2027 Canyon

Strive:ON CF 9

For a brand so focused on racing (and so proficient at building one of the best e-bikes on the market in the shape of the Spectral:ON), it was only a matter of time before Canyon designed a competition enduro e-bike. What’s more of a surprise is how accomplished the new Strive:ON is without a number zip-tied to the bars. Need to know Race-ready enduro e-bike with 170mm front/160mm rear travel Bosch motor with 85Nm and 600W peak power – top model gets the lighter Race motor with 2m overrun feature Either 625Wh or 750Wh battery enclosed by carbon chassis – choose your battery to suit the race Four frame sizes, all with a mixed wheel set-up Three models with prices starting from £5,699 What are the ingredients needed to make one of the best e-bikes for enduro racing? A Bosch motor for that fast, predictable response and powerful overrun to slingshot you out of tight corners and drive you through technical chess moves on timed power stages. An accessible battery compartment for those mandatory power pack changes. A tight, manoeuvrable, compliant chassis that carries speed and conserves energy with the suspension kinematics tuned to provide ample grip rather than ultimate progression when landing big drops and moto jumps. Race proven design If those are the pieces of the puzzle, then the finished jigsaw might well end up looking like the new Canyon Strive:ON – a purpose-built race bike that has just been ridden to the 2023 E-EDR series win piloted by downhill legend Fabien Barel.  But Canyon is not the only brand gunning for glory with a dedicated e-enduro bike; Orbea has the equally fresh and similarly successful Wild M-Team. Both are closely matched in terms of travel and geometry, both pack Bosch’s Performance CX motor, and both have a World Series title under their belts. So we brought both of these winning rigs together to find out which one performs better when you’re not chasing stage victories. Read our full review of the Orbea Wild M-Team Read our comparison review between the Canyon Strive:ON CFR and the Orbea Wild M-Team Frame and geometry The Strive:ON layout has more in common with Canyon’s Spectral:ON than the unassisted Strive enduro race bike. The shock runs inline with the seatstays, anchored to the down tube at the forward eyelet, rather than sitting parallel to the seat tube as it does on the analogue Strive. But with far less room to work with between the top of the motor and the underside of the top tube, Canyon couldn’t have replicated the layout of the unassisted version if it had wanted to. Also missing from the e-bike is the Shapeshifter travel and geo switch with its on-the-fly adjustment. For the simple reason that pedal efficiency isn’t as important when you have 600W and 85Nm of torque on tap from the Bosch motor. Leaving it off has saved weight and reduced complexity, while also freeing up space inside the front triangle for a water bottle. The …Continue reading »

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There’s been much talk about the Canyon Strive:ON CFR that was launched in May this year. It ended up taking months for Canyon to ship a demo bike to Norway, so I was left wondering; what was so great about this bike? Watch the video or keep on...

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Big days in the e-saddle at the site of the first ever EWS race in Massa Marittima, Italy riding an e-enduro race platform and a self-shuttling park eMTB.

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