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If there was one bike missing from the Canyon range then it was a 29er trail bike, that gap has now been plugged with the all-new 2021 Canyon Spectral 29.
If you Google "Canyon Spectral 29" then you won't be too surprised to see that the concept of having a 29er trail bike in the Canyon range is nothing new, but it has been missing for a few years.
When Canyon updated the Spectral range with its fantastic new frame design and 3 phase suspension platform, the German maker concentrated on a 27.5in model available in either alloy, carbon/alloy or full carbon frame options. Until now, riders wanting a modern 29er Canyon trail/enduro bike didn't really have a choice but to go for the full fat Strive Enduro race bike.
For 2021 the 29er trail segment gap has been filled with the Spectral 29, don't think of this as simply a bigger Spectral though, this is completely new.
Audio credit: www.bensound.com
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0:00
[Music]
0:03
hey everyone andy here
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in warncliff woods and i'm waiting for
0:06
my brother
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so we can do some more trails and play
0:10
around in the mud
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and as you can see i'm on this the brand
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new canyon
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spectral
0:16
[Music]
0:28
hey everyone andy sykes here and today
0:30
we're going to take a look at this the
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2021 canyon spectral
0:33
cf-29 9.0 the cf for the carbon fiber
0:37
frame
0:37
the 29 for the wheel size and the 9.0
0:40
for this
0:41
build which is the top of the range
0:43
rockshox build
0:44
we'll get on to that in a second so
0:47
canyon when developing this bike
0:49
they didn't want to just take the old 27
0:51
fireframe
0:52
tweak it a little bit and put big wheels
0:54
in they wanted to create
0:56
a whole new frame specifically designed
0:59
for trail riding
1:00
with 29-inch wheels don't think of this
1:03
as a replacement to the strive
1:05
this is still a trail bike this drive is
1:07
still their enduro machine
1:09
and although this has got more travel
1:11
150 at the front and on the rear
1:13
it is still designed as a trail bike
1:16
now the carbon fiber frame although it
1:19
looks similar to the 27.5 inch bike
1:21
is completely different for example the
1:24
geometry has changed
1:25
the carbon fiber tube the profiles have
1:28
changed and also the layup of the bike
1:30
has been changed
1:31
and that's been done to increase the
1:33
stiffness while not
1:34
really adding a lot of weight to the
1:36
frame so this is still a lightweight
1:37
bike
1:38
but it's also a much stiffer and
1:40
stronger bike
1:41
canyon have tested this to category four
1:44
and that's just
1:45
one below full on red bull ready so
1:48
category five is red bull rampage and
1:50
full on downhill racing
1:52
category four is full-on enduro racing
1:54
this is a trail bike that can
1:56
really take a hammering so you don't
1:58
need to worry about any
2:00
damage or problems with the you know big
2:02
jumps and stuff this thing can handle it
2:04
all really
2:05
okay so some of the cool features on
2:07
this compared to the 27.5
2:09
are the fact that for starters this has
2:12
a
2:12
shorter seat here but increases the
2:14
standover height
2:16
canyon have managed to do that by
2:17
changing the seat clamp from the wedge
2:20
on the 27.5 to this clamp design
2:23
yeah it's a more traditional design but
2:25
it means a lower standover
2:27
it means less weight and it means that
2:28
they've been able to change the
2:29
aesthetics of this tube
2:32
another change on this frame compared to
2:34
the 27.5
2:35
is the cable and hose routing the 27.5
2:38
inch bike
2:39
has a bolt on plastic cover on the down
2:41
tube
2:42
and all the cables and hoses cleverly go
2:44
in there it's a really smart way of
2:46
partially integrating the cable and hose
2:48
routing
2:49
now kenyan didn't want to do that to
2:51
this bike they spent a lot of time on
2:52
those profiles
2:53
to make sure that this was a stiff bike
2:55
they didn't want to start cutting shapes
2:56
into it
2:57
so what they've done is they've given
2:58
this bike fully guided internal cable
3:01
and hose routing and what that means is
3:03
you pop a hose on the top you thread it
3:05
through and it'll pop out the end
3:06
you don't need to fish around with it
3:08
you don't need to use cables and magnets
3:10
and flashlights to get in there and see
3:12
where your cables are
3:13
it makes it much easier and faster to
3:16
look after this bike
3:17
it also means that the cables and the
3:19
hoses can't rattle around
3:20
inside the frame so it makes this bike
3:22
extremely quiet
3:24
on the trail another change on this over
3:27
the 27.5
3:28
is the fact that because this is a much
3:30
lower frame and the tube profiles have
3:31
been changed
3:32
you'll see that even if you're in a
3:34
crash the crown can't hit the down tube
3:37
and your brake lever can't hit the top
3:38
tube so can you have been able to remove
3:41
the knock
3:41
block feature again saving more weight
3:44
so a lot of cool neat things on this
3:47
that make it a
3:48
new 29er specific bike
3:51
let's have a look it's gonna be fun this
