When you tell someone these days that you’re into cycling, chances are they’re going to stick you in one of many camps. Firstly, they might think you’re someone who’s sunk too many tins, and has decided piss his license up the wall, turning it into a useless piece of plastic that occupies one of the many slots in your wallet. Alternatively, you could be considered one of those urbanist twats who think cars are the biggest and most dangerous things to ever exist… Well, I guess that’s me in some ways, but it could be worse… They could think you are, heaven forbid, a Cyclist.
So when I decided to lug all 90-plus kilos of myself up the treacherous Mount Street on a mild and sunny Sunday, it was little wonder that my hubris and my determination to get up that hill resulted in the smashing of an 18-year-old Shimano Tiagra 9-speed rear derailleur into the spokes of my trusty Giant CRX Two.
Well, shit.
Time for a new bike, i guess. And here it is!
Wait, that’s a weird looking bike! No, the Cybertruck’s just for scale. It’s working now, that’s a good sign. I just have to get my arse into gear and get all the proper batteries and such sorted for it. Oh, and tune the brakes… Maybe I should write something about that another time.
This is the idiot in question. I have yet to give it a name, but this is it, a worthy replacement for the CRX Two, a Canyon Roadlite 7 AL.
Ain’t she a beaut!
By sendIng them 2,100 of my hard-earned Kangaroo-Simoleons, Those Krafty Krauts in Kolbenz shipped me this incredible piece of German Designed, Cambodian welded and German Assembled engineering to my doorstep, via those yellow-and-red legends at DHL. Oh, the joys of direct-to-manufacturer ordering!
Wait, Who’s Canyon?
If you’re unfamiliar with the cycling world, you probably don’t know much in terms of bike brands outside of the typical three. Y’know, Giant, Trek, Specialised. Canyon’s a bike company with a pretty interesting history. It started in 1985 as a bicycle parts supplier called Radsport Arnold, and then evolved over time to become Canyon bicycles when they started assembling their own bikes in the mid 90s. Instead of selling their bikes to other bike shops, they instead decided to cut out the middleman and sell direct-to-consumer, cutting the cost of these higher quality bikes considerably.
This Direct-to-Customer model apes a lot of what Tesla does, except with vehicles that don’t exactly club baby seals in terms of their carbon footprints. They even sell E-Bikes too! Just not to Australia, thanks to the fact that it’s kinda hard to send an e-bike all the way from Europe to Australia.
So why did I buy this bike?
Firstly, because it looks pretty damn cool.
Secondly, whilst in my opinion, their Endurace Allroad is likely going to be a better bike for most people who want to get into cycling as a sport, i’d argue that if the purpose of your bike is to be a machine purely for the purposes of getting around, seeing stuff, and getting fit too, this bike absolutely does a better job.
The more familiar flat-bar layout works better for the large bulk of people who’re probably used to flat-bar bikes from when they were kids. It’s why Hybrid bikes are the single biggest category of bikes out there, due to their mix of usability, practicality and more importantly, accessibility.
Also you look like less of a burk if you choose not to don Lycra on a Hybrid.
So wait, why not a Specialised, Giant, Or Trek?
Good question! I’m also a nitpicker for bearings and running gear.
Specialised had a bike in a similar price range, only $100 more actually, however, as a modern Specialised it means that it has a lot of Specialised’s bullshit going on with it. Non-standard componentry, etc. On top of that, the colourways were either ugly or boring. Trek and Giant had cheaper options, but they used a lot of OEM components and also used loose-ball bearings in their hubs. The Giant in particular i was looking at had 9 speeds in lieu of the Canyon’s 12, and no underdrive gears, meaning hills would kick the crap outta me.
This Canyon gave me the same kinda gear as what the Specialised had, at a price that was $100 cheaper. Keep in mind too, i also ordered a kickstand and a spare UDH Derailleur mount, because yes, unlike any other bike i looked at, This Canyon was the only one to use the SRAM UDH system, meaning that finding a derailleur hanger wasn’t going to be a total pain in the arse if i did stack it again.
So… How does it ride, how’s the gear?
Pretty good! I did have to swap out the bars for a wider set, in particular the Satori Deviant Bow bars off my old bike, and the Selle Royal saddle that comes stock with the bike gave my arse the absolute shits on my first ride. Felt like someone was ramming my cheeks with a pair of metal rods… So, I swapped that out with my old bike’s Gel Saddle pretty damn quick. I can’t remember what it is… It’s some generic Diamondback thing I got from Big W for like, $20.
