(clears throat)
(speaking gibberish)
(upbeat music)
- Hello, I'm Henry and welcome to Field Test.
This is the Canyon Lux.
Now, it's a bike that has been a staple
of the brand's range.
And in recent years, the World Cup podium as well.
The 29-inch wheel bike certainly has a racing reputation,
but this isn't just the standard Lux.
No, this is the new 110 mil travel Canyon Lux Trail.
But how much difference can one word really make?
And what happens when it goes against bikes
that don't have the same racing pedigree?
The Lux Trail features a brand new front triangle,
bolted onto the same rear end.
Now, it has more rear travel,
thanks to a change in the shock stroke.
And it also is paired to a 120 mil fork.
A combination of the new front triangle,
as well as the longer fork,
mean it is drastically slacker than the standard Lux.
There are still telltale signs
of its XC racing lineage though,
with a rotation-limiting headset,
as well as the ability to hold two water-bottles
inside the front triangle.
The bike features a huge insertion depth.
And there's fully internal cabling with rubber grommets.
Under Mathieu van der Poel,
the Lux has been responsible for smuggling more budgies
than a black market parakeet purveyor.
And the XC heritage is still felt on the Trail version.
It's actually one of the steeper bikes on test,
with a 67.5 degree head angle,
paired to a 74.5 degree seat tube angle.
The suspension system on the Lux
is targeted at that typical XC crowd.
And is designed to be very light.
In fact, the rear end uses its travel
with a flexing system.
That means it saves weight on any hardware and bearings
and all the associated (indistinct) you need,
when you put a pivot in the rear triangle.
Our test bike came equipped
with 120 mil travel RockShox SID fork,
which features the new slimmed down charger damper.
Now, that is paired to a 55 mil stroke standard eyelet
RockShox's Deluxe Ultimate rear shock.
So, we've come to Pemberton,
where we've been trying to avoid the rain.
And I've been trying to avoid Michael Levy's obsession
with UFO documentaries every single night.
It's just too much.
But how does the Canyon Lux compare?
Well, let's find out.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, those are all the details
on the Canyon Lux Trail CF 8.
Let's get into the right impressions.
And of course, we'll start with climbing.
Henry, how's your time climbing on that Canyon?
- The Canyon is a strange bike in some ways.
And I think it's held back
by a strange way to size the bike.
So, a medium had a quite a long effective top tube
and a reach of 460 millimeters.
And it's the only bike in the whole test
that we were riding the medium in.
The large would've had a top tube,
effective top tube of 650 millimeters
and it becomes a big, old bike.
So, this thing is seated.
It's effective top tube is actually pretty good.
I think it's about 625 or something like that.
And you can even manipulate your weight.
It's not so bad.
It's not the most-
It's a strange bike to ride.
It's not the most grippy bike.
It's not the most efficient bike.
It's not the lightest bike.
But it's also-
it seems to have all of its design cues
pointing towards that's what it should be.
And it doesn't really deliver.
- I wanna go back to that effective top tube.
That all comes back to that seat tube angle, doesn't it?
Because we definitely have some things to talk about
with that seat tube on this bike.
But, the seat tube angle, Henry,
what did you think of that?
- I thought the seat tube angle-
well, what the mystery behind this bike is,
it's actually a new front triangle paired up
to the pre-existing Lux rear triangle.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Henry] They changed the stroke length
to get up to 110 mil travel at the back.
So, they, kind of-
(laughs) they've, kind of, given this bike
the down-country treatment, the trail treatment.
And not really done all too much with it.
Like, it's not that much slacker.
It's not too much deeper.
But what they did do
is they added 30 mils of reach per size.
So suddenly,
what you think you know about how this bike's gonna feel,
goes out of the window.
I tried riding a large.
I'm 6-foot and it was very uncomfortable.
This medium is better.
- [Mike] Let's talk about how this thing climbs.
I mean, we definitely have some criticisms.
But it's efficient though, Henry.
And the position that it puts you in?
- [Henry] It's not just about-
you know, the bike felt okay out of the saddle.
And definitely I've seen no place for a lockout
to improve this bike for me in the trails I ride.
Maybe, if you're on a long-graded cycle path.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- [Henry] Potentially.
But it just felt like a really confused bike.
