame alignment problems. But most worrying is that there seems to be some odd customer service problems.

Yes, I know they are at a great price, but even so you’d expect great quality.

Obviously, all manufacturers will have their bad day (even I did when I was a manufacturer) – but the test of a great bike company is whether they can put it right.

Post up GOOD and BAD experiences with service and quality of the bikes.

Canyon Strive owner, 2011 model bought in 2012. First problem was with the reverb (so not a Canyon part), Canyon answered my email within hours, asked me to post it to Fisher outdoors in Windsor. I did, it came back in 8 days from posting and Canyon refunded my postage.
Second issue was with an X0 shifter, the internals broke (again not a Canyon part), Canyon responded to my email within hours and despatched a new one without asking to see the old one – from complaint to receipt of a new shifter took 5 days, even though it had to come from Germany. Other people have complained that they don’t answer the phone, but I’ve never needed to considering the speed they reply by email (uk@canyon.com). I have to admit I’ve had much slower service through both my LBS.
Quality of the frame is top notch, very well made and finished, one main pivot bearing change in a year isn’t too bad considering I weigh 18 stone, only cost about £15.
So, all in all, a very positive experience. I really can’t fault them.

I have a 2013 Nerve Al29 which arrived just before easter BH
Arrived exactly when they said it would. Easy to build out of the box
The frame is very well made and has an excellent (anodised) finish. No alignment issues
It rides very well and I am very pleased with it.

I have had two slight problems with it. One was wheel related- loosening bearing adjuster on Mavic ST’s. I phoned Canyon UK left a message. They replied within 10 mins and we discussed taking to LBS. After a bit of reading around issue I fixed myself.
Second was that the lower shock mount started creaking. I emailed Canyon, who replied almost immediately with torque values I requested. I took shock off, cleaned bushes and replaced to correct values- not been a problem since. Again I was advised that I could take to LBS and they implied cost would be covered by canyon

I know of four other Canyon bikes in my group of friends- two Strives, a Nerve CF and a Carbon 29er hardtail. I don’t think any of them have had any issues at all.

I’m not one for posting on public forums. But on this subject I am going to surface from my rock where I usually lurk.

I am have been suffering the wrath of poor customer service you’ve heard about from others. But my experience is very worrying and I feel any buyers should be aware when they decide to hand over there cash to this company who are not playing ball with distance selling regulations.

I found a very problematic problem in the frame of the bike I ordered. A manufacturing error. Now having been subject to the manufacturing industries from a young age, I am aware that every manufacturing process has a degree of error, and you get the occasionally frame that will have a hole incorrectly drilled in the wrong position. But this should be identified during the quality assurance process in the factory, or by the mechanic who put the components on the frame.

It wasn’t picked up on my 1st bike that arrived.

Following on from this is have spent MONTHS trying to resolve the situation.

I have yet to receive a working bike. The problem in the frame means the hanger is at the wrong angle and the mech cannot operate.

This fault renders the bike completely useless.

In the past few months I have remained calm, and been as understanding and tried to resolve the situation and allow them to provide me with a frame that does not have this problem.

While they have

Hung up the phone on
Pretended not to receive emails
Tell me the colleague dealing with has ‘popped out to shops’ followed by much sniggering in the background, and an emails from this colleague hits my email seconds later.
Not answering the phone
They sent notification I would receive delivery from courier, so took day off work (and lost a days pay), but no courier arrived. It turned out to be another frame going to the London office where it would supposedly be checked for manufacturing faults.when I called the next day to inform them nothing arrived and discovered nothing was ever coming I received the response ‘what do you want me to do about it’

I received replacement hangers as they refused to listen when I sent them pictures and explanation of the frame fault. But surprise.. Suprise this did not correct the mech issue.

Finally received a 2nd whole bike. This time it was missing spacers on the mounting post of the brake, and has a deep scratch right through to the shiny silver under the anodising. How on earth they can send a bike with the brake resting on the disc was beyond me. How can they not notice the the back wheel is physically incapable of turning.

Worst of all the 2nd bike had the same frame fault. Although to be fair this mech could at least reach all 10 gears. Shame it couldn’t stay then and jumped back down the gears.

