Canyon’s new Aeroad CF SL offers a serious amount of potential speed and equipment for a very reasonable price. Starting at just £2,449 for a Shimano 105 groupset with deep section Reynolds carbon wheels and Continental Grand Prix Attack and Force III tyres, it’s a very appealing aero race bike for those wannabe racers without deep pockets.
This looks like a seriously impressive privateer race bike
The new Aeroad CF SL, as with previous CF SL versions of the Ultimate and Endurace, means you get the same frame as the posher CF SLX bike but a lower grade of carbon fibre brings the price right down. All the critical tube shapes and features, including the company’s own Trident 2.0 profile and internal seat clamp and cable routing, are present and correct, but the frame weight is a little higher and stiffness takes a small knock due to that change in carbon.
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“The Aeroad CF SL shares the Trident 2.0 tubing design developed on the Aeroad CF SLX, and sets out to provide the same wind cheating chassis combined with the finest handling,” explains Julian Biefang, Aeroad Product Manager.
The Canyon Aeroad CF SLX is a bike that really impressed with its high-level performance and great handling, and even before you get to the price and value for money there’s a lot to like.
“Canyon's Aeroad CF SLX has been one of the benchmark aero road bikes since it launched in 2014, winning rave reviews and professional races in equal measure,” is how we described it.
Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2 here
Canyon is offering the new Aeroad CF SL with a choice of rim or disc brakes as well. There are nine bikes in the range and three frameset options, which priced at £1,799 is a good option if you fancy building your own dream bike.
The Aeroad CF SL 7.0 costs £2,449 mentioned at the top of the article comes with rim brakes and a choice of men and women’s versions.
The cheapest bike with disc brakes is the Aeroad CF SL Disc 7.0 costing £2,899 with a Shimano 105 disc brakes, and like its rim brake sibling gets an impressive Reynolds AR 58/62 full carbon fibre wheelset.
The range tops out with the Aeroad WMN CF SL Disc 8.0 Di2 with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset and DT Swiss ARC 1400 Dicut DB wheels.
There’s even a Movistar replica in the Aeroad CF SL 8.0 Di2 costing £3,799 with rim brakes and a disc brake version for £4,249.
You get the CP10 Aerocockpit CF one-piece aero handlebar on the high-end models, the cheapest bikes get a regular two-piece aluminium handlebar and stem assembly.
You can see the full range here
The Aeroad CF SLX that this new bike is based on was launched way back in 2014, which is a long time in the bike world and means a new bike must be on its way soon. There was a bike purporting to be the new Aeroad replacement recently but it turned out to be a fake.
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.