Canyon Aeroad – first rides

Canyon Aeroad – first rides

Firstly brief introduction.  This is written as a review by an owner, trying to be informative as there do not seem to be many substantive Canyon Aeroad reviews around on the internet (and its hard to take seriously the ‘first ride review’ on Bike Radar when you see the picture of the reviewer riding the bike…).  And a disclaimer.  I am an experienced 1^st cat road racer who has been cycling for many years and have reasonable idea of what I like and think is good, but I am not a cycling equipment expert and also not ridden lots of different bikes.  And also while I can try to be objective, there’s not many people who could admit the new bike they’ve just spend a lot of money on is not good.

Firstly some practical details.  As will be aware if done any research on an Aeroad it comes with an Acros headset which has a significant (~18mm) stack height and should allow for this when considering the geometry (although I assume relatively straightforward to fit standard headset if you wanted).  Aeroad’s have shorter headtubes than Canyon Ultimates so should not be problem for most riders.  Also the frame comes with relatively short fork steerer giving max ~15mm spacers between headset and stem, so unlikely to be suitable for riders who /need a relatively upright position (unless angled stem – ugh!). 

Building the bike was all straightforward, and nothing unusual.  Running Campag meant needed to get LBS to fit the press-fit BB cups otherwise no need for LBS.  I was quite careful and methodical with cutting the internal cable liners as first bike for me with internal cables but all seemed pretty easy (as mentioned in previous post, frame came with all the internal liners inserted and ends neatly taped to ensure ends accessible). 

Fairly plain vanilla build – 2011 Chorus, plus Deda stem/bars (not using the Ritchey stem than comes with bike – Canyon did not have 130mm stem available) and Specialized saddle.  And using Mavic Cosmic SLRs with Conti GP4000s tyres. 

Okay, enough procrastination first rides… 

First impression was that bike immediately felt right.  But fair part of that probably due to careful setup to make sure saddle and bars position exactly as per my old race bike, and frame geometry of Aeroad quite similar to my old race bike anyway (a 2004 Giant TCR – note current Giant geometry is bit different (mainly slacker seat angle, so shorter reach)).  Next impression is it is a lot stiffer than my current 2004 Giant that I’ve raced on at start of this season, and way more comfortable.  This of course is hardly surprising given 2004 Giant had relatively modest bottom bracket area and chain stays but still chunky (by current standards) seat stays.  I get onto the more relevant comparison is the team bike 2010 Giant TCR (with Ultegra and same bars/stem/saddle/wheels) that I rode for most of last year shortly.

The handling of the Aeroad feels very good to me.  Probably best way to describe to describe it was very straightforward.  Zipping round a few bumpy corners on the roads near my house there were no surprises, I looked where I wanted to go and the bike went there.  The bike did not give me immediate feeling ‘on this bike I’ll be able to take x corner y km/h faster’ but so far only ridden to/from/around Richmond Park which does not involve any tricky corners.  That said one lady with pushchair did jump out in front of me when swung round corner on Wandsworth one-way system while doing ~50km/h and all felt pretty stable when braked then swerved and then had to swerve other way when she finally saw me and jumped back. 

It is a little tricky to honestly compare a bike now to a bike that I last rode in Oct 2010, but compared to 2010 Giant I think the rear end stiffness is fairly similar, maybe little better but without doubt the Giant was a far harsher ride.  My recollection is the handling of the Giant was bit more planted/solid feeling, that you could really bash through bumps on corners no problem.  The first time I rode Crystal Palace on the 2010 Giant last year I really remember thinking this is so much better than my old Giant, and definitely taking the hairpin few k faster.  I think now my expectations may have been raised, whereas last year I was really blown away by how much same make/model of frame had improved in only 5-6 years.  Of course it would be surprising if front end of Canyon Aeroad was not less stiff that Giant, given super chunky head/top/down tubes on the Giant.  But as say, to me the handling of the Canyon Aeroad feels really good and definitely not left with feeling that have made significant compromise here. 

The Aeroad has the adjustable rake featured and frame was supplied in the ‘agile’ setting.  I did try swapping to the ‘stable’ setting for one ride but to be honest I am not sure I could really tell the difference.  Maybe would have been more noticeable if I’d changed during a ride rather than comparing an ‘agile’ and a ‘stable’ ride on different days.  Expect I will leave on ‘agile’, maybe changing if take bike to the alps or ever ride something like the Rutland. 

Will not say too much on components because there are lots of groupset reviews around, and most people have their own fairly set views anyway.  The latest Campag brakes are very good (I was plenty happy with older Campag brakes) – not sure how much skeleton brakes and how much the new brake compound, but whatever definitely very nice.  It looks like Campag have beefed up the chainrings compared to a few years ago, and chainset does seem a bit more rigid.  But even a Campag fan like me will happily admit that Shimano hollowtech chainsets are simply significantly stiffer laterally (and probably torsionally as well but that’s much harder to judge).  Whether it is the stiffer front mech and/or new XPSS chainrings, front changes are definitely significantly snappier that used to be a few years ago. 

Overall so far very happy with my Canyon, and looking forward to first race on it in coming days.  Lots of other cyclists have said nice things about it – and think most of them genuinely like rather than just being nice to my feelings.  The matt black finish to the frame combined with black 2011 Chorus, gives the bike a fairly distinctive stealth look. 

What negatives can I think of?  Honestly not many (lets quickly forget about the rubbish name).  Obviously there is a modest weight penalty (+180g compared to Canyon Ultimate SLX – and more compared to some of the super light (and super expensive) bikes around at moment).  And there is little information – aside from the much quoted ‘20% less frontal area’ – apart what the aerodynamic advantage might be.  Canyon got fair bit of criticism on various forums for saying not conducted any wind tunnel testing.  But then every manufacturer claims their testing shows their bike is the stiffest/most aero and no-one believes them anyway.  Dealing direct with Canyon – rather than through a bike shop – some people might find as a negative but I found it fine. 

Will post some further thoughts in a few weeks once I’ve done a few longer rides and races on it.