Canyon Endurace:ON 7.0 2020

The Endurace:On 7.0 is Canyon's first attempt at an e-road bike, and I think it's largely a successful one. The price is palatable, it's very stable and easy to get on with, and while I found the down tube-mounted remote a bit of a pain to access, the Fazua Evation system delivers a natural-feeling boost and flattens hills to make big days in the saddle more accessible to all. Some might find the 15.2kg overall weight and easy gearing a little underwhelming, but if that's the case then e-road probably isn't for you.

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Before we get into reviewing this particular bike, let's get a relatively new chestnut out the way: e-bikes (in their EU-legal guise anyway) are NOT cheating. There are actually very few occasions where you'll get a much easier day out on an e-bike than an 'acoustic' bike, one example being a long, steady gradient where you're using one of the higher assistance levels for the duration. There aren't many of those kind of climbs in the UK, so if you spend the large majority of your rides on a normal road bike averaging well over 25km/h, then you will actually be hindered when the motor cuts out because of the extra weight.

My average speeds on the Endurace:ON were mostly between 8-10% slower than my regular road rides, and trying to match my usual speed just made things quite unpleasant.

If you're someone who wants to keep up with faster friends, then e-road will be appropriate if those friends you want to keep up with average around the 25km/h (15.5mph) mark or lower. Apart from going up hills, this bike won't help you keep up with a group averaging 30km/h or more, because on the flats and slight inclines you'll just be pushing a 15kg bike instead of a sub-10kg standard road bike.

This tallies with who Canyon says the Endurace:ON is aimed at: new or less experienced road riders who want to keep up with the group, those who want to be able to ride more demanding terrain they otherwise wouldn't be able to experience, and those who prefer steadier, more consistent rides. If you think about it, a rider who simply cannot get up a 15% gradient won't be working any less hard with 250 watts of extra power; the motor is just allowing them to crest it, whereas before they'd have had to get off and push. Likewise, if an e-bike means a rider can actually spend longer in the saddle because they don't have to batter themselves whenever a hill appears, then that rider could actually get more exercise on an e-road bike.

A 2019 study published in the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives journal supported this notion, finding that participants who rode e-bikes recorded longer trip distances than regular cyclists. If you still have a problem with any of these things then you're probably wasting your time reading this review or leaving an archetypal 'e-bikes are cheating' comment; myself and people who want an e-road bike aren't going to agree with you.

Looking for assistance?

Canyon says it wants the Endurace:ON to "level the playing field", and told me it is very much a road bike with some added assistance rather than a multi-purpose machine (despite speccing a Shimano GRX RX600 gravel groupset). While a number of bike brands launched into e-road with top-of-the-range models – such as Specialized with the stunningly expensive S-Works Turbo Creo SL at £10,999 – the Endurace:ON 7.0 has just one price and spec level. Let's not kid ourselves that £2,799 is cheap or affordable for everyone by any means, but it's good value compared to the competition and much closer to what most road riders would consider a sensible amount to spend.

Looking at the rest of Canyon's range, its standard Endurace AL Disc 7.0 model featuring a similar spec level will cost you a shade under £1,500, so to me that says you're paying just over an extra grand for the motor system and tech that comes with it. If that means being able to experience riding up Mont Ventoux when you wouldn't be able to on a regular road bike, then it's arguably worth every extra penny.

The Fazua Evation system weighs 4.6kg in total. It consists of a removable, down tube-integrated 'Drivepack' with the motor and battery in it, a remote, and a bottom bracket with an angular gearbox that offers two-sided torque measurement and a cadence sensor built in. It takes around 3.5 hours to charge fully, which you do by removing the Drivepack from the down tube by releasing a clip. On our test bike this was incredibly tight and took a fair bit of pulling, pushing and swearing to get it in and out; however, after sending it back to Canyon to be fixed it was found that a metal linkage was missing from the clip on our pre-production test bike, something that should feature on all Endurace:ONs that will be sent to customers. If you do have any issues like this then you can make use of Canyon's two-year warranty.

