- Well, it's all about racing here today on GMBN.
We're in the South of France
with the Canyon Factory Race Team.
And we'll be taking a look at the Strive CFR.
Now, if you recall in 2019 Canyon featured quite prominently
in the Enduro World Series with top five placings
in both the men and the women.
Dimitri Tordo and Florian Nicolai for the men,
and of course Ines Thoma in the women's.
But, it's this what we've come to see.
The all new Strive CFR, one of the lightest in the range.
And a bike that is designed for arguably
one of the toughest sports in the world, Enduro.
(fast-paced exciting music)
(bike tires on dirt)
All the action and detail then here today
from the Altmeyer team.
Let's start off then with
some of the highlights of this bike.
Beginning maybe with the wheels.
29 inch Zipp Carbon Moto Wheels.
The drive frame, fully electronic,
as too is the seat post.
Now, when it comes to the amount of suspension on this bike,
we've got 155 mil on the rear,
and 170 mil up front.
It's a full carbon frame from front to rear,
plus the big difference on this bike is
the 300 grams saving on the frame alone.
Canyon say this bike is optimized
in both flex and stiffness.
Plus of course one thing which is central
to this Canyon bike, which is not on any other Canyon bike.
And that is the shapeshifter technology.
Which means this bike can metamorphose between
135 mil and 155 mil.
(electronic music)
Now Canyon have very kindly invited us
to ride this lightweight race machine
with the Canyon factory team.
Now, I mentioned earlier about metamorphosis
and shapeshifting.
I'm about to be joined by someone who has actually
transformed themselves over the years.
Sometimes good, sometimes not so good.
A man who has won the 2004/2005 world down championship.
He was the opening winner of the Enduro World Series
in Perdala in 2013.
Actually on the first of the Strive bikes.
A man that who is widely regarded
as one of the great analysts of the sport, Fabien Barel.
- You're being too nice, thank you.
How is things, you good? - Well, I haven't-
Yeah.
Hey listen, we're talking racing today, Fabien.
It's all about the fine margins, right?
- Yeah it's correct.
Like I mean, from downhill all the way to Enduro now
we definitely can creating and trying to go
as fine details to get our riders to perform
and you can imagine that bike performance always been
and always will be the key to ... under a racing.
- [Presenter] Let's talk about the frame in a minute.
Now, can I just ask you a question.
Obviously the Canyon race team have access to bikes
such as the Torque and 180 mil travel,
or maybe the Spectral at 160 mil travel.
Why is it this bike that the team focuses on to race?
- Well, this is the real Enduro bike.
As you say, you have the Spectral that is 140,
that is the trail bike, fun bike to ride.
Then you have the Torque
that we will call the bike park bike
where you can go and play with et cetera.
But the Strive, is efficiency into the trail
and the way you're going to bring the right combo
for uphills, pedaling versus downhill efficiency.
You got now, like especially on that new version
you got the 170 mil travel with 155 on the rear
which bring obviously an excellent balance
and about 66 degree an angle, 65 and a half now
so you can be very aggressive.
And the whole big news about this new frame
is that we did develop a new carbon layer
that gave us a better, you know,
optimization in terms of weight
but also in terms of stiffness as you said.
(funky upbeat music)
(bike tires on dirt)
- So this is the big news,
we've got a 300 gram weight saving on this frame
compared to the other Strive bikes.
Now, we talked how the mountain bike industry
loves talking about optimization.
It's, some people say, yeah stiffer the better
but it's not just about stiffness, is it?
It's about the right balance between the right flex
and the right stiffness
because the ride after all,
it impacts on the fatigue of a rider, right?
If the bike is too stiff, it becomes very tiring to ride.
- [Fabien] You're totally right.
Something that people needs to keep in mind
is that the overall mountain bike industry
is also driven by price point.
And sometimes what you will develop into racing
is not always going into the final end consumer
for the fact that it actually makes the bike too expensive.
And um, in our case, we developed a certain carbon layer
back in the days, to be able to sell the bike
which is already a super performing bike.
And we did develop another one on racing
that is now accessible to the general public.
And this frame is definitely different
in terms of carbon layer.
So it's all both frames are in carbon
but the lay up is different
that is obviously optimizing the weight
as you say for the 300 grams.
But also provides the right amount of thickness.
So you do understand, that if tomorrow I give a bike
that is completely weak in frontal stiffness,
you will especially on the 29 inch wheel
too much lack of control when it's the moment
to put the bike in line.
But if tomorrow I bring too much lateral stiffness
and you get into a corner where you have rough impact
actually instead of driving speed into the corner
you will actually slowing down by all the lateral forces
that will engage especially on your rear wheel.
So the right amount of stiffness is, from my perspective
a front triangle that we provide the stability you need
between the bottom bracket, and the handlebar.
But you will looking at certain lateral flexibility
between the BB and the real axle.
So this will allow certain driving,
and the right amount of stiffness
when it's moment of panic,
And that's what the optimization is.
