There’s no doubting the racing pedigree of Canyon’s flagship Aeroad CF SLX machine. When you can count big wins from racers as diverse as Norwegian powerhouse Alexander Kristoff and Polish sensation Kasia Niewiadoma in your portfolio – not to mention all-terrain wunderkind Matthieu van der Poel – you know your marketing bucks are well spent, and your bike is up to the job.
Not exactly renowned for resting on their laurels, the boffins at Canyon have taken this design brief and moved on apace: reduce drag, reduce weight, increase comfort, integrate, easy adaptability, clean design – in short, the Holy Grail of bike designers the world over.
The end result is the Aeroad CFR, with improvements across the board on its previous iteration. Canyon claim the Aeroad CFR is 7.4 watts faster, up to 170g lighter and up to 14% stiffer. So a meaningful update in our books.
And the smartest bit, for our money? No-cuts height adjustment and a three-piece detachable handlebar for easy transportation and assembly. Don’t forget, Canyon is straight-to-consumer purchasing, so you have to build this thing to some extent. Plus adjustable handlebar width, which is a brilliant concept. Well played, Canyon, sehr gut.
In typical Canyon fashion, while the innovations are lead by the pinnacle CFR edition, the bulk of the - rather extensive improvements - trickle down down to the SLX models and then onto the SL bikes, surely ensuring top-notch aero performance on a more 'modest' budget. And while the gold paintwork of the flagship is endlessly alluring, this tasty blue offering is a bit special too.
Naturally, bikes of this ilk are honed by the pros, with Canyon's sponsored teams giving the new CFR a thorough testing over the last few years. Interesting though are the concessions to the everyday rider. With the split handlebar making so much sense for anyone who has wrestled their pride and joy into a bike box.
Without wanted to risk diving down the bike fit rabbit hole, the 15mm vertical height adjustment and the 20mm horizontal adjustment of the CP0018 handlebar alos clinch the positioning of the Aeroad as the privateer's race bike. Everybody wants that slammed stem look, right? Now you can have it - when people are looking - just to raise it again for your training rides. Clever.
The Canyon Aeroad CFR, SLX and SL will be available from Canyon directly from the 6th of October, the range starts at €3,299 and tops out at €8,999 for the CFR with SRAM's Red AXS groupset.
For an in-depth look, watch out for our last edition of Rouleur in 2020.
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