The Evation system has also had a bit of a revamp this year in the form of the Black Pepper firmware update, which Fazua says has primarily improved the responsiveness of the assistance, and made the cadence range better by delivering the power more consistently at high cadences (90rpm plus). Fazua also says the distinction between the power modes is more obvious; a bit more subtle on the lowest 'breeze' mode to maximise the range, and featuring a bigger kick on the highest 'Rocket' mode.

The Endurace:ON comes ready to go with Black Pepper, but the firmware update is also backwards-compatible for owners of Fazua-equipped bikes that shipped out before. The Fazua app also offers a dashboard and activity feed, and allows you to perform future firmware updates, check your battery status and tune the assistance levels, amongst other things.

Another advantage of the Fazua system is that you can actually swap out the Drivepack for a down tube cover (an optional £79.95 purchase) if you want to ride your bike without power and drop around 3.3kg of weight.

Geometry

Simply because the motor system won't fit into very small frames, the Endurace:ON AL starts with a size small (recommended for riders below 178cm, but probably not too much below) and there are only four sizes in total, compared to seven on the standard Endurace.

Looking at the geometry chart, things are a little more stretched out on a medium Endurace:ON compared to the equivalent Endurace, with a 56.7cm top tube and 39.1cm reach on my test bike compared with a 55.6cm top tube and 38.3mm of reach on a medium Endurace; to me this says it's probably best to size down if you're on the cusp.

Elsewhere, a 100cm wheelbase makes for a long, stable platform and the 15.9cm head tube gives you a more upright riding position, typical of most endurance/sportive road bikes.

Having briefly used a Fazua-equipped bike before the Black Pepper firmware update, I can't say that the improvement was immediately obvious, but as promised, the Rocket mode gives you one hell of a boost from a dead start and when you ramp it up at the bottom of a hill. When you're riding at very high or low cadences it's obvious that the assist is still being delivered consistently without any losses of power evident.

While the first generation of Fazua-equipped e-road bikes had a remote attached to the handlebar to alter the assist and turn the system on and off, the Endurace:ON has all the on-bike controls integrated into a button on the down tube, called the Remote fX. It's kind of like an electrified version of down tube shifters of yore, but instead of changing gears, you're changing your assistance level.

You press the Fazua logo in the middle to switch the motor system on and off, press at the top to go up a power level and press down to go lower. There's also a thin strip of LED dots on the right side of the button which change colour depending on your power assist level: white when it's off, green for 'Breeze' mode (100 watts of power), blue for 'River' (up to 210 watts) and red for 'Rocket' (up to 250 watts). The five LEDs also serve the purpose of telling you how much battery charge you have left: if all five are lit up it's full, and so on.

While it looks great and the buttons are very responsive, for me Fazua has taken one step forward and two steps back here – because it's almost impossible to operate the buttons without leaning out to the side because of the top tube slightly blocking your view of the button. The eBikeMotion system that features on Ribble's Endurance SL e and the Orbea Gain solves this by having the control button on the top tube, and from experience I can testify that it can be operated without really looking down too much.

When I tried to press the Remote fX without looking, I found myself going down assist levels instead of up, and vice versa. Unless Fazua goes back to the drawing board by making the button much bigger, or putting it elsewhere on the frame, I'd have to say that I'd prefer the handlebar remote option; something you can't have on the Endurace:ON, as this model only comes with the Remote fX.

Range

In terms of range, Canyon claims you'll be able to get up to 100km from a single charge using the 'Breeze' mode, and rightly says that it's kind of impossible to give a completely accurate estimate because there are so many factors – your weight, your cadence and even the temperature can all have an effect, and so it's best to just err on the side of caution if you want to get home without running out of power.

Using the assistance sparingly on a 75km ride I didn't quite run the battery dry, and I even jacked it up to Rocket mode for a few seconds on a steep hill. I estimate that I would probably have run out at around the 100km mark, which tallies with what Canyon claims and what my colleague Dave found when he reviewed the Pinarello Nytro last year. 

Ride

Moving away from the electronics, the ride offered by the relaxed geometry is comfortable enough for multiple hours in the saddle, and the fact that Canyon has kept the Q factor (distance between the pedals) down to 168mm means it does just feel like an (albeit heavier) endurance road bike when pedalling.