By this point I’d had enough. I requested a full refund. They refused initially, insisted I was not entitled by law as only unused bikes could be returned under distance selling regulations.

No bikes have ever arrived and a rideable condition.no part has ever seen the outside daylight as these bikes were never in working order.

I have advised them to it will claim chargeback on my card. I’ve been advised there policy is to report the bike is stolen. So I am to go through the embarrassment of the police turning up to retrieve the bike if I claim chargeback.

I have at no point and time refused them to collect the unusable bike. I even recommended they send a fresh box as the current one is trashed from the repeat journeys with the courier.

That’s actually another bug bear. The bike guard box the you are forced to pay a premium for is no more than a standard box you get for free when you but any other bike, except the have a square of wood with a hole in it for between the rear triangle.

So… They caved to say they would arrange a courier after some very lengthy emails,and only once the bike arrives back in Germany and is checked over shall I receive a refund. I am looking at about 2 weeks delay for a refund.

I am not accepting that. Due to the way I have been treated and their determination not to refund, I will claim back on my card and wait for the police to arrive if ups doesn’t show up

I have pictures and further details if anyone wants then of the frame fault, I seen 2 bikes with this fault. The fact that I was already sending one back for this fault suggest this is a fault that model wide and was not a random sampling type of error from the manufacturing process. As surely if the first frame was just an error that sneaked through quality assurance, then you would be very particular to ensure the 2nd frame you supply does not have the same fault to any degree. However, neither frames enabled correct indexing.

Whatever you do, DO NOT PAY USING BANK TRANSFER!

Use credit card only if you must order from them. As you won’t have a legal to stand on if they refuse to refund like they did with me.

Apologies for the errors! Predictive text and change to my there, their and there’s for me

My experience with them was very positive. They let me know that there would be a slight delay (2 days) on delivery and gave me a free extra saddle to compensate.

Canyon Roadlite 6.0.
Bike setup and quality has been spotless. Only tweak was re-indexing the gears a few weeks in which I assume was due to cable stretch.

I would recommended them, their prices are incredibly competitive.

I got a free saddle too very early on. When there online payment system wouldn’t work. It’s how I ended up using debit card instead of credit card. Which left me with a lower level of payment protection. And don’t they know it! They have told me word for word exactly what protection I have/don’t have according to them with my chosen payment method.

Credit card problems often are because the merchant acquirer is either not getting paid or there have been significant chargebacks being applied by customers.

I used to see this a lot with bike shops and distributors that had cash flow problems.

Anyone else have anything to share?

Have had a Nerve AM for 2 years. Out of the box the bike was good. After a couple of weeks I had a problem with the Fox Talas fork – not Canyon’s fault. Customer service was excellent, they arranged for the fork to be sent to Mojo and I had it back in perfect working order within a week. Can’t fault them.

Small niggles are that a replacement headset seems only to be available through Canyon, but wasn’t too expensive, mech hangers are expensive and the postage from Germany for small parts is expensive.

Can’t comment on the customer service really as i haven’t needed it, but quality-wise mine (29er hardtail, October 2012) has been great. No problems with frame or parts.

dunno if that helps!

A number of the club I ride with have Canyons and no major issues. one has also had a Reverb issue quickly resolved by Canyon UK and another had a problem with his Cobalt wheels, but this was sorted by the LBS and Canyon covered the cost.

As with all online only bike purchases, costs are reduced in a number of areas including one the fact that you can’t just pop into a nearby premises to resolve a query. However they do seem to deal pretty quickly with any issues, so that would be good enough for me if I was in the market for a new bike.

Had two canyons, first alu hardtail developed problems with the Dt swiss fork. I sent it to dt swiss, forks developed same fault again, fixed them myself. But that was a dt issue, the rest of the bike and canyons part in the repair was flawless. Liked it so much, I bought a cf version when they released it, and will be buying my third canyon very soon indeed…

Mine was basically all good. Couple of minor clips missing and a scratch from packing. Knocked me £50 off (or offered to take it back and replace it). I opted for the £50, as it is a mountain bike and meant to be covered in scratches.