3:54
so we've got 150 mil travel on this bike
3:57
this is the rock shark equipment
4:00
there's also a fox equipped bite with
4:02
160 mil fork
4:04
uh let's continue what's gonna go the
4:08
other way
4:10
so when kenya were developing this bike
4:12
they didn't just take the old 27 frame
4:15
and put 29 inch wheels on they built
4:18
something completely new
4:20
so they've rebuilt this bike from the
4:23
ground up
4:24
it's got new geometry more travel
4:28
it's got some new cool features like
4:30
replaceable thread inserts for the
4:32
pivots
4:33
so you don't need to worry about
4:35
stripping threads when you're working on
4:36
your bike
4:38
they played with a kinematic steer so it
4:41
climbs even better
4:42
than the 27 bike but it's still poppy
4:45
and playful too
4:46
so though it is 150 mil travel trail
4:48
bike it's not
4:50
a full-on enduro bruiser like this drive
4:55
it also doesn't have a shape shifter
4:56
like the drive but it does have a flip
4:59
chip
5:00
knocking half a degree off the head
5:02
angle
5:05
this bike is the cf 9.0
5:08
so it's rockshox equipped it's a dt
5:11
swiss carbon wheels
5:13
sram x01 eagle drivetrain it's got
5:17
g2 brakes on it too canyon have
5:20
redeveloped the frame with new geometry
5:22
and the geometry is actually really
5:23
progressive for a canyon bike
5:25
it's already mentioned 77 degree seat
5:27
tube angle 65 degree head angle
5:29
this large bike is a reach of 485 which
5:33
is really impressive
5:34
for a canyon trail bike and it's only 10
5:37
millimeters less than the
5:38
commensal meta am29 enduro race bike
5:42
so it's pretty bonkers but it's super
5:45
nice it doesn't feel
5:46
too long feels playful on the downs
5:50
comfy on the up not too long easy to hop
5:53
around
5:54
took you to warm cliff the other day and
5:55
it was such a good ride
5:57
so much fun on this bike
6:01
it's a fast and playful machine
6:05
with nice puffy geometry and kinematics
6:09
i've been riding this bike for a while
6:10
now and if you have a listen to it
6:12
it's ultra quiet there's no
6:16
knocking there's no banging tables out
6:18
wobbling around inside the bike
6:20
you don't hear the chain just here the
6:23
tires gripping the ground
6:25
and that's partly because canyon is
6:28
using a new
6:29
internal cable routing system but it's
6:32
also because
6:33
it's got a lot of rubber armor around
6:36
the chainstay
6:37
around the down tube and even in the
6:41
even in the chain guide there's rubber
6:43
armor
6:44
to make sure it's super quiet and it is
6:49
sounds so good
7:02
this is exactly what the new canyon is
7:05
designed for
7:06
trail riding and this stuff around
7:09
warfare
7:10
is really good fun it's a big difference
7:13
what i normally ride locally
7:15
it's a bit shorter and steep of a super
7:17
good fun
7:18
and the canyon eats it all up and it's
7:21
dried it's not in its stride but
7:23
right really nice
7:27
geometry on this bike really nice fast
7:30
rolling thanks for 290 wheels
7:34
and lightweight frame yeah these trails
7:37
are short but sweet
7:38
now i've already mentioned how quiet
7:40
this bike is because of the internal
7:42
cable routing
7:42
but canyon have really worked hard to
7:44
make sure that this is a super quiet
7:46
bike and again working with the
7:48
mechanics
7:48
on the enduro world series they've
7:50
managed to create this
7:52
really nice rubber armor in all the
7:54
right places to prevent the chain from
7:56
flapping around
7:57
and actually we had a conversation with
7:59
canyon and they mentioned that they
8:00
wanted riders to
8:01
hear the tires on the trail not the
8:04
chain
8:04
rattling around
8:20
okay if we move on to the suspension as
8:22
already mentioned 150
8:23
mil i've traveled front and rear and
8:25
we've got this three
8:26
phase suspension platform and this is
8:29
something that we've seen from canyon
8:30
for
8:30
a couple of years now we saw it on the
8:32
27.5
8:33
inch spectral we've seen it on the
8:36
torque and we've seen it on the
8:37
downhill frame as well the sender now
8:39
this three-phase
8:40
suspension platform means that it's
8:43
supple over small bumps
8:45
it has a really nice pedal platform so
8:47
it's not bobbing around
8:48
and then it ramps up it's super
8:50
progressive to make sure it's poppy and
8:52
playful
8:52
now it has been changed a little bit for
8:54
this 29er bike it's
8:56
the kinematics have been changed this
8:58
bike is still
8:59
super progressive in fact it's so
9:01
progressive you
9:03
could run a coil it's not really
9:05
designed to run a coil but it is
9:07
progressive enough that you could run a
9:09
coil
9:09
if you wanted but they've improved the
9:12
um
9:13
platform so that it climbs much better
9:15
than previously
9:16
and it still retains that really nice
9:18
poppy and playful nature
9:20
as i've already mentioned it is a
9:22
two-niner it has got the geometry of an
9:24
enduro bike
9:25
it has the travel of an enduro bike but
9:27
it is a trail bike
9:29
so it's still got a poppy and playful
9:31
feel on the trail
9:33
and it loves to change direction it
9:35
flicks in
9:36
and out of corners really well and that
9:38
partly is down to that
9:39
really nice stiff frame you can really
9:42
force the bike into a corner kick up
9:45
some hero dirt
9:46
and fly off down the trail it's a super
9:49
fun
9:49
bike
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