The extra weight also means you get some extra stability when descending, which will be particularly welcome for those who are new to road riding and might feel a bit uneasy on fast descents. While the 48x11 maximum gear meant I found myself running out of gears on steep descents, I felt very planted and the extra stability meant I could descend confidently on it. 

The 28mm tyres add to the comfort, and the bike appears to eat up road buzz happily and feels plenty stiff enough when you get it up to speed. While it’s not as nimble through corners as a lighter non-powered road bike, the handling is predictable and I found it easy to get on with straight away.

I did a couple of flat rides where I probably went 99% of the time without using the assistance, and I learned not to force it to avoid feeling drained by the extra heft. The Endurace:ON rides much better when you keep it steady and consistent, with my usual ‘grinding’ low cadence style not really doing much for the knees. 

Finishing kit

The specification is about the same level as Canyon's other mid-level disc brake road bikes, with its aluminium H17 Ergobar AL and V15 stem making for a sturdy and reasonably lightweight cockpit.

The wheels are courtesy of Alexrims, and are a custom OEM spec made specifically for Canyon based on its tubeless-ready RXD3 wheelset. When I got the bike I figured these wheels might be a cost-cutting measure compared to the DT Swiss training wheels that appear on most of Canyon's alloy road bikes, but to ride they felt sturdy, dependable and plenty stiff enough to cope with the load; if anything, they're an upgrade compared with the wheels that come with the standard alloy Endurace models.

They roll on 28mm Schwalbe E-One Evolution tyres, which I ran with tubes for the test period without any issues. They're perfectly appropriate for the bike with adequate grip – if a little heavy – and I've no doubt they'd prove extremely durable.

I didn't really care for the Iridium Fitness saddle because I prefer a cutout, and swapped it for my Pro Stealth for most of the test period. That's personal preference of course, but popping it on my scales I also discovered the Iridium weighed in at a whopping 355g; just by swapping for my Pro Stealth I got the bike under 15kg, and while that's rather high-end it wouldn't have hurt to spec a lighter, sportier saddle to save a few grams in my opinion.

The 15.2kg heft of our size medium bike is the kind of weight where you really notice the difference compared to a standard light road bike, both when you're riding or attempting to carry/lift it. It means it's not ideal to run out of battery power during a hilly ride like I did on one occasion, although the 11-speed 11-42t cassette paired with a 48-tooth single chainring up front gives you plenty of lower gearing options, albeit with some bigger jumps between gears than on 2x groupsets.

If you're just looking for the lightest e-road bike around at this price point then the Endurace:ON isn't it; the Ribble SL e mentioned previously, to give one example, is under 12kg.

Value

In terms of value and how it compares with what else is out there... well, it's probably the most affordable Fazua-equipped e-road bike I've come across, and there's not much that can beat it for value. The Fazua-powered Pinarello Nytro, as mentioned above and reviewed by eBikeTips last year, comes in at £6,000, but that has a carbon frame and a more luxurious spec.

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There are more affordable options featuring the eBikeMotion system, including Ribble's Sl e that costs the same as the Endurace:ON with a Shimano Tiagra groupset, and the Orbea Gain that starts at £1,999 with 8-speed gearing.

Fazua says its system offers more torque at a claimed 60Nm compared with a claimed 40Nm on eBikeMotion, so it could be argued that Evation is the more powerful of the two motor systems.

Conclusion

To summarise, I found the Endurace:ON to be a solid entry into e-road for Canyon, and it's an impressively affordable package. If you’re looking for an e-bike that really does just feel like a normal road bike to ride for the most part, then it’s a solid option. It isn't necessarily a bike I would buy myself at the moment, but I definitely think this and e-road bikes like it have a place in the market. 

Heading out for a steady cruise on the Endurace:ON never failed to make me happy, so long as I wasn't expecting to be gunning it around like I would on a very light, non-powered racing bike. If Canyon could offer a version with Fazua's handlebar control instead of the awkward down tube remote, that would make me even happier.

Verdict

Sensibly priced, reliably specced e-road machine that shines on long, steady days out