- [Mike] Yeah, I'm gonna defend
the bike a little bit here, Henry.
This whole, like, "made a down-country" thing.
I mean, if we look at these bikes that we have here,
it's a pretty wide spectrum of bikes.
And it's clear that Canyon and the Santa Cruz,
the Blur that we also have,
they definitely lean more
towards their cross-country routes.
- [Henry] Yes.
- [Mike] And, I think that makes-
I mean, very clearly,
it means that the bike isn't quite as capable.
Now, there's some fundamental issues with this frame, Henry,
like you mentioned.
The seat tube length and the seat tube angle,
I'm just scratching my head about.
But on the other hand,
I would argue that there are a lot of places in the world
where a bike like this might be something
that would suit a lot of riders.
(upbeat music)
- Yeah, speaking of capable,
we should probably move into the descending section.
- Yeah.
- Sounds like it's, kind of, middle of the road.
Not the best climber.
Yeah actually, we didn't mention the weight too much yet.
It's not the lightest bike either, right?
It looks like, from a distance it looks,
"Oh, that looks (Henry laughs)
like a light cross-country bike."
But on a scale-
- [Henry] Yeah, it's the second heaviest bike on test.
And the strange thing about it, is this weird contradiction,
where there's so much about this bike
that should prioritize climbing.
But some spec choices that just don't make sense.
And you come on to descending,
and there it seems like some spec choices,
that seem to actively choose to hold you back.
- I think I know where you're going with this, Henry.
So, what Canyon's done here is that the seat tube-
how long is the seat tube by the way?
- [Henry] I believe it's 465 for a medium.
- [Mike] It's 465 millimeters long for a medium,
which is 20 something millimeters too long (indistinct).
And then it has a 150 mil drop per seatpost-
- [Henry] 125 mil drop per seatpost.
- Let's just say that you can get the seat out of the way,
if that was possible.
How does the bike handle on those descents?
- It's very cross-country focused, for sure.
When you're in the saddle covering ground,
say, on like rolling terrain,
it definitely puts you in a position
that you wanna be on the gas.
You know, its flattish handlebar,
a little bit longer position, of course,
like, you want to be pedaling hard.
And, the harder you pedal,
the better the bike feels.
But, Henry, what happens when the terrain goes
from this to this? (Henry laughs)
- It's a bike,
I wouldn't say it's particularly comfortable to ride.
It's probably the most fatiguing of the bikes.
And it also, it bottoms out a lot.
But you don't wanna go any higher spring rate
because comfort is already so heavily on your mind.
- How much sag were you running?
- I think off the top of my head,
I think it's probably around 23 or 24%.
- Yes.
- And I'm bottoming out like often and hard.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- [Henry] And it seems like,
if that is gonna be the case,
and you gonna be bottoming out a lot,
then I don't like that comfort.
Like I said, I think there's so many things about this bike
and even the silhouette of them,
the Santa Cruz and the Canyon don't look that dissimilar.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- [Henry] But the Santa Cruz manages
to hold onto so many traits,
that it feels like the Canyon should have been aiming for.
- Yeah, Henry, you touched on something there,
the rear suspension.
We're seeing companies come out
with 100 millimeter, 120 millimeter bikes
that are letting you run a lot of sag,
they're pedaling well,
they're not bottoming out,
they're giving you a lot of support.
Like, they're squeezing a hell of a lot
into like a little, tiny thing.
But that's, as you said,
that's definitely not the case with the Canyon.
- No, and I wonder if there's maybe the hangover
of using the same rear triangle as the standard Lux.
And just changing the stroke on the shock.
I mean, it's not all doom and gloom.
This wasn't a sloth bike on test,
thanks to the quirks (indistinct) live valve
saved any blushes on the Canyon and as the Santa Cruz
and the times were very similar.
(upbeat music)
- Let's move on to some component specs.
You know, this is a down-country bike.
But maybe a little confused down-country bike.
What stood out as good, bad, anything?
- I think the first thing we have to talk about
is the SID that's on the front of the bike.
We've all been impressed with SIDs in the past.
But we've all ridden SIDs that have bushing play.
We've seen a couple of them over the last-
well, more than a couple over the last year,
since they've been released.
And we have two more of them here at the Field Test,
including the one on the front of the Canyon.
