CANYON TORQUE 29 AL 6
£3,367.98 (shipped) Value-packed aluminium version of Canyon’s park-shredding Torque
Canyon’s previous-generation Torque was from a dying breed of long-travel 650b-wheeled bikes. It’s been reworked this year, with new frame details, revised geometry and 29in wheels.
THE FRAME
The new Torque’s low-slung frame has good standover clearance, slick lines and an even better finish. It’s robust-looking, with big beaded welds joining the aluminium tubes. The four-bar suspension design is proven, but the old shock yoke is gone. Instead, the air-sprung Fox Float X2 damper attaches to the seatstay tips, with the rocker link wrapping around the curved seat tube to meet the stays further down. Canyon have (finally) made room for a water bottle on the curvy down tube, and the pivot hardware uses steel inserts for durability. They claim the frame is 200g lighter, too.
This aluminium Torque lacks the geometry flip-chip of the carbon fibre version (available with 29in, 650b or mixed, aka ‘MX’, wheel sizes), so it splits the difference between that bike’s two settings with a 30mm bottom bracket BB. With 29in wheels and no flip-chip, you don’t get the corner-carving feel of the MX bike. The 63.5-head angle and 78-degree seat tube angle are pretty normal for a ‘bike park’ machine, as is the 485mm reach on the large size. While this sounds roomy, the frame doesn’t feel massive.
THE KIT
As one of the biggest brands, Canyon are near the front of the line for the best parts. Highlights here include stiff and strong DT Swiss freeride wheels with 30mm-wide (internal) rims that are hard to dent and damage, shod with arguably the best Maxxis tyre combo. The trade-off is more weight to lug uphill, and the workhorse Shimano SLX drivetrain and four-pot brakes don’t help here either, although they’re sorted and reliable.
While the Performance-level Fox 38 fork and X2 shock have a slightly less refined ride quality than the brand’s priciest kit, you can still add low-speed rebound and compression damping at both ends. Canyon’s own bar, stem and dropper function well, plus you get a bottle cage, saving you a few quid.
THE RIDE
With the same bombproof build quality as Canyon’s Sender DH rig, the Torque AL isn’t designed to win any climbing competitions. It pedals fine, with minimal bob, smooth turnover and a good seated position, but its 16.5kg weight is a lot to drag to the top, especially when combined with heavy wheels and the grippy but slow-rolling front tyre. This is typical for the category, but the Canyon has a few rivals, such as Propain’s Spindrift, that are way faster under power.
With 29in wheels and 170mm of travel, you’d expect the Torque AL to smash descents with minimal drama
and maximum speed, and it doesn’t disappoint. Pretty much nothing unsettles the wheels on the ground or scrubs the edge off its pace, and the suspension feels deep enough to iron out rocky and rooty terrain. With stacks of stability and a calm ride, it trucks on down loamy enduro tracks and faster, baked-hard, big-bermed DH runs. The suspension is well-tuned and not so numbing or isolating that you can’t get a sense of the terrain under the wheels. However, if you want to stand tall and let the Torque do its thing, you’ll fire out the exit of tracks of practically any steepness and severity unfased.
The bigger wheels mean it isn’t as manoeuvrable or as responsive to sudden inputs of body language as its predecessor, though. Plus, it feels like the suspension keeps your centre of gravity marginally higher. Combined, these factors mean it sits slightly taller through turns and it isn’t as easy to load the chassis to switch direction, pump hollows or accelerate out of berms. Smooth arcs, not acute angles, are the way to maintain speed.
Testing the carbon version earlier in the year, the frame felt bombproof but transmitted a lot of feedback through hands and feet. That isn’t the case here. The bike feels soft, forgiving and smooth. This may be a consequence of the alloy chassis being better-damped, of the bigger rear wheel or the different shock and fork, but where the CF feels slightly fatiguing, rattly and vibrationladen, the AL rides silently, even in the roughest sections. As a result, it may be the better Torque for non-stop, hand-wrecking, arm-pump-inducing uplift laps at bike parks or in the Alps.
While the last-generation bike ruled on jumps and manmade features, fizzing over with energy and tautness, and encouraging you to flick off every little rise, lip and berm, this new Torque feels smooth and composed, rather than super-agile. It’s a sorted package, but fails to transcend the crowded marketplace of similarly capable long-travel rigs. Mick Kirkman
Ready to rip out of the box, the dialled Torque AL 6 is excellent value, with well-specced and reliable components