Canyon Grail

[cantunamunch]

View attachment 56013 View attachment 56014 Here are some pictures from yesterday. I think they’d look better with the Grail in them.

Just remember the copper finish can be a bit too matchy matchy with some leaf choices.

 

[gwasson]

Borrowed a 56cm Specialized Diverge for a couple of hours today. My very first thought was that it's a little small at 56cm, by the end of the ride, it seemed reasonable, but I'd have liked t try a 58 if I could. I think that mountain bike bars are ridiculous at 800mm plus, but buy do roadie bars seem narrow now! Tires were 35c and I ran them at 70 psi even though it said 75-100 on the sidewall. I thought 35 sounded a bit on the wide side, but maybe not. I don't think I'd go narrower. Praxis works cranks, no thanks, reminded me of late '80's Shimano, glad I escaped without bloody ankles. Brakes were TRP pulled by cables from 105 shifters. They were not one bit stronger than my DA rim brakes - disappointing I was expecting to stop like Dave Stohler with the pump in his spokes. Can I assume hydraulic road brakes stop a little harder? Also, I don't know if it was the bend of the bar or what, but I could barely get my fingers on the brakes from the drops. Anyway, first data point.

I'm curious what model Diverge you tried? I have the Diverge Comp from 2017, which looking at the Specialized site is now the Diverge Sport. Mine came with 38c tires and 105 with hydraulic brakes. Stops on a dime. And coming from a 23c road bike I agree I initially thought the tires were pretty wide, but they work very well.

Also, on the picture you posted later in the thread, the seat looks like it is pointed pretty far nosed down. Maybe it is just the camera angle.

 

[Tom K.]

Brakes were TRP pulled by cables from 105 shifters. They were not one bit stronger than my DA rim brakes - disappointing I was expecting to stop like Dave Stohler with the pump in his spokes. Can I assume hydraulic road brakes stop a little harder?

Yes.

My new Checkpoint has Shimano Ultegra (8000?) hydro brakes and they have great power. Less than the new 4-pot Shimano XT brakes, and more than SRAM Guides.

 

[cantunamunch]

Also, on the picture you posted later in the thread, the seat looks like it is pointed pretty far nosed down.

Nose down is a thing now. Especially for slimmer riders with slammed stems. Lets the pelvis rotate forward, for a flatter back and more open upper hip.

Remember Cobb saddles? If you got the top level, the rivet to rear plane would be at least 6 degrees nose down because of the tapered foam insert. Back when the UCI had a 3 degree limit on nose tilt, that was a useful get-around.

Now with the new rules you can get 9 degrees down with any saddle and no faffing about with tapered foam inserts.

Don't just run out and do it, though. It takes gradual practice and mileage with increasing tilt to condition oneself to the new position.

(Which, of course, means that the position WILL be hipsterized).

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I'm curious what model Diverge you tried? I have the Diverge Comp from 2017, which looking at the Specialized site is now the Diverge Sport. Mine came with 38c tires and 105 with hydraulic brakes. Stops on a dime. And coming from a 23c road bike I agree I initially thought the tires were pretty wide, but they work very well.

Also, on the picture you posted later in the thread, the seat looks like it is pointed pretty far nosed down. Maybe it is just the camera angle.

I think it was the E5 Elite, could have been Comp, not sure. I think the seat was level.

Looked at a nice Trek yesterday, about the same spec as the Canyon, but $4000! Nice frame, nice bike, it would be hard to spend that much more money on it though.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on this thing.

 

[Ken_R]

I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on this thing.

Do it

 

[luliski]

I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger on this thing.

Do you mean on the Canyon?

 

[cantunamunch]

Do you mean on the Canyon?

He's been working himself up to it for a week now; as soon as the Hover bar aesthetics were beaten to death it was only a matter of time

The only question now is - Q rotors or round rings?

 

[cantunamunch]

...wonder what he got

 

[luliski]

Maybe it started snowing and he lost interest?

 

[Erik Timmerman]

They did me a favor and sold out of my size. Then it started snowing!

 

[Ron]

You'll be part of the club.... yes, 35's are as narrow as I would run since there's really no penalty for wider tires. if you are even riding rough pavement, the wider tires roll faster. @epic, what do you weigh? I run my tubeless 38's at 45psi. Rim width does matter though

 

[EricG]

I’ve been quite happy on the 40’s, might move up a tad this year.

1x11 Ultegra/XT

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Well, the large copper is back in stock, so I pulled the trigger today. I was a little torn about sizing. Their sizing calculator insists on a medium frame. With sloping top tubes and in this case the lack of a stem, it's hard to compare sizing in apples to apples terms, but medium sounded pretty small. The only measurement on the website that really seemed comparable to my bike was "N" which was from the bottom bracket to the center of the handlebar tops. Their M was 468mm, the large was 475, my bike measured 469, so I let that be my guide and went with the size L. It looks like I can get a full refund within 30-days if I think this was the wrong size. This is my first time buying a bike online, so it's sort of an experiment. I looked at bikes again last week and I just feel for the LBS when some comparably priced bikes are sporting Tiagra components and cable brakes.

 

[Ron]

https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road/grail

here's the new link BTW-

Which model did you go with? best of luck, love the copper color.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I got the CF SL 8.0 it's mechanical Ultegra. I thought hard about Di2, but cables are timeless and Di2 will probably be orphaned by a wireless group soon. I keep my bikes a long time, I've been riding my Lemond for 15 years and the DA 7800 is still flawless, I don't want to be trying to track down some electronic piece 15 years from now. The rest of the spec looks pretty solid, I'd like to "upgrade" to Mavic wheels, but I don't need to. I'd like to get some kind of a GPS but I think that needs it's own thread.

 

[Ron]

sounds awesome! Many happy miles to you.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

FedEx says my bike is in Williston, should have it tomorrow. It's blasphemy to say this, but I'm gonna need to do the first ride on a dry day so that if I have to return it, it can be "as new". Not sure when we will get a dry day!

 

[Ron]

I would contact them. I dont think they care if the bikes gets dirty.