So, it feels like a loose headset.
It's a warranty issue.
But it's still annoying
and you're still gonna have to send it away
and get it fixed.
- And something I did like about the Canyon,
and speaking of the track
is the rotation-limiting component in the headset.
I think is a far better execution.
I think that was actually way better.
And also it does have a really, really tidy chain-device.
I think it's about seven grams.
There's no reason not to have it on there.
It's really well executed and it's really smart.
- Henry, what about the brakes?
I'm going to defend the brakes, but I know that you are not.
- You know, (sighs) the breaks are too small
and it just not let the (indistinct).
Get rid of the remote lockout.
Do you want it for my money?
I'd say, get rid of the excess access
and put on bigger brakes.
Why deny one of the simple pleasures in life
of riding a bicycle fast downhill with breaks
that are scary.
- So, I will admit
that yes, (Henry laughs)
the 2-piston level brakes,
they're not great.
There's not a ton of power.
But also, Henry, we're getting on and off bikes.
Some of these bikes have 4-piston XT brakes
that we're riding.
And then we're getting on 2-piston levels.
They're not meant to compete
with those 4-piston XT brakes.
It's a different thing.
And we've already said that this bike comes
from a more cross-country point of view.
(upbeat music)
- We talked about some of the spec choices on this bike.
But let's talk about some of the other models
and see if any pose a good value (indistinct)
should maybe potentially avoid.
What'd you find?
- I think the 4,000 Lux Trail with the SLX.
That's like a really good bike.
$4,000, you got the same frame and Fox performance
and it looks really good.
- A good bike or more value?
I think you mean more value. - It's gonna be more value
on the same bike, yeah.
Our bike was the CF 8.
And even that should represent a pretty good value at 6,300.
And you could go up to 7,000 (indistinct),
which is a lot of money.
But, you would get the top-line bike,
which does have a pretty impressive spec.
- Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- We've touched on a few of the pros and cons already.
But let's break them down.
So, for you, what are the pros of the Canyon?
- All right, you know me kids.
I like to be cheerful and positive.
- Mr. Happy.
Yeah, so obviously the Canyon has some shortcomings here.
But there are many places in the world,
where this could be a great bike and many riders.
So, if you're not somebody
who needs to ride the steep things,
or you don't care how fast you're going on the descent.
You just wanna cover a lot of ground.
Well, then it might be an option that works for you.
(upbeat music)
- Listen, I think it's good value.
However, I think the geometry has some strange dimensions
in there.
I think there are some spec choices
which again, I've questioned.
I don't quite understand.
And I think, the bike itself doesn't really-
even if we're looking
at the more efficient XC orientated bikes,
it can't really stack up to anything like the Santa Cruz,
except in terms of value.
(upbeat music)
- That brings us to our final point.
Who is this bike for?
It seems like a bit of a confused bike.
So, who's the ideal rider?
- (sighs) Well, I think I've summed it up pretty good
in the pros.
Again, it's just somebody who's not concerned
with pushing the limits on the descents.
If you're somebody who-
you think about hitting that corner harder
than the last time,
or maybe there's some small jumps on the trails
that you like, that kind of thing.
This isn't an ideal bike for that.
But, if those things aren't on your list of to-dos,
then I don't see why this bike couldn't work for you.
- I think, yeah.
Somebody that definitely has pedaling in mind.
I think it's probably more suited,
it sounds a bit silly
but to an off-road cyclist,
rather than a mountain biker.
It's got the two water-bottles.
If you weren't demanding bottom-up resistance,
you probably want it slightly softer,
make it a bit more comfortable,
make use of that beautiful lockout
and you'd be away.
- Savage, Henry. - I think the people
that wanna cover some miles.
You're offer it to bicyclists,
they are in for a treat.
- Yes, so, there you go.
This sounds like,
this is actually the Canyon Lux XC ATB.
- [Henry] Yeah, I would say so.
(Mike laughs)
- Heavens, new categories.
- Yeah, exact-
- (indistinct) pissed off, man.
(everyone laughs)
- New categories all the time.
So, thanks for watching.
Be sure to like, to subscribe
so you can stay up-to-date
in all the latest Field Test content.
We've got a bunch more coming
and we'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)