My next bike will likely be from a “direct sales” supplier again.

Got the Nerve Al+ back in April and had no real problems, had a few queries which can seem like they take an age to answer when it’s e-mail tennis but they do resolve all queries. In my experience and that of other purchasers its a great way of getting a great bike. To be honest the only person with a negative experience has a habit of appearing on any forum with the word Canyon in it, like a personal crusade.

I’ve two points:

A: we had a thread a year back that got resurrected every few months by a different new poster whinging about being ignored and no-one answering the phone. They never posted about anything previous or since. Fortunately he’s been quiet for a while.

B: I would happily buy another (if I couldnt get a similar bike locally for the ballpark cost). I’d make sure I ordered a spare mech hanger along with the initial purchase though: the £12 ish postage cost afterwards stings a bit.

Have one. Love it.

Arrived with a broken mech hanger. E-mailed them the pictures and one was on its way within a week. They even paid for me to have the mech replaced and the gears indexed by my LBS.

Bearings started to creak within a year and were replaced FOC by them. Small problem of one bolt by the cranks working its way loose on the trails but luckily another STWer was around to sort it for me when I was in Spain. Mechanic’s fault for not torque-ing or “Loctite-ing” the bolts. Took it back to them soon as I was in the UK. Seemed like mechanic was a bit of a duffer. New mechanic “Loctited” all of the bolts, even bled my brakes for me and the bike has been on a few uplift days since with no problems.

To be fair to their duffer mechanic, he did do fit my 2×10 + clutch mech setup for free.

Our household has since purchased another one (road bike for the missus).

Next road bike is definitely going to be from them I reckon.

Really surprised to hear the problems the guy above has had. Alex, Damir and Martin at the Kingston HQ have been pretty solid to deal with. The duff mechanic they had was pretty crap at ringing me back and answering e-mails to be fair, but he’s long gone now.

I think pinkfish was the forum guy…???

Good spot super furry dude!

The pink one returns with a new name maybe?

Normal folk should engage a pinch of salt or a sense of humour.

I’ve just had a nerve AL8 hd it about 6/7 weeks, had no trouble so far. Would order another one tomorrow if the bank account would let me!
I think whoever you order the bike from they could have problems.

I have seen similar stories to apinkone’s on numerous forums none of which stack up, all contain a mega rant but never real specifics about the problem.

I can’t even see how the frame would prevent the rear mech working as indicated in his post, rather it sounds as simple as gears need setting up. Your rear triangle and derailleur hanger can be miles out after crash damage etc and years of frame abuse yet you can still adjust to get smooth gears.

Good spot sync: But that’s an amazing coincidence: both pinkone(~fish?) and apinkone registered as new members on exactly the same day a few weeks back.

Well blow me down. I thought (s)he was too quiet recently.

May I refer the OP to another thread on a well known bike forum:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10002&t=12789920

55 pages of customer experiences, the vast majority of which are good. There have been a few sagas (none quite like the one above mind!) but most people were either very happy from day 1 (me included) or were after a few niggles were sorted. The odds are in your favour!

Now shackster: that might well be genuine. But you’ve registed yesterday.

And I suspect that we’re all getting our chain w(y)anked today.

#’Edit – given the number of folk and ID’s doing this – its got to be some sort of commercial negative SPAM thing.

Fair point, given the previous posts, but I am a real canyon owner, I promise. Go check out my posts on the other website 🙂

I registered here as I was getting bored of the other place!!

Ok: shackster- that’s a fair point (I post over there sometimes too). If that’s really you over here then I expect a lot more posts here!

Anyway, I got drawn into a bullshit discussion about a year ago.
Then there were a series of about 5 bullshtters that I ignored all in about 3 weeks.

All whinging about the same thing.

So anyway. This post / replies has my back up. There is something else going on. IMO.

I’m a happy 2011 Strive owner. I’ve had various dealings with Canyon over the years and can’t praise them enough. Had a problem with my Reverb seat post earlier this year and boom, sorted it. Last month I sent them an email regarding pivots bearings, they sent me new one’s as a good will gesture. Would buy another in a heartbeat.

