Just in: Canyon Endurace CF 9.0 SL

I'm a longtime fan of Canyon Bikes, my main bike being the CF SLX. I have just taken delivery of the 105 build Endurace, to use as a new commuting bike, and winter trainer.
I did my first, albeit brief, ride on it today. Overall I would say its a very capable stunner. Very compliant, direct, comfortable at the rear, with enough feedback through the forks. The position is reasonably upright, compared to the ultimate, but for those new to Canyon, I think it would still feel reasonably racy and business like.
It's not quite as supple and direct as the Ultimate (power transfer isn't as snappy, but still very firm and responsive compared to most Carbon bikes I ride... this ispossibly due to the 105 groupset, rather than the frame.).
For the price it would be hard to not recommend the Endurace as a cost effective alternative to those seeking the thrills of the ultimate, at a fraction of the price. A very good, fast and comfortable bike.

I just got my first Canyon bike and for anyone contemplating doing the same here is my review of Canyon Bikes:
Pre-order.
I live in Japan and was finally in a position to buy a decent Mountain bike, my friend recommended me to try Canyon Mountain Bikes - he has 2 of them and I was able to ride one of his one day - I loved it. I spent a lot of time checking both online and in local bike shops and as far as value for money goes and the quality of components offered on the bike I could not find a better deal - Canondale came close but still price was higher and the Canondale bike did not have the high quality components that Canyon offered.
I sent of a few e mails to Canyon's service center asking various questions but received no replies (Some of these questions were answered at a later date when the answers were of no help to me)
Ordering the bike.
I finally settled on a bike the Grand Canyon CF SL 7.9 S.E. in a large size - Canyon's sizing chart told me I should be ordering a medium, I also e mailed about this sizing and was told I should stick to their sizing chart and order a medium - but after carefully and repeatedly sizing up their large size geometry with my present medium sized bike I felt like the large would be a better fit - this decision caused me a lot of stress and worry - after all it is not a cheap bike, and as I am importing I don't want to get the sizing wrong. (Ultimately I made the right choice more on that later)
Waiting for my bike.
I placed my order on the 4th. of June which is week 23 - I was told I could expect my bike on week 27, after week 27 had come and gone and I heard nothing I contacted Canyon and was told my bike was delayed till week 29. I finally had to go though 5 delays - but every-time I had to ask repeatedly if my bike was shipped and was then told my bike was delayed, at one point after the 3rd. delay I was told my bike was ready for shipment and will be shipped out within 48 hours - after hearing nothing, after I waited 72 hours I contacted Canyon and told there was an error, my bike had not been shipped and I was issued with a new order number. At this stage I was panicking as I wanted the bike for my early August summer holiday I was told I would likely have the bike in time, but after that received 2 more delay notifications - I was never told about delays until I had repeatedly e mailed asking about my order. My summer holiday came and went around mid August (week 33) I received an e mail telling me my bike will be shipped soon and passed onto the courier company, I didn't pin too many hopes on this new delivery date but this time it was for real! I was really excited so set about tracking my order - not such an easy task as I was given the wrong tracking info. by Canyon, it took me several e mails to both Canyon and Courier company to finally get proper tracking information.
Bike arrives.
Finally on 23rd. August after a long wait and many delays my bike arrived, by this point I had lost faith in Canyon so didn't feel the excitement that one should feel when receiving ones first carbon MTB - I was expecting more problems with some aspect of the bike, I was thinking that if Canyon's mechanics are anything like Canyons service department I will be guaranteed a bike with a problem - BUT I was not disappointed the bike was really well and safely packed, I was able to put the bike together without any problems at all, my first ride was on the road gear change etc. was very smooth and as it should be, the next day took a ride on my local trail which was well washed out covered in debris but this bike plowed through and over everything in its path, as my old bike was over 10 years old with components near 6 years old I just can't compare the 2 - night and day - I love this bike and really can't find any fault with it. The sizing chart recommended me to get a medium size but the large size frame I got suits my long limbed 179Cm. body perfectly - so anyone contemplating a bike order should carefully check sizing and not take the word of sizing charts.
Conclusion.
Though my order experience was bad and I felt that very often the people answering my questions really didn't know much about bikes, were sloppy and really slow in answering my questions, the final product was excellent but I do worry that finally the mechanics putting the bikes together will develop the careless attitude that sales department have - maybe my experience was the 1 bad one out of hundreds of good ones.
Would I recommend Canyon bikes ? Yes I would but if you are in a hurry for a bike you might want to choose a model that is available for purchase straight away, if you are in a position to wait well and good. I would buy from Canyon again but hope that they will endeavor to improve the services department and answer questions in a more timely and professional manner.

He's got a set of Mavic 40C's on there.
I just can't corner it like I do my Bianchi, which just goes exactly where I push it.

Though I imagine it's more the Bianchi is twitchy like you say, than the canyon that bad.

Quote:

There’s not a lot in it admittedly, but shows Canyon have been keen to retain some of the lively handling of their race bikes.

Lively? I find my mates Ultimate CF SLX handles like a hearse, feels really slow to react compared to my Biacnhi.

Name a bike that is better value. Full dura ace and carbon!! Ridiculously good bike for the bucks.

There is a 105 specced version for £1350 with the VCLS Module seat tube, top tube, seat stay junction, seat post and the one one four SL Fork and the DT Swiss R23 spline wheel set and GP4000 tyres

If you built a CF SLX 8.0 using the frameset (currently £1609 and helpfully including stem and seatpost, which a lot don't) and the same groupset/wheels etc it would cost about £200 more than ready-built from Canyon...

I have one on order and I just have to manage to get through the next 2-3 weeks until it arrives. I picked the CF Endurace 9.0 Pro with the Campagnolo Chorus groupset.

It has seldom been so hard waiting for time to pass since I have ordered.

by the way,even though a frameset sold separately would be nice, I doubt anyone could build a better specced bike for less money if buying new parts. Or at least it'd be hard and take a bit time.

The CF SLX and CF SL are already incredibly compliant bikes, my CF SLX has been a joy to ride over any distance (175k my longest so far) and it has never once left me feeling beaten up. Comfort without sacrificing stiffness and sharp handing.

Great review, but one that is encouraging me to save my pennies until next year.

I'm on the verge of buying a sportif bike for fitness riding (anything up to 100 mile rides). Just as i was about to decide on either something from Ribble or Planet-x, along come these Canyons.

But I think I'm going to wait. I suspect that this time next year, a lot of 'endurance / sportif' bikes will be sporting disc brakes. I can last out with what I've got (a Dawes Horizon tourer and an old Raleigh steel frame 12-speed) until then.

Comfort is important although it can make you lazy.

I would love if they sold it as a frameset aswell, but i doubt they will. Looking at their other carbon framesets, this one would end up at 5-600£ and i think it would seem to cheap. They don't do a frameset of their inflite model either.

Looks nice. Any idea whether they will offer this as a frameset only as they do with other models? I'd be very interested in this option...

WOW...A black bike...I'm not bored.

Was going to buy the CF SLX, but may go for this instead with a Mavic Ksyrium SLR wheelset. Good work Canyon!