Canyon has been known to have a little fun with bike tech and unusual concepts over the year. It’s experimented with the Shapeshifter tech on its Strive enduro bike, brought its Keep It Stable system to the mainstream, and just last week, unveiled a prototype road bike with AI processing. Today, the brand has taken its joy of experimentation by showing off the Lux Era, a 32-inch-wheeled cross-country concept bike with an interesting Biplane cockpit. Surely, Canyon’s just looking to ruffle some feathers here?
Much like downhill, top-level cross-country racing is seeing a host of new tech enter the fray in pursuit of podiums. The technology is always moving forward, which is pretty exciting, but to us average riders, seeing all of this new stuff could mean new standards, and kit we just don’t need. Either way, Canyon’s Lux Era concept bike, while mental-looking, doesn’t look as if it’ll be too out of place on today’s race scene.
With the Lux Era, Canyon claims to solve three problems in modern XC: the higher speeds, aerodynamics being focused on over lightweight, and ‘inelegant’ negative rise stems.
“It’s a three-fold problem. Races are getting faster, and riders need to go faster. Riders are looking for potentially unsafe solutions to do so. And they don’t have enough hand positions to maintain aerodynamic positions.
“More comfort in a more aerodynamic position in a safer way will lead to a faster XC mountain bike,” says Fedja Delic, Canyon’s Head of Design.
With that, aerodynamics are one of the aims of the Lux Era’s game. A lot of the revolves around its front end, where it gets an undoubtedly polarising biplane handlebar. Inspired by the double-decker handlebar found on Grail gravel bikes of old, the biplane handlebar offers more safe places to put your hands and achieve a more aerodynamic riding position. So no more riding with hands on the fork crown.
That handlebar’s aerodynamic gains are complemented by an inverted fork, chosen for its ‘high-performance riding’, better rigidity, and braking stability. It’s then shaped to slip through the air. Oh, and there’s a computer built into the headset/top tube. Again, that’s there to provide all of the vital information while cutting down on drag.
Another neat trick, which is certainly nothing new (we saw it on the Cilo Kyano, for example), is a cutout in the top tube that makes checking the shock’s sag much easier.
And yes, this bike runs a pair of 32-inch wheels.
However, while this bike currently stands as a concept, Canyon says that it’ll be conducting athlete trials over the next 12 months. That includes racing simulations, so while we won’t likely see the Lux Era on the circuit any time soon, we might see something rather similar over the coming months.
