Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

New Canyon Ultimate finally breaks cover at Criterium du Dauphine

Spotted at Movistar Team's bus, the new Ultimate has fully internal cable routing and what looks to be the same adjustable cockpit used on the Canyon Aeroad

We've known it's been coming for quite a while now, and finally the new Canyon Ultimate has been seen in the wild. Spotted by both Cyclingnews and Matos Velo at the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday, the new Ultimate has ditched a round seatpost in favour of a more aero, D-shaped one, appears to have inherited the adjustable cockpit on the Aeroad and has no visible external cabling. 

While it was team road.cc with the scoop last weekend as Liam Cahill and Mat Brett happened across a brand new radical Trek Madone in between coffees and croissants, the Canyon-sponsored Movistar Team has left it late in the race to bust out something new unlike Trek-Segafredo, with the bike spotted standing proud outside their team bus.  

> New Trek Madone breaks cover at the Dauphine: watch the video here

According to Cyclingnews the new bike was set to be used by Enric Mas in today's mountainous final stage at the Dauphine, however Mas was forced to pull out to "prioritise his recovery" from a heavy crash suffered on Thursday's stage 5.

Although it's aged pretty well, the Ultimate - Canyon's lightweight racing bike - is well due an update with the last full revamp coming in 2016, not counting the premium Ultimate CFR model introduced in 2020 and various other special edition versions.

Looking at the video above, the new frame doesn't appear to have had a radical revamp like the Madone, but has followed the current trend of blurring the lines between lightweight and aero, with some of the improvements no doubt made with watt-savings in mind. 

If there's a party to be had anywhere it's at the back, which is quite a departure from the current Ultimate. Although the seatstays join at the top tube and have not dropped further down the seat tube like the Aeroad, there's a strong D-shape at the junction and the seat tube is straight with no cut-out following the rear wheel. There's still plenty of room between seat tube and rear tyre on this particular bike, suggesting that the new Ultimate will have plenty of tyre clearance. 

At the front we see the bike has retained a tall--ish head tube and angular fork, with the big changes coming at the cockpit. The same quill-style stem included on the current Aeroad appears to have been specced here, which suggests that this is the same CP0018 Aerocockpit that (after a few bumps in the road to start with) is included on the latest generation Canyon Aeroad. This means new Ultimate owners will also be able to adjust their bar's width with three settings to choose from, and adjust the height by up to 15mm without having to cut or chop anything up. 

How on the money were our predictions in March? Well we can claim the 'more aero' prediction first off, as the full internal cabling and non-round seatpost must tick that box. It looks like we correctly guessed more tyre clearance is coming, as in the clip above the sizeable gap between the straight seat tube and rear tyre presumably must add up to at least 32mm tyre clearance, considering the current Ultimate can take 30mm tyres.

We also may have half got it half right when we asked for different geometries between models in the range, as the adjustable cockpit gives riders the options to slam the stem or set it to a more relaxed position for longer days in the saddle. Rim brake and aluminium-framed versions may be more of a long shot, but we'll wait and see when the new Ultimate officially launches... 

What do you reckon, will you be in the market for a new Ultimate when it goes on sale? Let us know what you make of it so far in the comments. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
Surreyrider | 1 year ago
0 likes

Those seat stays look to drop a bit further down than previously. 

I saw an Endurace at the Canyon stand at Sunday's Tour of Cambridgeshire and thought the same thing. Couldn't find the colour scheme on their website either so maybe the same?

I could of course be totally mistaken!

Avatar
EddyBerckx | 1 year ago
0 likes

The current Ultimate can comfortably take 32mm tyres btw with a bit of room to spare - I have 32mm gravelkings on my spare set of wheels. Could probably go to 34mm if that existed.

As for the 'people are being sold bikes too agressive for them' I disagree...most beginner bikes are more relaxed for a start. If more experienced cyclists then buy a fully fledged race bike and ignore the HUGE AMOUNT OF ENDURANCE geometry bikes on the market then that's up to them. You can take most bikes for a test ride btw...even sitting on one would help filter out the more extreme versions. 

Avatar
sparrowlegs | 1 year ago
0 likes

"The same quill-style stem included on the current Aeroad appears to have been specced here"

Oh dear. 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to sparrowlegs | 1 year ago
0 likes

Why oh dear? You don't like the quill stem or you don't think it is?

Avatar
sparrowlegs replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Personally I think it's a bad design. From what I've read, you get the stem length that comes with the bike and that's it. You get only 15mm of vertical adjustment on a bespoke quill stem/steerer setup. IMO this hasn't been around long enough and ridden by heavy riders like me on the usual UK roads. It seems the bike has been designed around it being posted first and ridden second. 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to sparrowlegs | 1 year ago
0 likes

Right, see what you mean - yes I agree there's not enough adjustment in most race bikes at the moment, my road bike is designed for a slammed stem but I have a 7.5 degree one to cope with my bad back and arthritic wrists.

Avatar
Sriracha replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Are you saying that people are simply buying/being sold bikes that are the wrong measurements for them? Or that bikes lack the adjustability to cope with the changing shape of the rider?

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Sriracha | 1 year ago
1 like
Sriracha wrote:

Are you saying that people are simply buying/being sold bikes that are the wrong measurements for them? Or that bikes lack the adjustability to cope with the changing shape of the rider?

Well yes, I think a lot of people are buying bikes that are the wrong size for them because they think that what's right for a world tour rider must be the best, and that a bit more capacity for adjustment would make people a lot happier with their bikes.

Avatar
Sriracha replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like
Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Sriracha | 1 year ago
0 likes

Exactly.

Avatar
sparrowlegs replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
1 like

I'm only just able to ride a Colnago V2r due to the away-from-the-norm geometry. Compared to every other pro tour bike out there it's at least 20mm higher and 10mm shorter and the slacker-that-usual head angle allows me to use a shorter stem. 

I could make an ultimate fit me, just. But this new version? No chance. No doubt the new Colnago will go the way of the new C68 and be crazy aggressive geometry and glassbacks like me will have to look elsewhere or go custom.

What I'm basically saying is most manufacturers are sizing their bikes out of the market for the people that can afford them. 

Avatar
wickedstealthy replied to sparrowlegs | 1 year ago
0 likes

Yup. Long reach with low stack. So basically if you are between sizes you get into trouble if your are not able to handle drops of 10+cm

Latest Comments