Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 Ltd (2017)

All-out race bike designed exclusively for speed

Pros

- Front end integration saves measurable power at speed
- Top of the line kit
- Super-fast Zipp carbon wheelset

Cons

- No nod to comfort

Review

If you’re genuinely interested in fast bikes – especially really, really fast bikes – then read on. If it’s comfort you’re after, or an endurance machine that you could ride in a Gran Fondo then maybe take on a bike tour through Europe, the Canyon Aeroad is not for you.

Everything about this bike is fast. It’s light, stiff, rigid, aggressive and ready to race. This is typified by the CF Aerocockpit; consisting of an integrated bar and stem, it blends perfectly with the rest of the carbon fiber frame to provide the ultimate in aerodynamic front-end performance. According to the engineers at Canyon, it will save the rider an average of 5.5 Watts when travelling at 45 km/h compared to a conventional bar and stem setup. If that doesn’t mean much to you, take our word for it: it’s a lot.

Canyon haven’t taken any short cuts when it comes to the specs on the Aeroad. Shifting is courtesy of a Shimano Di2 electronic 11-speed groupset, and the Di2 head unit is cleverly concealed within a custom compartment incorporated into the aforementioned Aerocockpit. This may be, as Canyon insists, to further improve the bike’s aerodynamics, but either way it makes it look neat, clean and pure.

The Dura-Ace crankset comes in a semi-compact 52/36-tooth configuration – the brakes, brake levers, derailleurs and cassette are also from Shimano.

Wheels are what often lets a bike down – the implicit understanding between manufacturer and consumer seems to be that an average wheelset at a bargain price is acceptable, and if you want some seriously fast wheels then go buy them yourself. Again, the Aeroad bucks the trend by coming standard with super-fast carbon clincher Zipp 404 wheels clad in Continental Gran Prix TT tires.

As with so many fast bikes, the saddle is a Fizik Arione R3... not the most expensive saddle on the market, but one of the best, lightest and most durable.

So what – or who – is this bike built for? It’s a pure race machine, savagely fast when accelerating out of corners and confoundingly stable going into them. It’s light, so it could work well as a climber’s bike (as vouched for by Katusha’s superstar climber Joaquim Rodriguez), but it’s not at all comfortable when descending on a rough road. To Canyon’s credit, though, they don’t make any pretensions of comfort or relaxed riding. It’s an absolute thoroughbred, not a pack horse or a show pony.

For the array of high-end engineering and components on offer, the Aeroad represents very good value for money, and demonstrates why Canyon are at the pinnacle of engineering, aerodynamics and riding efficiency.