( electronic music)
(bike tires on dirt)
- So like I said, the Frenchman is known for
transformative stuff. He is now Fabien the racer!
Fabian ah let's quickly talk about Shapeshifter,
now this is an evolution of the system.
Shapeshifter changes 3 things,
it changes the travel sagin geometry, right.
- (Fabien) Yeah You're totally correct.
I mean the point of the Shapeshifter is to
mechanically change the kinmatic that obviously
completely offset the balance of the bike.
You will have now, with this new update version,
normal need of syncronization of what's
happening between the handle bar remote,
and the system itself.
You just have to take care of pressing the click
on and off button on the Shapeshifter,
and the bike will mechanically transform in
one position or the other.
- (Presenter) can you give us an insight into how
a Enduro racer will use Shapeshifter during
a day on the trails.
- So the most obvious situation is when
you arrive at the bottom of a downhill
this moment to go up, just pressing the
uphill mode.
But there is also the efficiency choice once you
get used to the system and obviously
with the remote of the seatpost, getting used
to the overall manipulation, then you will
use it into the stage.
Like every single climb, or even flatter terrain,
you will bring the bike into uphill mode
and reduce the travel that you will want.
- (Presenter) Yeah, and hence gaining those
precious tenth seconds!
- Yeah, and um I mean clearly, into racing as you know
once those guys are very dialed I would say
if you're going to use ten times your gearing
you might chose 5 or 6 times your seatpost
you probably use 3 or 4 times with the Shapeshifter.
(bike tires on dirt)
(instrumental music)
- (Fabien) This is the perfect opportunity just to
click the bike in uphill mode.
Click it!
(bike tires on dirt)
- (Fabien) There we go, saddle down and you
can keep it uphill mode.
Just the way it is.
(Bike tires breaking)
- (Presenter) There's a few nifty bit of tech
that come as part of the strive CFR package.
First of all, is the Tyrewiz.
Now Tyrewiz monitors air pressure in real time,
and relays this information back to your
smartphone or your computer on your bike.
Obviously tire pressure is important for many reasons,
such as rolling resistance, traction, and of course
rider control.
So, you can actually make some really
accurate decisions while you're out on the trail.
(electronic music)
Now another bit of tech which comes part of the
strive CFR package is the Shockwiz.
Now the Shockwiz records and evaluates the suspension
before every time you ride your bike.
And remember all that information can then be available
to you on the special Shockwiz app.
Its recording such things as the air pressure, as the spring
raters, compression, and rebents.
So it enables you to get the optimum, spot on,
set up! Which can sometimes be quite difficult
on a mountain bike.
(bike tires on dirt)
(electronic music)
- Fabien, can we just talk a bit about geography
and sizing and how that can impact the performance
of an enduro race bike. Now I know that
you've been part of the longer front center
scene many years ago but ultimately,
an eduro bike, you need a bike that maneuverable
in a range of circumstances, because this bike
is 470cm reach which I'm 185 and
I do believe you are 180, so would you say
that's the right size?
- Yeah so the bike your riding now is a large.
Same as I do, and ah for sure I've been
pushing a lot of people to get a longer front
center to be able to bring the gravity
masses more towards the front wheel, get a better control
and better indoing and better stability when
you ride. Now taking into consideration
that wheel size also change.
You do have a ratio that has been changing
and you do need to find the right compromise
and not go over long especially enduro being on very
small trails and tight turns and tight trees,
to find the right compromises.
So I would say that the large is definitely
doing the work until 185 and 187, and when you
start to be above this size you shouldn't need to.
(electronic music)
- Now ZIPP moto technology, essentially this means
that the rim rotates on the spokebed,
which means it's more compliant,
more traction on rough corners,
smoother through rockey terrain
plus of course low tire pressures and
less rider fatigue.
Of course it doesn't just lie in the wheels
or the tires, or indeed the balance frame design.
There's other things as well, such as the suspension
design on this bike.
It's three phases, it goes from sensitive to stable
to progressive.
Canyon safe, that means loads of grip on the corners,
great midstroke support, plus
of course something to pop off to get over
those roots and rocks.
(electronic music)
- (Presenter) CFR then comes in two models.
One is the Shoemano grip CFR bike and then there is
the strum limited collective version of
the bike.
Comes in at around 40 kilos, some of the detail
full internal cable rooting,
downtube protector, chainstate protector,
room for a water bottle, 4 sizes from small
to extra large. Remember you've for the
sheram access electronic gearing.
Plus of course those Moto carbon wheels.
While an interesting insight there into
the development of the Strive CFR.
Now if you see a more nerdy version of the
standard version of the strive, have a look
at the videos Donnie's done.
And some more details of the first version of this bike
with Don and his comparison with preassesor,
and leave that video down there.
So I think I'm going to just knock it into,
or should I say, click it or clack it
into downhill mode, and get back to the cafe.
(bike tires on dirt)