I bought a Nerve 7.9 in April. Arrived exactly on schedule in perfect condition. No problems.

I did email Germany once about a parts diagram and got an answer back in 4 hours.

The rear Fox CTD shock started to weep oil recently. A common problem.
I posted it to Mojo for a warranty repair and got a confirmation of delivery the next morning then confirmation of dispatch back to me that afternoon !

I must admit I think some of the problems people report are being manufactured by disillusioned LBS types.

Canyon having just been voted brand of the year by the readers of a German mountain bike magazine, one of the criteria being customer service.

Evening gents…. Guess what… A pink one… Is a gal.

With a skilled mechanic other half who has seen this frame default more than once. Several of your big name manufacturers use this type of hanger with a tab system.

Thing is I actually have a life, and as it was a Friday night I was out in a restaurant with my real live friends rather than responded to your suggestions that I am a troll.

Now….. I have photos of the frame issue that prove all. I will stick them up tomorrow if you bear with me until I get some sleep.

Anyone who is in the central scotland area may indeed recognise me and can vouch for me. As they will know that I have been dealing with this over the months since this began….. Back in JUNE!

The mtb community is not big in scotland. Someone will recognise me, and can shout up that my first ever dealing with this was recently and I am not a forum troll from 1 yr ago.

Does it not occur to you guys that this is different people being treated the same way? Where are the alarm bells?

For every good customer service, there is some very wrong bad customer service and failing to keep to get the legal requirements and protection for UK consumers.

By all means… Call me a troll,…. No wonder people lurk when you jump on them for giving their experiences.

I really did not want to specifically name the employees on a public forum. But one of those names you listed there is one which is supposedly resolving my case. However, this is the person who said ‘ what do you want me to do about it ‘.

Here’s the thing too that might help on your troll quest… I don’t rate LBS any better. I’ve yet to get a bike from a shop that arrives any easier. I use online retailers alot. I like them. Particularly those that use couriers like collect+ service as it’s super handy to return items the wrong size to local drop off point as I often order mens clothing items as women’s are rubbish. And it takes a few tries to get sizing correct. So I am definitely not pioneering LBS.

Von, that is utter bobbins with Canyon…given the amount of positive stuff, it is a real shame that when they fail they do it as spectacularly well as they do the good bits. I hope you get it sorted out…they appear to be good bikes so hopefully this saga will be resolved quickly.

apinkone – I’m interested in seeing your photos, post them up.

Re- credit card chargebacks, when you fill in the claim form you need to supply proof of return IE.tracking number.The item is the property of the card company until you have accepted the transaction.
From the sellers point of view it is theft if you do a chargeback without first returning the item.

It’s always best to deal with the organ grinder rather than the monkey.
Get the name of a person in Germany and deal with them only. Sounds to me like you’ve created confusion !

Maico, pics are on my phone, I am on the ipad the now and going to bed so not going to upload at midnight. I will share the pics of frame fault, brakes that were missing spacers and scratch the one bike arrived with.

My case was passed to Germany (well very heavy Germany accent) gent when first bike went back, then big hoo ha and supposedly passed to another gent by one of names above. But I would swear on anything that it was the same guy.

The funny thing is they also blamed the mess on a mechanic, and said I wasn’t being ignored, and that it was a mechanic who was rude and hung up the phone on me and he was now sacked. And that the reason my second frame never got ordered was because the mechanic who got sacked never did it.

So you guys have possibly uncovered a common story they feed all their complaints issues to buy them more time.

Oh.. And I want to return the item. They were refusing to accept it. I was going to chargeback as a method of forcing them to refund and collect. Been dealing with them today. Taking yet another day off on Monday for ups to collect the bike.

Apparently they hold a database of all warranty claims. Only when a warranty claim exceeds a certain level do they do anything to correct a manufacturing default.

Going to bed. Will come back tomorrow and give you pics and an update. No more trolls claims guys please till I get back. Behave yourselves and go ride your bikes 😉

I don’t think it’s a common story they feed the punters. I’ve been to their HQ to drop the bike off, dealt with the duff guy and also met his replacement who has been pretty straight up with me. This was around May-June.

