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TECH NEWS
Video Just In: Canyon's new Aeroad CF SLX Disc
Here is it, arguably one of the most highly anticipated new bikes of 2017, the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc.
It’s no big surprise that the German direct-sales brand has added an entire range of disc-equipped road bikes to its 2017 range. Disc brakes are rapidly sweeping through the industry, and no longer just found on endurance and cyclocross bikes, race bikes are getting the disc treatment now as well. While it might appear that Canyon was slow to the whole disc brake game, it first showed the Ultimate CF SLX Disc in prototype form at the annual Eurobike show in 2015 and followed that up last year by teasing pre-production race-ready disc braked bikes.
But go back to 2006 and Canyon was already working on disc brakes with the Projekt 6.8, a disc-equipped race bike with hydraulic disc brakes and weighing 6.8kg. It was way ahead of its time. You could say Canyon has just been waiting for the equipment suppliers of the disc brakes and wheels, to catch up, and for the market's appetite to be primed before really launching a full range of disc-equipped road bikes.
- Canyon's launches 2017 range of disc-equipped road bikes
So the new Aeroad CF SLX Disc is the first of the new breed of race-ready disc road bikes. I’ve previously tested the Endurace CF SLX Disc, and there is some shared technology, namely the 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. But there the similarities end, and the differences emerge. Canyon has managed to retain the key design profile of the regular Aeroad in adapting it for disc brakes, and if you ignore the disc rotors, it looks almost the same.
Disc brakes are slow and generate loads of drag, right? It’s something you’ll read a lot if you spend too much time on cycling forums. It’s perhaps not as big a deal as you might imagine if you believe Canyon’s own wind tunnel testing. It says the new Aeroad Disc gives away just 0.8 watts to the rim brake version in its wind tunnel tests. We always take manufacturers claims with a pinch of salt, but still, it’s a very small difference.
This is the second rung model in the new range and it gets a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, using a semi-compact 52/36 chainset and 11-28t cassette. The brakes are hydraulic and Canyon has used the bigger 160mm rotors, a decision made based on its own testing and not following Shimano’s recommendation for 140mm rotors. It’s using the now familiar Shimano RS805 flat mount disc brake calipers, and Canyon has routed all the hoses inside the fork and frame, to maintain the clean lines and keep drag to a minimum.
Adding to its awesome appearance are the Reynolds Strike Carbon Clincher wheels, shod with Continental Grand Prix 4000S II tyres in 23/25mm width. The Strike DB is a new wheel from Reynolds, a company that has claimed many fans with its reliable and high-performance carbon clincher wheels. The 62mm deep section Strike rims are fashionably wide at 25mm rim, and they’re also tubeless-ready profile. At their centre are new hubs made by Industry Nine with quick release and thru-axle compatibility. They weigh a claimed 1,710g.
The bike is then finished with Canyon's own Aerocockpit CF integrated handlebar, matching carbon fibre seatpost and a Fizik Arione saddle. On the scales, the size medium review bike weighs 7.8kg (17.1lb) which is 400g heavier than the similarly specced Aeroad I tested a few years ago. Weight matter less on an aero bike than one built for climbing and all-round ability, but it’ll still be interesting to see if it has a negative impact on the way it rides.
The new Aeroad CF SLX Disc range tops out at £5,199 if you want the same frame and brakes with a Dura-Ace mechanical groupset. Alternatively, the range gets underway with the Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 costing £3,799 which is built around a mechanical Ultegra groupset, but all the other key parts are the same as the bike we’ve got here. There’s also a frameset option for £2,899.
There aren’t many disc-equipped aero road bikes on the market at the moment, but one very important bike the new Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc will be compared with is the Specialized Venge ViAS Disc that I tested last year. The Venge was similarly priced and specced and weighed the same, which just leaves the performance, ride and handling to be compared.
More at www.canyon.com
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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20 comments
It's a real shame Canyon insist on sending their stealth colourways to journalists. Whilst I'm not a fan of the aeroroad in particular, but what I love about their designs in general is their very tasteful use of logos and simple but pretty colours. E.g. the blue or red Ultimates from this year are lush.
Until the discs have arrived on road bikes, manufacturers claimed that the UCI weight limit was obsolete really and that modern bikes could be perfectly safe much below the 6.8 kilo mark. It seems we are going the other way now, because its more convenient?
I'm no retro snob, but tbh, I find that rather ugly.
So let me get this straight.
