Canyon Precede:ON 7 in the test: Canyon calls it a "city bike", but that sounds almost too good for the Precede:ON 7. Because the unusual e-bike for everyday use appealed in the test with a sporty character, less with the motorization has more to do with handling, equipment and seating position.
When the e-bike boom picked up speed in the early 2010s, the providers of good city and touring bikes were fine. Until then, their bicycles had not exactly been the exciting spearhead of technology, but with their product range they had the ideal basis for the innovative electric bike, as well as exactly the right circle of dealers and customers. Sporty bike manufacturers, on the other hand, sometimes needed quite a long time to come up with ways to offer face-saving electric bikes. A few pushed the e-mountain bike and initially received astonished looks and even scorn - today we know that that was not appropriate. Others expanded their product range to include trekking and touring bikes with engines and equipped them with the most powerful units possible - another way of demonstrating sportiness. And still others first thought about how they could transfer their sporty DNA to the e-bike - and what "sporty" actually means when it comes to a bike.
Sportiness without maximum power
In a vehicle powered by muscle power, that's not so easy. Sure, a car with a large cubic capacity and a lot of horsepower is enough, but if you mount a Bosch Performance CX from the e-MTB sector on a city bike, for example, you are far from getting a sports bike. It therefore makes more sense to look at those aspects that make a bike really sporty. Then you end up with factors such as the geometry and thus the driving characteristics and seating position, you can think about the handling and last but not least the visual impression.
The developers at Canyon may have proceeded in this way when designing the Precede:ON 7. For a long time, the people of Koblenz had nothing but racing bikes and mountain bikes in mind; an e-MTB was only introduced in early 2018, and since then the e-range has expanded to include everything from road bikes to city bikes. The Precede:ON 7 also belongs to the latter category, and here one might wonder: This bolide is supposed to be a city bike? Well, elsewhere they call something like this an “urban bike”, but the meaning is the same: an (electric) bike for everyday use and leisure, functional, technically reduced to the sensible and carefully designed, with the latter two aspects often going hand in hand.
Solid aluminum frame, bulky components
So what sets the Canyon Precede:ON 7 apart? In terms of looks, the angular aluminum tubes with unembellished welds catch the eye. In addition, there is a rigid carbon fork, typical of Urban, which looks just as massive as the 57 mm wide Schwalbe tires with the typical, here somewhat more pronounced knobbed profile of the G-One Allround. You can't "shift" in the classic sense with the Canyon; The stepless Nuvinci or Enviolo gearbox is installed on the Precede:ON 7, with which you can change the gear ratio and thus the pedaling frequency seamlessly. And as usual, Canyon combines the gearbox with a toothed belt drive, which, unlike the bicycle chain, is virtually maintenance-free.
The extremely solid fenders made of aluminum hollow profiles go well with the wide tires - fixed to the fork with a bracket at the front, "hanging" at the rear of the system luggage rack. The tiny LED rear light sits fairly low on the mudguard, while the very bright Supernova headlight is attached high up on the stem. Although the latter isn't quite the right word: Canyon uses a handlebar-stem unit that routes all the cables and wires inside the frame, which makes for a very tidy cockpit. Even the front brake hydraulic line is internally routed. The topic of "sportiness" also comes into play for the first time in the cockpit: The handlebars are roughly at the level of the saddle and are practically not height-adjustable, which results in a slightly inclined, somewhat sporty sitting position. The handlebar ends are slightly oriented towards the rider, but the cockpit is more like an MTB handlebar than a curved touring handlebar.
Powerful and harmonious
The city bike is pushed by Bosch Performance - exactly, without "CX". Canyon forgoes maximum torque, and that's one of the interesting aspects of the concept: when you start from a traffic light, you reach the maximum assisted speed in a matter of seconds anyway - why go even further? Especially since the bike gains controllability due to the not quite as powerful motor and can be ridden more harmoniously than many an overpowered e-tourer, which shoots forward with a jerk when you gently press the pedal. Canyon installs a 500 watt hour battery on the smaller frame heights, and a 625 Wh storage unit on the larger ones – this is longer and takes up more space in the down tube. Because of this, the smaller models cost a little less. The drive also includes the compact Purion display on the left handlebar grip, which is large enough to be read at a glance.
Stepless shifting comfort
The translation is adjusted using a twist grip, whereby this stepless shifting process can also be carried out under load - for example on a hill. This also benefits a sporty driving style; With conventional hub gears you always have to relieve the pedal a bit if you want to change gears. With the e-bike, this means that the electronics briefly reduce the motor support, so that you brake a little - this is a bit impractical, especially uphill. If you always want tension on the chain and at the same time don't want to do without the minimum maintenance effort of the gear/toothed belt combination, you can't avoid the Enviolo.
So how does the Canyon Precede:ON ride? First of all, the strong thrust of the Bosch motor pleases. The travel speed of a good 26 km/h was reached within seconds, with the speedometer corresponding quite exactly to the GPS device carried along for comparison purposes. Going out of the motor support range is not a major problem - the drive regulates smoothly and without jerks and kicks in again when you slow down.
The Precede:ON 7 proves that it has more than enough motorization on climbs of all kinds. It marches up the long six-percent climb at 25 km/h; on the one and a half kilometer long local mountain with a good 100 meters in altitude, it pulverizes the best times of all cyclists who do not constantly put 400 watts or more on the pedals - and that without the driver having to exert themselves significantly. The Bosch Performance unit also has enough torque for a super-steep sting with an incline of more than 25% – but here you have to crank with a high pedaling frequency to ensure propulsion. And the convincing drive is complemented by exemplary driving characteristics: With a long wheelbase and flat steering angle, the bike is directional and safe to ride even at high speeds; the steering behavior can be described as handy without a tendency to get nervous. This also means that the Precede doesn't wobble at walking pace like some bikes with steep steering and seat angles do - a good thing in tight spots and at intersections.
Comfort and exemplary brakes
Is the bike missing a suspension fork? Definitely not. The large-volume tires ensure a high degree of vibration damping and also absorb the occasional bump in the road, although there is plenty of room for maneuver in terms of air pressure - as long as the Canyon doesn't feel spongy when cornering, everything is fine. And the Schwalbe tires have another advantage: the strong nubbed profile interlocks perfectly with the ground, be it asphalt or natural paths, especially with slightly reduced pressure. It also means you can operate the Magura disc brakes with great confidence. With their two-finger levers, they are excellently controllable, especially since the pressure point is somewhat softer; the front wheel can actually only be locked with conscious effort – for example by turning sharply on loose ground and then pulling the lever with full force. This is a clear safety plus, especially with city bikes.
With all these properties, the Canyon is not only sporty and fast, but also very safe to move. Its technology requires little attention, so that you can devote it to the traffic situation - and after all, the purpose of a city bike is to swim quickly and safely in city traffic. So the Precede:ON 7 should suit the tastes of many everyday riders, who could only ask Canyon one more thing: what the bike (like many others) lacks is a spring-loaded seat post - a plus in comfort that won't dilute the sporty character .
WEB: canyon. com
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