[music] Ollie: This is my new bike and
I absolutely love it. It is a Canyon Ultimate CFR, and it's seriously light. It's UCI illegal light.
In a size medium frame which this is, it's just 641 grams, making it the lightest stock frame I've
ever had. Now, in this video, I'm going to tell you all about it. I'm going to go through
all the features on the bike, why I chose it over a more aerodynamic one, and why I selected all the
different bits and I'm going to weigh it. Before we go any further, I'm going to take a picture of
my bike and upload it to the Bike Vault in the GCN app so you guys can vote, whether you think
it's nice or super nice. [music]
Beginning with the frame, this is a CFR which is Canyon's top of the range frameset. Sai
has an Aeroad CFR, which is the top of the range Aeroad. What tells you this is a CFR,
which stands for Canyon Factory Racing, is this rather saddle logo that you get on the top tube.
There isn't really anything else on it that indicates that, as the shape of the frame is
the same as the other Ultimates, but this one is quite a bit more special. In order for it to have
gone on a diet and be lighter, the CFR makes use of a more sophisticated and refined carbon layup
and also some rather exotic carbon fiber in that layup too, namely something called Toray M40X.
Now, Toray makes carbon for a lot of different bikes and bike brands, but there are different
grades of carbon fiber, and M40X is said to be rather special. It has a higher tensile
strength and a higher tensile modulus than a lot of other carbon fiber used in other bikes.
I'm reliably informed that Canyon had to get special permission from the Japanese military
to use it in my bike and the other CFRs. [music]
I guess you want to know why I chose the Ultimate though and didn't go
for the Aeroad, as I did bang on about Aeroad all the time. Well, for a racing situation,
I would want an Aeroad bike. They are faster. Something that I also really enjoy is just riding
uphills as fast as I can. In that instance, what I want is the lightest bike possible and something
that's really stiff. This is over a kilogram lighter than the Aeroad without even trying.
The other reason is I just really love the Canyon Ultimate. You may remember that prior to this one,
I had a Canyon Ultimate CF SLX. I loved the way that that bike handles particularly on descents.
This one is lighter and it has disk breaks, which is amazing. I mean, that's technological progress,
isn't it? Speaking of which I've got Shimano Dura-Ace throughout and I've got a 160 rotor
on the front and a 140 rotor on the rear. To be honest, I think I've probably changed that.
I'll probably put a 140 on because I don't weigh an awful lot and I feel like a 140 rotor's fine,
probably be a little bit more aero and a little bit lighter as well so gains.
Then I've got some nice light thru-axles on here as well which are hollow, saves quite a bit of
weight, and I'm using lever-less thru-axles, which come in standard on Canyon bikes.
I really like them because they give a really nice clean look at the front of the bike. When
I spin it round, you can see not having that lever there. I just think it looks really clean.
The wheels are Zipp Firecrest 303s, 40 millimeters deep, nice all-round wheel but very light,
1,350 grams a pair, so helps keep the weight down. We're also hookless on tubeless compatible.
I've got them set up tubeless with Pirelli P028 millimeter tires on there. The width of
the rim actually works really nice with that 28-millimeter tire. It's a nice, flush shape.
The bottle cages are Topeak carbon Shuttle cages. They are just 25 grams apiece, so nice and light
and they look stealthy, don't know they? The black against the silver. The saddle is a Selle Italia
SLR Boost. This is quite a new saddle from Selle Italia, and it was actually a saddle that was
recommended to me when I did the ID Match bike fit at their HQ with Manon, well, a good few
months ago now. To be honest, I just finally got on with it. Saddle choice is very personal, but
I find it-- Yes, I don't notice it when I'm riding it, so it stayed on. It's also very nice and
light. It's got carbon rails and a nice big cutout as well, so yes, it helps keep the weight down.
I've got a Shimano Dura-Ace power meter on the chainset, that's 172.5 cranks,
and the chainrings astound at 5339. The cassette is an 1128, but I do swap out the gears. If I'm
going to a mountainous area, I'll put an 1132 on or something like that. I find it works fine
using an 1132 that standard Dura-Ace rear mech as well. I've got speed play pedals on here,
which I've been using for well over a year now. I just find I get on really well with them,
and just the engagement, and the fact that you can clip in on both sides, which is useful when
you're a GCM presenter. We often struggle to clip it in. They're not even the super light ones,
either. They do some mega light titanium axled ones, but these are just the standard steel ones.
The cockpit is Canyon's beautiful one-piece Aero bar and stem. They do actually do
a lighter one for this bike, but this is a standard one of the previous Ultimate.
I like the shape of it because it's got the standard drop bar on it. Also, it's got a 120
stem and it's a 41centimeter wide bar. I've got the integrated mount at the front, which works
really nice with my Wahoo ROAM Computer. You can see the junction box is tucked neatly underneath
the stem, like in the stem. You can see it there, so it's quite nice for easy access if you need to
charge the Di2 or check the level of your battery. I'm 185 centimeters and this is a size medium
frame. This size frame and how I got it set up is what was recommended to me by the ID Match bike
fit I had a few months ago. As I mentioned, 120 millimeters stem, and then I've also got my saddle
height, which is 755 millimeters. Although right now, it's about 820 millimeters and that's because
Alex Payton just borrowed this bike a second ago and I need to adjust it. It looks ludicrous,
doesn't it? [laughs] It's far too high. The saddle layback, the tip of the saddle
matched up to the centerline, the bottom bracket, is 209 millimeters for those that are interested.
The distance from the saddle to the bars is 730 millimeters. A cool little feature that I like
on the Ultimate is the saddle adjustment bolt because it's nice and integrated and hidden,
but still functional. You have this little rubber grommet at the back and you can just pop that out,
and then you have access to the bolt to adjust the seat post. For those who aren't familiar
with this design feature, by having the seat post bolt lower in the frame, you effectively increase
the length of the seat post, meaning it can have greater deflection because it's fixed
at a lower point. Quite an interesting idea, but it's just a really neat design, isn't it?
I know you've been waiting for this. Free up soundcheck. Oh, I'm cold. [chuckles]
Well, my legs have turned to jelly because I've been kneeling down so long. [beep] I can't feel
them. I've got like pins and needles. [laughs] Right. Oh, I'll try not to fall over. Fine.
[background noise] Fruit, fruity. Now having weighed
this absolute weapon back at GCN megabase, I can tell you that it's 6.4 kilograms,
which is so light, but that's with everything that you can see on it here. That's with
the pedals and the head unit and the bottle cages on and everything. It's fully functional and
that's without even trying. I've not tried to make it as light as possible. If you start doing things
like putting a silly light, a Schmolke post in there, and a crazy light saddle instead of
the Italian-made one, that's 59 grams, you can instantly save a good almost 200 grams there.
Put in some crazy light wheels and tires, knock off another half a kilo off the bike,
and well, obviously take the bar tape off and go single ring, go full hill-climb mode,
and you're going to be low five kilos on a bike that has disc brakes. It's insane.
I just think, [vocalization]. I just can't wait to ride up some mountains on it and yes,
perhaps even turn into full-hill climb mode. Sa Calobra beckons. I still want to go back there and
ride up as quick as I can. Sub-30 on Sa Calobra, I'm hoping that this is the bike that's going
to help me do it. I hope you've enjoyed this look at my new bike. I'm a very lucky boy indeed. If
you have, then please give it a thumbs up. I just love lightweight climbing bikes. I know
Aeroad bikes are faster, but when you ride uphill a bike like this just feels amazing. Let us know
what your thoughts are in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next one. Oh, God. I got pins
and needles again. Oh, God. [groans] [00:10:15] [END OF AUDIO]