Canyon’s double World Championship winning Inflite cyclocross bike gets a 2020 refresh

Canyon has refreshed the Inflite cyclocross bike to celebrate the Cyclocross World Championship wins of Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado and Mathieu van der Poel.

If you’re looking for a new cyclocross bike and you want the bike with the most pro wins then Canyon has that title pretty well wrapped up with the Inflite. It was rather contentions when Canyon first launched their first carbon cyclocross bike and that contention was aimed directly at that top tube.

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Cyclocross is rather unique in that riders are required, by terrain and weather, to shoulder their bikes regularly and run. As riders complete laps of a short circuit, there can be a lot of hiking your bike up onto your shoulder. In an attempt to aid speedy shouldering of the bike, Canyon created the kinked top tube. This, they claim, creates more space in the front frame triangle, making it easier to shoulder the bike.

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An extra bonus of this design, Canyon says, is that the added exposed seatpost helps with rear-end compliance.

The changes are limited to the new paint schemes and of these, only the ‘super pink’ and ‘Alpecin-Fenix team replica’ are actually new.

Nothing has changed in the frame of fork department. The geometry remains unchanged, though we can see why Canyon would be reluctant to change something that works. Dave was certainly impressed when he reviewed the Inflite CF SLX 8.0, giving it 9 out of 10 and citing “excellent handling, impressive comfort, commanding mud-plugging capability and a decent specification and weight for the money.”

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Canyon is also keen to celebrate the success of their two main riders through the new bike design. Back in February, when bike racing was still a thing, Canyon netted both the men’s and women’s World Cyclocross Championships with Alpecin Fenix teammates Mathieu van der Poel and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado riding their Canyon Inflites to rainbow bands.

Alvarado’s win was the more entertaining of the two, with a three-way battle going all the way to the final sprint. Both Alvarado and Dutch teammate Annemarie Worst collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, one in joyful tears, the other in stunned silence.

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Van der Poel meanwhile had plenty of time to enjoy his day. He was gone on the second lap and we spent most of the race watching British sensation Tom Pidcock storming away from the Belgians. The GIF is brilliant.

❗️Attack from @Tompid 🇬🇧❗️

The young Brit has had enough of the Belgian games and wants to ride solo.
He crosses the line after 3 laps of 7 in 2nd, now 1 minute behind @mathieuvdpoel 🇳🇱.

What a move! But can he hold on?#Dubendorf2020 pic.twitter.com/63pMYQgPYw

— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) February 2, 2020

Canyon is, therefore, offering the updated Inflite in an Alpecin-Fenix team replica paint scheme. This can be found on the aluminium 5, CF SL 7 and CF SLX 9 models.

Both riders were on Canyon’s Inflite CF SLX with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Disc groupsets and C40 tubular wheels. While tubeless technology is taking over at the local racing level, tubular tyres are a common sight as soon as you get to the regional level and upwards. The pro riders, especially, are sticking to tubulars for their performance at the super-low pressures run in the muddy and sandy races.

Canyon thinks that tubeless is a better system for the majority of riders buying the Inflite, so each bike comes with tubeless-ready wheels and Schwalbe’s excellent X-One Allround tubeless-ready tyres.

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Canyon’s Inflite is available in six builds, with prices starting at £1,499 and topping out at £4,199. The unisex bike comes in 3XS-2XS sizes, with the 3XS and 2XS sizes getting 650b wheels.

Canyon.com