Product news: Canyon Roadlite CF: The new benchmark among fitness bikes?

Market: One day before the start of Eurobike 2017, Canyon also invited to Lake Constance to present its models for 2018 away from the hustle and bustle of the trade fair. One of the big highlights is the completely new Canyon Roadlite CF – a fitness bike that is undoubtedly unique on the market at the moment. carbon frame? Check. Quality equipment? Check. We took a closer look at the new speedster.

So-called fitness bikes are extremely popular and versatile bikes among end users, but they are often neglected by the industry. "A racing bike with straight handlebars" - the character of such a bike is often sketched like this or something similar - that may hit the right note, but as so often is only half the truth. It also becomes problematic when the manufacturers approach the design of their fitness bikes in the same way and simply give their existing racing bikes or cross models straight handlebars. In this way, the complex requirements of this type of bike are in no way met.

With the new Canyon Roadlite CF, the direct seller from Koblenz wants to set nothing less than the benchmark for this bike category. With the Roadlite, they had such a bike in their range up until then, but with the new addition they've upped the ante a notch or two.

Canyon Roadlite CF: Completely newly developed carbon frame

The big highlight of the new bike is the newly developed carbon frame. An existing racing bike or cross bike was deliberately not used as a "template" in order to be able to consistently implement the "fitness bike" concept from start to finish. A fast bike to cover distance, which at the same time offers a lot of comfort and is not a crass racing file.

As with a carbon racer, all the cables run inside the frame - with the angular design language and the subtle decals, which rely on a lot of understatement, the Roadlite CF fits well into the existing portfolio of the Koblenz manufacturer. Anyone who feels reminded of the new Endurance that was introduced last year is right: the comfort features of the new fitness bike were inspired by the Endurance Bolide and some of the features have been adopted. In addition to the leaf spring support (in all equipment variants except for the entry-level model), this also includes the integrated seat clamp at the intersection between the seat tube and seat stays and the distinctive kink in the seat tube itself. All this serves to offer flex in the right places to absorb unpleasant vibrations .

The geometry is adapted to these requirements: the top tube is larger than on the racing bikes in order to achieve a discreetly sporty seating position even with the flat handlebars. The wheelbase is therefore rather long overall, which ensures that it runs very smoothly. In order not to lose the agility that is also important for such a bike, this is combined with a fairly steep steering angle and a moderate fork bend - this reduces the trail at the front and you get direct, lively steering behavior.

Frame and fork offer space for tire widths of up to 32mm - according to the official specification. However, our sense of proportion says: Most 35mm tires should also find more than enough space here - but there is no guarantee. Commuters and all-weather riders can also look forward to eyelets for mudguards, which are integrated extremely inconspicuously into the frame and fork. If they are not needed, they are not visually noticeable.

Canyon Roadlite CF: Six frame sizes - small frames with 650b

Canyon is one of the manufacturers on the market who attach particular importance to the different sizes of their bikes. You want to be able to offer the right bikes for as wide a range of people as possible. The result is not only many frame sizes per model, but the individual frame geometries are also adapted to the needs of tall and short people.

In the case of the Roadlite CF, this means that the smallest frame size XS is equipped with 27,5″ wheels. If you had shrunk the frame to this size and held on to the 28″ wheels, there would be an acute risk of a collision between your toes and the front tire. The other alternative would have been a much slacker steering angle, which would have decisively changed the characteristics of the entire bike - so that wasn't an option for the development department either.

Okay, so 650b wheels in the small frame sizes - it's not a problem, is it? That's not entirely true, because this decision presented the product managers with a really big challenge: high-quality wheels and the corresponding tires for this demanding professional are actually only available in 28″. In the end, they were able to convince Schwalbe to produce the G-One gravel tire especially for Canyon for the smaller wheels. Things were a bit more complicated with the wheels: the top model, for example, comes with rims from Reynolds instead of the DT Swiss wheels in size XS, which also produce correspondingly high-quality and comparable rims for Canyon.

Canyon Roadlite CF: High-quality equipment including a new carbon stem-handlebar unit

There is an absolute shortage of really high-quality fitness bikes on the market. It often ends with the equipment with a 105 groupset - if you want more noble parts, you could hardly avoid doing it yourself after the purchase. The Canyon Roadlite CF is completely different: The entry-level model comes with the aforementioned 105 group, but the two top variants rely on either a Dura Ace drive or SRAM's Force 1 group for fans of a chain ring.

The Roadlite CF comes exclusively with hydraulic disc brakes. The choice of Tektro stoppers for the top models is interesting. The manufacturer was previously mainly represented in the low-cost sector, but is now also stepping on the gas in the high-quality premium segment. The high-quality aero wheels with carbon rims in the most expensive version are probably unique in the fitness sector.

Things get extremely exciting when it comes to the cockpit. With the Endurace, they also presented their own handlebar-stem combination made of carbon for the first time, but of course with racing handlebars. The Roadlite CF now has something similar, only with a flat bar. The shapely carbon component weighs between 320 and 340g depending on its size and is therefore lighter than most traditional combinations of two separate components. Ergo grips round off the really successful overall impression.

Canyon Roadlite CF: models, prices and availability

All Canyon Roadlite CF models will be available from next Monday, September 4th, 2017.

Canyon Roadlite AL SL: Same geometry, lower price

If you don't like it that sporty or just don't want to invest that much money in a fitness bike, you can grab the aluminum version of the new Roadlite, the Canyon Roadlite AL SL: The geometry is the same as the sister model made of carbon, and fenders can of course also be used here to be assembled. Of course, it weighs a gram or two more and the equipment tends to be a little more touring-oriented: For example, the AL SL variants come with Ergon grips including bar ends.

However, the equipment is also of high quality in the aluminum variant: The Roadlite AL SL is also available with an Ultegra group, for example, and is therefore also suitable for sporty driving - but then perhaps without the bar ends.

The existing Roadlite AL, which comes with a somewhat more relaxed geometry and is generally cheaper, also remains in the range.

Web

The new Roadlite wheels can be ordered from the Canyon website from September 4th.

www.canyon.com