- For today's video I've headed out to Germany
to meet our new partners of the channel, Canyon.
Now, I think it's quite fair to say that Canyon
have made quite a mark in the cycling and triathlon world
over the last decade.
In triathlon alone, they've helped produce
three Ironman world titles
and an iron-distance record on their Canyon Speedmax.
And guess what?
Today, I'm picking up my very own Canyon Speedmax.
Now, interestingly,
anyone can actually buy a bike
from Canyon and come to this factory
to collect their very own bike.
But, the bit that they don't get to do,
is head behind these doors beside me.
So, before I actually collect my bike,
I'm gonna be taking a little look around the factory
and making of the Canyon Speedmax.
(mid-tempo electronic music)
Right, so what is actually behind these doors?
Well, we have literally every bike
that you would want to try.
Sizes, models, everything is here including the mechanics.
So, every bike that you purchase is built here by hand
by the very well-trained mechanics,
and then you can either collect it
or have it shipped out to you.
I've got mountain bikes here, road bikes,
cyclocross bikes, city bikes,
but I can't quite see the Speedmax just yet
so let's just keep searching.
♪ Slow a little down is what you said ♪
♪ I'ma get it over in my head ♪
♪ White tee shirt, blue jeans ♪
♪ And I can never get enough of you ♪
♪ Never get enough, never get enough ♪
- Right, well this is the star of the show,
the Canyon Speedmax,
and I am really lucky here because I'm sandwiched between
the bikes of two Ironman world champions.
Right here, I have Patrick Lange's 2017
Ironman World Championship-winning bike.
The actual bike that he won the race on.
And then behind me I have Jan Frodeno's
Ironman 70.3 World Championship-winning bike from this year.
It's literally come straight from the race to the factory
to be serviced right here.
It is an absolute beauty.
It's clearly a fast bike,
but with that it also needs to be comfortable and functional
for something like an Ironman.
That's quite a big ask for a bike like this.
So, there's clearly been a lot of work that's gone into this
and that is what I'm really interested in today.
I want to find out about those different stages
and the work that has gone into creating a bike like this.
(light electronic music)
Alright, well I am now here
with the design engineer for Canyon, Wolfgang.
Now Wolfgang, you were involved in the design
of the Canyon Speedmax.
What went into sort of the design of it
and were there any inspirations that were involved with it?
- So, the bike we have here brought out in 2015,
was inspired by the previous version I would say.
So, we have a very edgy design.
Always straight, radius straight radius.
And basically we made a triathlon bike
out of a TT bike we had before,
from 2013 to 15.
- Brilliant, so it's obviously gone through
a lot of development along the way.
How do you go about that,
are there prototypes made as you go?
- Yeah sure, we print I would say
two to three different prototypes
of the complete bike for different stages,
so one is more or less for the design.
The other one is used for cable routing
and wind tunnel testing,
and then we have the final version also printed.
- [Mark] So that's all 3D printed.
Obviously, that's not ridable but you get an idea for it
and how it looks and how it works.
- Yeah, you can check everything you need.
So, yeah especially the cable routing for TT bikes is
pretty tough
and then it's very good that you can check it out
before you have a carbon frame.
- Super, well you are really fortunate.
You work with some of the top athletes
in the sport of triathlon.
How are they involved in the design
and the development of the Speedmax?
- Depending on the rider
we give them the material very early
so they really ride prototypes from time to time.
The carbon structure is completely done at this time,
but little things like the drinking and storage system
is still in development,
so they are really helping us.
Riding the bikes hard on the course and the training.
And yes, they give us feedback, whatever they need.
- So, they really are involved and sort of influence
that end product that consumers are buying?
- Sure, yeah.
Especially this block here
was done by Jan Frodeno and his manager
because they said too much liquid is coming out
of the bottle of our previous version.
So, they said we need something
which is really sealing the bottle.
It's done by Jan.
- Brilliant, well I believe this is where
it gets quite special for me
because I may not be going through all
the wind tunnel testing and track testing,
but I'm getting quite looked after here today.
I am getting similar bike fitting
as the likes of Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange.
I believe there's a new bike
sat somewhere around here for me.
- Maybe you're lucky, we can try to find it.
- Lets go!
Oh this is really exciting, it's like Christmas!
- Mark come over here,
I've found something suitable for you.
- Nice.
Brilliant, look at that.
This is something else.
Now, I've had a few new bikes days,
I've been fortunate to have a few new bike days in my time,
but this has gotta trump them all.
I'm really excited to see the attention to detail we go to
when we're dialling me in on this bike.
Nice.
(chilled out beat music)
I've just come through to the testing lab
where a lot of the pre-production wizardry goes on.
Obviously, the testing of the products,
but we also have the bike fitting area.
My Speedmax is already waiting for me
and Daniel is around there,
and he's gonna get me set up on my Speedmax.
Okay Daniel, what are we actually gonna be doing today then?
- So yeah, okay welcome to Canyon
and our little fitting area.
We will do our usual fitting process.
We are splitting it into three different sections.
The first section will be a static fit.
So, we will look into your body,
we will measure your different body dimensions.
Then we will see if we can adjust.
That's the next step,
to adjust your bike to your body dimensions.
And the third part would be a dynamic fit
in order to validate if we did everything right or wrong.
(slow electronic music)
- Okay, so whilst Daniel's marking me up,
it's probably worth me saying
this is quite special treatment.
Not everyone who buys a bike from Canyon
gets to come through here
and get this level of attention and detail given to them.
This is really kinda the pro treatment.
So, I'm really quite lucky to be through here now.
I'm quite excited to see what comes out of it.
("In Your Arms" by Hen Yao)
Okay, we're really fine-tuning things now,
I'm on the bike now trying it all out.
As you can tell, I'm absolutely slammed right now.
So, we've still got a few changes to make.
I think we're gonna raise the pads around 30 mil
and gonna move the arm poles in a little bit
and the arm rests.
And yeah, I think we're more or less there.
Well, this has been an incredible day so far.
I'm feeling extremely spoiled.
I'm feeling very well set up and honed
into my position on my bike,
thanks to the guys at Canyon.
And, I've got to be honest,
this is the most attention and the most time
that anyone has ever given me
when it comes to setting me up on my bike.
And at the end of the day,
I am no Patrick Lange, Daniela Sammler,
Jan Frodeno and so on.
So, quite rightly, I probably only got a fraction
of the amount of time that is spent on those guys.
So, I'm starting to really understand how Canyon
and the bike have been so instrumental
in creating those world titles
and such impressive performances.
And I guess my takeaway experience from today
has been that it's all about fitting the bike to the athlete
rather than the other way around,
trying to fit the athlete to the bike.
And on that note, as I've said,
I'm feeling so honed on my bike in the lab.
So, now it's time for its maiden voyage.
I'm gonna take this out on the open road.
(rhythmic rock music)
Well, this is a seriously nice bike.
You can really tell the triathlete's been thought about
in the production of this bike,
and obviously taking feedback from the pro athletes
that they support.
This isn't just some UCI Time Trial bike
that you just happen to swim before and run after.
This has been designed specifically
with triathletes in mind.
(upbeat rock music)
It is a thoroughly well-developed bike
and the results have proven that,
and the beauty of it all is that we can ride the same
or very, very similar to that of the world champions.
But the bit that's been the real insight of today,
and isn't quite so available to all of us,
is that support that goes on behind the scenes.
I've been really fortunate today
to sample just a little bit of that and can definitely see
how it's produced such results.
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