“But gel saddles suck” the Cyclists in the gallery start crowing, and to them, i say, I hate being uncomfortable when I ride. Bike riding should not be an uncomfortable experience. We’re not out here, trying to win the goddamn Tour De France, here.
Speaking of comfort? Choosing to go with a set of Ergon GP3s as the grips is, to speak a bit of German here, a Sehr Gut choice. Especially since Ergon also comes from Kolbenz. Just a quick run down the road to get some of the comfiest grips on the market.
Maybe they should’ve gone to old mate Ergon and slapped on one of their SC saddles on or something… Maybe I should do that… Idk.
So firstly, despite their choice of 40mm tires on this bike, in particular a set of Schwalbe G-One Allroads, in all honesty, something must’ve changed in a good 18 years of tire development, because these things roll just as smooth as the 23mm Gatorskin Hardshells on my CRX. Plus, being big old beefy tires, they hook up hard, and deal with some of the rougher parts of the cycle paths near Champion Lakes super well.
Canyon made the right call to go with all-Shimano hardware throughout, from the groupset to the hubs… With the UDH mount being the only exception here, that’s a SRAM product. But, SRAM and Shimano derailleurs are kinda cross-compatible in some ways anyway… at least as far as the mounting bosses are concerned.
The 12×1-speed M6100 Deore groupset shifts smoothly, it did want to jump gears in the midrange when it first came out of the box, but this is a common problem with new bikes, due to the cable stretching during transit. Fiddling with the tension adjuster at the shifter’s end fixes that real quick. What’s ironic, is that they opted for a mountain-bike spec transmission in this bike, so they figured that people were going to beat on this drivetrain a little. The front crank is the only non-Shimano part in the drivetrain. They opted to go with a 40T Samox RAM40 Crankset.
In my opinion, the only real disappointments are the choice to go with a press-fit bottom bracket, in particular a PF92 design, which is going to make e-converting this thing a little bit more of a pain in the butt. Just means i have to order a slightly more expensive kit from CYCMotor when I eventually decide to do this. But, the good thing is, all the bearings, and I do mean all of them, are sealed balls. No loose-balls here!
In fact that’s why i think the bike feels just so zippy and smooth to ride. The higher quality hubs, the choice in tires, the frame geometry that’s more upright than my old Giant, means it’s just as zippy and darty as my old bike was, even on these fatter tires.
It is a bit heavier. My old Giant was about 10 and a bit kilos fully loaded, whereas this bike is about 11 and a bit. I do not notice it at all though, especially because i’m 90-ish kilos at the best of times. Ironically enough, the best way to lose weight off your bike is to lose weight.
Oh yeah, did I also mention this bike has hydraulic brakes as standard? My god are Hydros good. Very consistent and linear, very little force is needed to apply pressure to begin slowing down, and when you really need to stop, they stop hard!
So… What’s the plans with this thing… and the old Giant?
Well firstly. Mods! I bought new pedals for it, seeing as my bars have a little orange stripe on ’em, i’ve decided to pick up a set of Cleanskin MTB orange pedals. Got those buggers on sale for $30. Can’t go wrong!
But the aim really is just to ride around and see some cool stuff in Perth, and slowly but surely get out of the house a bit more. Eventually I might put in a CYCMotor Photon Gen 2 conversion to make longer rides possible, when I can actually afford to do it. It’s about $2k in parts just to do that conversion, plus I need specialist tools to punch out the bearings since they’re pressfit.
I know Canyon sells the RoadliteON:Fly 7 in Europe, but once again, shipping batteries internationally to Australia is pretty damn hard. So… DIY Conversion it is!
As for the old Giant? Well, i’ve still got the frame, and I have actually sourced a hanger for it. I might do a resto-mod to that old thing. perhaps slap a set of nice sealed bearing Shimano wheels on it, and set it up as a 9×3 speed drop-bar roadbike with some CUES hardware. Maybe after the Canyon’s e-conversion is done.
But most importantly. I’m going to get out and get my money’s worth out of this thing. It’s been a long time since i’ve owned a new bike, and in all honesty? If you’re looking for something that’s fun to ride, good looking, and capable, but don’t want to look like a MAMIL in the process? The Roadlite 7 gives you all the speed of a roadbike without the gaff. Just do a few simple changes to dial it in for your comfort needs, and send it!
Even then. Any bike is better than no bike. This one just happens to be really nice.
Beano out.