I was quite patient with the duff one because I really needed my bike for a trip overseas. Didn’t think it’d be a smart move to antagonise the guy who’s fixing my bike. Plus you catch more flies with honey and all that.

If the service is so pants and you’re sure you’re within your rights then lawyer up, or threaten to lawyer up. I’m sure you’ll get the outcome you deserve that way. I’m not sure if you’re serious about police turning up if they don’t send a courier.

Currently have 2 canyons in my bike shed.

I have the Roadlite Alu Sl, had this bike since may an hasn’t dropped a beat, great road bike i use it day to day for training rides and more leisurely rides with friends. Can’t fault the quality and tbh it still hasn’t needed a first service which is remarkable i thought i would be tinkering with gears/brakes by now but nothing.

Other canyon is a Nerve and its a great piece of kit. Again as above its just worked out the box and does the job.

First one i ordered i had a few issues with Barclay Card there excuse was its for a large purchase in germany blah blah, eventually got them to pay canyon. The second time i called barclay card first and told them i was purchasing a bike from germany, they held open a 4 week window for a large purchase so second time went through ok, neither canyons issues.

looks like a mix of good and bad – perhaps highlighting that ALL bikes get niggles and it’s just a bit harder to resolve problems when the bike has been bought mail order.

I guess that the price is so good on these bikes because you are buying at factory gate prices and there’s no distributor or LBS margin (typically 24% – 33% each) – the obvious issue is that that extra fat margin provided a better customer experience.

I saw a picture of the rear disk on apinkone‘s bike – whilst it’s a ten minute job to put the right brake caliper post mount extender on the bike I can’t believe they let the bike out of the factory like that. The scratch wouldn’t bother me but would bother people because it is pretty deep and would put off anyone if you were trying to sell it afterwards. It’s properly obvious.

I sold Formula disk brake systems online in the 90’s – it was a bloody disaster because of about 50 sets I sold, more than half came back with faults. So I know what it’s like and it cost me a small fortune having to “put it right” for customers. Trying to maintain customer expectations in an online context is very very difficult, especially if you sell stuff below normal RRP levels.

uploading the pics the now. i will copy and paste their words on the frame and returns policy.

I checked out canyon online first for reviews and to see other threads for people’s opinions on the service as i was aware i was sacrificing the ability to go into a shop and see the item.

The reviews were all fab. I never came accross anyone who had received a bike which simply did not work at all. Neither did i see any where they had any issues with refunding so it seemed like my money would be safe.

Bear in mind guys, i ordered a Torque DH bike. They have taken several thousands of pounds from me! and not provided a working bike,and been unable to get me a frame that can correctly attach a rear mech too!

and only once they started sending me replacement bikes that were in worse condition than the original did I decide that enough was enough and I wanted my money back.

But.. UPS are coming. But as with it being Canyon they cannot specify a day it will be collected. But this I was aware of from the reviews, so I suppose I cant really moan about it. Since posting this I have now finally had a full apology and some wording about the frame default which I will post up for you all with the pictures.

You can believe or not believe me, but if these post save at least one person from being lumbered with a Torque which is not actual in proper working order then its been worth it.

But Canyon buyers should be very wary of this part of their returns policy . When I asked for a refund, I was told they would prefer to send a 3rd frame. I did not want to go through this any longer and just wanted my money back. This is the initial reply

For the sake of completeness, our return policy is only valid for unused items. This means you cannot force us to return the bike for a refund. You can only ask for a refund if an issue is not solved after the 3rd time or if we refuse to help, this is not the case. If you charge back the amount, we are forced to report the bike as stolen, as our terms clearly state that unpaid items are our property.

Then I had to further argue the bikes had never been used

You guys are more than entitled to believe Canyon are the best company since sliced cheese.

But the forums need to contain people’s bad stories aswell. You lot need to learn not to jump on anyone who gets a bad experience, as they are just as entitled to express their opinion too.

How do I get the pics on here?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum-help/
check out the help