Product news: Canyon Lux CF 2018: New XC fully from Koblenz presented

Product news: With the CanyonLux CF 2018 asks the Manufacturer from Koblenz presents its new Cross Country weapon - the full-suspension counterpart to the XC hardtail Exceed CF gets a new, record-breaking light frame with lots of clever details.

There is probably no MTB discipline that has gone through as many and profound changes in recent years as cross country. The spectrum that you take under the wheels ranges from exhausting, hour-long stages under the burning South African sun at Cape Epic to short, brutal and technical laps such as on the World Cup route in Nove Mesto or in Albstadt.

This wide range not only requires a lot of flexibility from the drivers, but also requires a correspondence in the chosen material. So it's not too surprising that with its new Lux CF, Canyon has completely buried the successful, but somewhat outdated predecessor model and instead relies on a frame that has been redesigned from A to Z.

Canyon Lux CF 2018: new frames with record-breaking weight

More than in any other mountain bike discipline, efficiency counts in cross country - this can be achieved primarily through the lowest possible weight. Therefore, when developing the new frame, it was made a condition that the weight including the damper should not exceed 2kg in the end. Carbon as the only frame material was chosen from the start, and not just for this reason. As with most other Canyon bikes, however, the decision was made to offer two different carbon frames for the Lux: The CF SL version for hobby riders who don't care about the last gram and the super-light CF SLX version for ambitious racers.

Let's talk about the bare numbers right at the beginning: In size M, the frame of the CF SLX weighs only 1.662g. The CF SL variant is almost 1.852g heavier at 200g. This makes the CF SLX frame one of the lightest that money can currently buy in this area and even the slightly heavier version still plays well in the concert of the big ones. Such a weight is made possible by optimization that has been carried out down to the last fiber and also by the new rear triangle, which we will come to in detail in a moment.

When it comes to carbon layups, Canyon can now draw on an extremely wealth of experience off- and on-road. This makes it possible to vary fiber type, orientation, and the number of layers throughout the frame—just enough to get a strong, resilient frame that's reinforced where it's needed, but shaves weight where it's needed would be unnecessary ballast. The in-house CT scanner, with which the prototype frames were regularly examined in order to identify and analyze any damage, also helped in the development process.

Compared to the predecessor, a lot of weight could also be saved in the rear triangle: The entire linkage of the damper, for example, is only a little more than half as heavy as with the well-known Lux. This is made possible by the lying damper and the extremely compact rocker, on which a lot of material is saved can. The damper connection, for example, shows that they have optimized down to the last detail, with which ball bearings can sometimes be dispensed with and instead much lighter plain bearings are used.

However, Canyon fans will probably recognize at first glance that the new rear triangle is not only used to optimize weight. It fits perfectly into the current MTB range, which started last year with the new downhill bike transmitter. A DH rear triangle on an XC racing file? But the equation is not that simple, because even if the new Canyon Lux CF 2018 is unmistakably based on the transmitter, the torque or the spectral, the rear triangle is still designed much more for efficiency - but retains its basic characteristics that are easy to swallow, which in view of the demanding XC racetracks is also urgently needed.

The key to a well-balanced rear end lies in well thought-out kinematics. Canyon also divides this into three phases on the Lux: At the beginning of the suspension travel, a low leverage ratio ensures that small bumps are absorbed well and that you don’t feel the fine vibrations in your buttocks even on easy trails. The ratio increases around the sag point and the stable platform prevents the rear triangle from "sagging". High anti-squat values ​​should also support this: the chain pull while pedaling also tightens the rear triangle. Towards the end of the spring travel, the rear end will then increase progressively to prevent bottoming out.

The use of metric dampers also achieves an overall low gear ratio. The rear end gets 55mm of spring travel from the 100mm stroke - this allows you to ride the dampers with little pressure, which enables finer adjustment and should improve the overall response.

Canyon Lux CF 2018: Clever frame details for best performance

Canyon Lux CF 2018: Geometry – same because different!

When developing the new Lux CF, ambitious racers were kept in mind. These often have more than just one wheel; If you have a certain requirement on the XC routes and marathons, you often have a lighter hardtail in addition to an XC Fully like the Lux - if the route profile allows it, you can scrape out a few more seconds. Canyon is also aware of this and they want to make it as easy as possible for these riders to switch from their own Exceed CF SL hardtail to the Lux CF.

The seating position and geometry should be as similar as possible on the Lux CF and the Exceed CF. There is a good reason why the bare numbers are not the same down to the last decimal place: the geometries of a hardtail and a fully change differently when the rider sits on the bike. For example, the steering angle on a hardtail becomes steeper because the fork dips into the suspension travel, but the rear remains rigid.

Overall, the geometry of the Lux CF has been significantly modernized: the reach in particular has grown in order to be able to install 80mm short stems in all frame sizes. This makes the steering behavior much more forgiving, especially in technically demanding terrain. Thanks to the short chain stays, the wheelbase remains as compact as before despite the larger main frame, which helps on tight courses.

Canyon Lux CF 2018: models and prices

The Canyon Lux CF 2018 starts with six model variants. Four of them are based on the slightly heavier Lux CF SL frame, the two premium versions are given the extremely light CF SLX version. Prices start at €2.499 for the Canyon Lux CF SL 6.0 Pro Race, which is anything but badly equipped with Reba forks, deluxe dampers, DT Swiss wheels and NX Eagle gears. What is striking in general is that the four CF SL equipment variants were equipped with a 110mm fork at the front - the motto: Less race, more trail! Nevertheless, with these variants, all racing courses in the world can of course be taken under the wheels.

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