PB'S CANYON SPECTRAL:ON CFR

£9,349 • 29/27.5in • canyon.com With its wopping 900Wh range, the Spectral:on's rocking PB'S world

Ijust got back from a week up in Scotland and ticked off Glentress, Tarland and Whinlatter and the natural trails in Innerleithen, including a day at the infamous Golfie. A lot of the tracks were new to me but the Canyon Spectral:on CFR never put a foot wrong, although I can’t say the same for myself, as I was driving home nursing a bruised shoulder after a close encounter with a tree.

One of the pleasing aspects of this trip was how much run time I was getting out of the 900Wh battery. If I nursed the bike up the long hills in the Trail setting I’d easily get a full day’s riding on a single charge. Yes, the 900Wh battery is an extra £350 on the base price, but that extra capacity means you can go further or just get more runs in.

I also learnt that with battery capacity you are actually limited by who you're riding with. There’s not much point having four hours run time if your mates only have three. Having a bigger battery in the Spectral:on CFR also affects the handling – it weighs more and that weight is higher up and further forward.

First run down Flat White at Golfie and the fork felt too soft and I was getting pitched over the front. I added a few clicks of low-speed compression damping to hold it up, which helped but, in the process, I lost a bit of sensitivity. To be fair though, I’ve not been riding such steep trails, so I really should have put more air in the fork to compensate for the increased gradient.

Even with my soft, southern set-up the Spectral:on CFR felt really confident on the steep stuff and pretty agile too. I listen to people who say you can’t flick e-bikes around, pop them off jumps and suchlike, but this is total nonsense.

Sure you do have to pedal over and above 15.5mph assist limit if you need to get some cranks in for a bigger jump – and in my experience it’s 1mph per foot, so for a 20-foot gap you need to be travelling around 20mph – but that’s no problem for this bike because the new Shimano EP801 pedals better, with less drag than most. And that’s because it has a clutch that disengages the motor once you hit the limiter, whereas with other electric motors, it feels like you’re turning the whole gearbox.

The Shimano EP801 is also quieter and more powerful than the old motor. It might drain the battery faster, so maybe it is a good thing the Spectral:on CFR has the bigger battery fitted. I’m not complaining though,

I’m just having so much fun.