2025 Canyon

Sender CFR Underdog

The Canyon Sender Gen 3 isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It’s a purebred race sled — no fluff, just fast. Check out the First Ride Review.

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This bike is the result of our decade-long obsession with downhill racing. Canyon spent hours and hours researching and building prototypes and testing them with us. Going through this rigorous process - including the development of our mule testing rig - was key in discovering the clear directions of our needs, and to ultimately developing the fastest bike down any hill.

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If you missed the prologue, this piece ends with me in pieces, and off the bike for a while. But I’m already out of my cast, suffering on the trainer and through range of motion physiotherapy exercises before I get cleared for weight-bearing on my mechanically augmented wrist. Progress.

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With the CLLCTV Factory race team, CLLCTV FMD and CLLCTV Pirelli teams all racing the Sender, Canyon’s commitment to DH racing at the very highest level is second to none. And that level of commitment to going as fast as humanly possible is also matched by the product development team at Canyon. One look at the top-end Sender CFR 29 and it’s clearly a bike born from racing. It uses higher modulus carbon to save precious grams without compromising stiffness or strength. Massive pivots and bearings improve reliability and carefully considered hardware makes it easy to work on the bikes, without damaging the full carbon frame. Even the frame protection is strategically placed to guarantee a whisper silent ride. The CFR 29 gets Fox Factory suspension but if you prefer RockShox, there’s the Sender CFR LTD that costs £200 more. Both are clearly top-end bikes, and both are also available in MX options. In order to find the best direct-sales downhill bike, we pitched the Sender against the YT Tues and Propain Rage in a German internet shoot-down. Canyon Sender CFR 29 need to know Full carbon Sender frame has 200mm travel High Modulus CFR carbon saves weight Adjustable reach and chainstay length MX or full 29in options Fox Factory suspension LTD version gets RockShox suspension SRAM X0 DH 7-speed drivetrain Three sizes: M, L, XL (29) S, M, L (MX) Entry-level Sender CFR Underdog £4,799 Frame and geometry With reach, chainstay length and progression rate adjustments, the Canyon Sender is by far the most adaptable bike in this group test. So let’s break those adjustments down one by one. Starting at the head tube, the Sender CFR comes with a second set of headset cups. These interchangeable cups are asymmetric and offer +/- 8mm of reach adjustment on the Fox build, but clearance limits it to 0 or +8mm on the RockShox bike.  With the standard cups, we measured the reach on the size medium Sender 29 at 457mm. That’s only 1mm shorter than the size Regular YT Tues that’s also in this test, and 13mm shorter than a size L Propain Rage. What is most interesting is that if you’re under 185cm tall, Canyon recommends the size M, probably because you can grow the reach to 465mm. At the opposite end of the full carbon frame, flip-chips in the rear dropouts offer two distinct chain-stay lengths. The bike ships in the short 446mm setting, but after a couple of days in Morzine, we switched to the longer 456mm setting for increased stability at speed and never switched back. It’s cool too, that the rear brake adapter accommodates both positions, so if you ever want to switch back again, you do not have to remember where the hell you put the corresponding brake mount. Also the chainstay growth isn’t so pronounced that you need to move the derailleur hanger, like on the Propain. Suspension Most brands state in their marking blurb that their suspension design is optimised for air …Continue reading »

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