CANYON VS RIBBLE
OUT-OF-THE-BOX BARGAINS TESTED
SRAM’s Red eTap AXS groupset doesn’t come cheap, so is it worth choosing a couple of the most cost-e ective bike brands to get yourself on board with this 12-speed, wireless, sequential, wide-ratio revolution? We put two fully Red eTap AXS HRD Disc bikes head to head to find out. With identical groupsets right down to the chainring 48/35 and rear cassette sizes 10-33T, the Ribble Endurance SL R Series Disc and Canyon Endurace CF SLX are evenly matched in terms of stop-and-go tech. They’re also the lightest, premium carbon lay-up versions of the two company’s distance-oriented bikes. They both have semi-aero frame designs and are rolling on deep section carbon wheels – DT Swiss ERC1400 on the Canyon and Zipp 302 on the Ribble – for extra speed. The Endurance/Endurace tags mean slightly taller ride positions; they’re both rolling on 28mm tyres.
LANCASHIRE HOT ROD
It’s clear why Ribble’s UCI Pro Continental team is happy riding the SLR as it’s got a firmly purposeful feel even without removing the generous stack of spacers under the one-piece integrated own brand ‘Level 5’ carbon cockpit. The fresh frame drops drag by 28 per cent compared with the previous R872 bike, matching Ribble’s Aero 883 race bike in wind-cheating terms. Our build came with Zipp’s new, more a ordable, 302 wheels with US-made 45mm deep rims. Add a solid feel through the hollow Exogram AXS cranks with the webbed chainrings carved from a single piece of alloy and progress is prompt when you start pulling on the squared, flat-top profile of the Level bars. The profiled tubes let it hold speed well once you’ve got it, too, so you won’t be shy of pushing the pace solo or putting in commandingly long stints on the nose of a group ride.
With our Yorkshire-based testing period overlapping the biblical weather of the World Championships, we can also confirm the handling is surefooted and confident even in the vilest conditions. Add in the fact that it has full mudguard fixtures, front and rear, and this is a truly versatile machine designed to thrive in the challenging conditions of UK riding.
The J bend spoke wheel build of the 302 is designed for all-round toughness, rather than hyper performance. A good match for the bike but not the best for fighting gravity with. They’re not tubeless compatible either, and at 16mm wide internal they don’t do the width of the Vittoria tyres any favours. That means the ‘28mm’ Corsa Control Vittoria tyres actually measure 24mm deep and 26mm wide at 70psi. Roll-down tests showed them to be significantly slower than the Continentals on similar profile Zipp rims and even slower than the Continentals on the fatter Canyon wheels. We’d definitely stick with the German boots it’s normally supplied with and not the optional Italian upgrades if you want a faster, smoother ride.
Having ridden both SLR and the SL, the R means more rigid as well as racey. That makes the £700 cheaper bike a shrewd option if you’re looking for a more forgiving and ‘warm’ ride over rough road surfaces.
FAT T ER IS FASTER
The Canyon is also rolling on 47mm-deep rims, but the DT Swiss Aero+ hoops are 19mm internal. With a bigger carcass this means that the Continental GP4000S tyres blow up to a massive 31mm across and a true 28mm deep. The complete DT Swiss wheel pack is also 320g lighter than the Ribble setup. That’s just over half the weight di erence between our small 7.19kg Canyon sample and the 7.81kg medium Ribble; that partly accounts for the peppier acceleration and altitude gain of the Endurace over the Endurance. Swapping wheel sets and tyres to isolate any significant spec di erences underlined that the traits of both bikes are more than wheel deep.
TRIAL BY DALES
Rolling out into the Dales to grab some rare and muchappreciated late autumn sun, the di erence in their ride character is obvious immediately. The Ribble is clearly the more aggressive-feeling bike. Stem lengths – and other component choices – can be tweaked through Ribble’s Bike Builder app as you create your ideal setup. You can even have your bike custom-painted in a range of finishes and vibrant colours. It delivers power purposefully and solidly: its big rectangular chainstays gathering up miles easily on the neutral handling Zipps. Being able to micro-manage cadence via the single cog jumps of the five smaller sprockets on the AXS cassette is a joy compared to the gappy ratios you’d normally expect on such a wide-range block.
While the Red HRD disc brakes have just been given new grippier hoods and a rounder rotor profile, 160mm rotors front and rear, combined with a relaxed 72.5degree head angle make it an absolute bomber on the twisty, technical descents that made the roads around Harrogate so perfect for racing. Initial apprehension about Italian rubber on greasy Yorkshire tarmac was soon replaced with confident carving and late braking to make the most of accurate frame and fork feedback.
The fork also does a good job of shrugging o big hits and holes, but there’s definitely a fair amount of vibration and noise coming through the broad stem, squared-o bars and dropped seatstays. It was more obvious on the back roads the UCI hadn’t turned autobahn-smooth for the World Champs. While it was certainly the sti er and racier feeling bike of our test pair, compared to other benchmark performance bikes,
THE £700 CHEAPER BIKE LOOKS LIKE A SHREWD OPTION IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A MORE FORGIVING AND WARM RIDE