It's like a normal aeroad, but less aerodynamic, heavier (half a kilo!) and slower. I'll take two!
dont forget more expensive.
only possible benefit I see for this is avoiding making your £1000 wheelset a consumable item. Standard looks better is marginally more aero, lighter and cheaper.
Can I get one on Vantablack please?
I suspect this love affair with discs will end in a messy break up.
I built a carbon framed disc bike 2 years ago that I use for commuting. It's the frame that Ribble now sell as the CR3. With 105 groupset, full carbon everything including mudguards (!) it looks awesome but the one fault is the disc brakes.
Tried everything to get them working including new wheels... the fact is they simply don't work anywhere near as well as the DuraAce brakes on my warm weather bike.
It must be nice to have a pro mechanic setting your brakes up every day.
This is my one gripe with disc brakes, but it's quite a hefty gripe.
I have a tektro mechanical set on my CX/commuter and they're such high maintenance. When I fit new pads, they're golden. However, on muddy trails in this weather they need cleaning and adjusting (in, mainly) pretty much daily. And when they fail, they really fail (the other day I nearly went into the back of a hard-braking car: sod-all bite from about 20 yards away on the flat at around 18mph and had to jump onto the kerb to avoid; they were fine at the start of my commute, about 12 miles earlier. I don't want to clean or adjust brakes mid-commute).
Could be that I don't know enough about them to look after them properly, or the hydraulic ones are more 'fit and forget', or it could be that the ones I have are shit, but I have a shit set of V-brakes that came with my MTB 12+ years ago; never need adjusting other than replacing cheap no-name pads with cheap no-name pads, and never let me down like the disc brakes have.
But you were using MECHANICAL discs.
Everyone knows mechanical discs are crap, with the exception of TRP spyre or TRP Hy-rd.
Try some Hydraulics and then you will completely change your mind. I have two sets of shimano hydraulic road discs, one on summer bike and one on winter bike. Had them both well over a year (nearly two years in one case) and not touched either since fitting them.
Yes discs can be a bit more of problem when maintenance is needed, but the decent ones go for much longer without needing any maintanance in the first place.
The failure you had with your mechanicals was almost certainly due to the 'fixed' pad not being adjusted correctly, so the instead of the moving pad puching the disc onto the 'fixed' pad, it more than likely just pushed it against the caliper body.
In my view all 'single sided' type of mechanical disc brakes should be withdrawn and recalled as this is an all too common issue, because it needs someone very experienced to set them up and keep them set-up in a way that means they work consistently and are safe, and very few people realise just how often they need to be checked, or indeed what they should be looking at when checking them.
Can't disagree and had it in my mind to upgrade to hydraulics at some point... thanks. I've never stripped it down and wouldn't be able to set the brakes up properly anyway, but I have had it properly serviced by a bike shop I trust so that's annoying.
Apart from: 'everyone knows mechanical discs are crap' - I honestly don't think that's the case. I didn't a few years ago when I bought the bike and I wasn't a total noob back then. If non-TRP mechanical disc brakes are so crap and easy to get wrong the industry should be doing more to address that - pretty dangerous.
Not sure I ever got the whole 'aero bike' as a category - now I'm more confused.. so it's not an 'all round' bike (not for the hills? ) but it's not a TT bike, but they've put discs on it (er.. for the descents?!), increasing the weight and drag..?
Perhaps it's just ahead of it's time.
Which is a good job.. order now, delivered for 2018??
I do get the aero bike thing* and I totally agree that this is shows up some of the silly and slightly contradictory marketing from the industry.
* I have one as my racer (mainly triathlons so TTs on flat/rolling terrain. Ultegra rim brakes on it do everything I need of it).
Specialized Venge ViAS Disc similarly specced? You are being rather generous here: no Di2 and a solid but rather uninspring wheelset....
Is it me or all bikes starting to look exactly the same? A bit like a Yaris is a MX-2 is an i20 is a Corsa sort of thing.
Nice looking bike, I particularly like what they've done with the handlebar stem. Threadless stems are pretty much all ugly, but this one isn't bad. It's a shame the design language of the frame is ruined by the brake levers though - it'd look much more consistent if they were angular, rather than rounded.
How do you fit an outfront mount?
Two bolts under the bars. Canyon make a nice mount. Wish Cervelo had as much wit.
Thought this was a whale until I saw the Vias disc this week - 8.46KG
Nice- not sure it's quite black enough, however...
Colour adds drag, yellow being the worst. Come to think of it, they should paint the rear facing parts in bright colours, the emission of photons must give some impetus innit?
Away to Kickstarter!