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This $5,000 race bike reconnected me with what I love about cycling

This $5,000 race bike reconnected me with what I like about biking

Welcome to Riding Nerdy, TNW’s fortnightly dive into bicycle-based tech, the place we go into an excessive amount of element and geek out on all issues associated to pedal-powered devices.

Over the previous few months I’ve been aboard the Canyon Final CF SLX, a no-holds-barred race bike, as my day by day coaching and street driving machine. I wrote my preliminary ideas down after a joyous few weeks of driving the iridescent magnificence, however now, I’ve put over 2,500 fun-filled miles (4,020 km) on the machine and it’s time to determine how I actually really feel about driving a $5,000 race bike 5 days per week.

By now, try to be sensing that I actually fairly prefer it.

If that wasn’t clear, although, I’ve discovered driving a top-end race bike — one which’s mild, responsive, stable as a rock, seems to be nice, and urges you on at each twist and switch within the street — to be a joyous expertise. Given its price ticket, I’d be involved if it was something different.

Again in April, after a few hundred miles on it, I said that it was kind of expensive, but you get what you pay for. In hindsight, I really feel that assertion now sounds a bit underwhelming. Despite the fact that the Canyon prices $5,000, you get quite a bit in your cash, and it has by no means left me wanting extra. The truth is, it’s fairly good worth for cash.

[Read: Review: The Charge XC is a well-rounded ebike that folds flat for storage]

I think about the Final CF SLX probably the most feature-complete race bikes in its class, and it does so at a value that’s, 9 occasions out of ten, extra alluring than the competitors. Comparable bikes from opponents come out 5% to 10% costlier, or aren’t spec’d fairly as extremely because the Canyon.

The structural bits (body, forks, handlebars, and seat put up)

In addition to placing the bike collectively and promoting it, Canyon’s most important accountability is to fabricate the body, forks, handlebars, and seat put up. On this specific bike, Canyon has opted for Sram’s Power ETAP wi-fi gears and brakes — take a look at my ideas on that right here.

After dwelling with the Final for just a few months, I applaud Canyon for making a motorcycle with a practical method to border design. The brake hoses are internally routed by means of the body, however enter on the downtube. It’s changing into de rigeur to don’t have any cables exhibiting in any respect, which implies they must route by means of the handlebars, by means of the headset, into the downtube, and onward to the element they management.

canyon, bike, headset, cablesCredit score: M Beedham

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