CANYON SPECTRAL MULLET CF 8 CLLCTV
£3,999.00 + P&P Is it business at the front, party at the back with Canyon’s new mixed-wheel trail bike?
Canyon have added 650b wheel options (both ends or rear only) and alloy frames to their Spectral trail bike range, after last year’s 29in and carbon fibre-only update. Is this coil-shocked ‘mullet’ version as rowdy as it looks?
THE FRAME
With a 29in front wheel and a 650b out back, the Spectral Mullet gets 150mm of four-bar linkage rear travel, paired with a 160mm fork. Clean aesthetics are backed up with thoughtful touches such as replaceable pivot hardware, moulded chainstay protection and bosses for a bottle and tube holster. Geometry is bang up to date, with a lengthy reach of 480mm on the large size, 64-degree head and 78-degree seat tube angles, and 432mm chainstays. A flip-chip adds half a degree to each and 8mm to the BB height.
THE KIT
Canyon provide a Shimano SLX and XT drivetrain, paired with punchy four-pot XT brakes with big 203mm rotors. Stout DT Swiss hoops are fitted with grippy Maxxis rubber – an Assegai and Minion DHR II combo. Finishing kit largely comes from Canyon’s own G5 line. It’s built to World Cup DH spec and includes a top-loading stem and a new seatpost, which offers 25mm of drop adjustment in 5mm increments. Fox supply their 36 Performance Elite air fork and DHX coil shock. Each size has its own spring rate, but Canyon will ship bikes with the next-heaviest and next-lightest springs, too.
THE RIDE
One of the big advantages of a coil shock is sensitivity, but that translates into more movement under pedalling loads. This adds a hint of sluggishness, even if rear-wheel grip is as good as it gets with a given tyre tread/pressure combo. As such, the DHX’s lockout switch is a godsend, and we used it frequently. On super-steep and loose pitches, there was more grip with the shock left open, but doing so led the suspension to settle more, slackening what was a fairly steep seat tube angle to one that didn’t feel as perky.
However, it’s descending where this bike is expected to shine. The rear shock has tons of suppleness, which helps smooth the way for the smaller rear wheel and boost grip under braking. On big hits, we didn’t slam the shock off its bottom-out bumper, suggesting ample ramp-up.
The Fox 36 fork’s chassis is stout, its air spring supportive and progressive, and its GRIP2 damper has a good range of adjustment, but it’s almost shown up in terms of sensitivity by the back end. While the bike doesn’t crash readily into its mid-stroke, it sits reasonably deep into it at times, which, on flatter tracks, detracts a bit from its ‘pumpability’.
It feels keen to initiate cornering, with the bigger front wheel offering grip and confidence, allowing us to weight the bar and carve turns. The rear wheel is easy to get loose and slap through bends with just a hint of rear brake. You also get a little extra bit of bum clearance from the smaller rear wheel when things get really steep, but it’s not quite as smooth-rolling as the front, even with the coil sensitivity.
For pin-sharp pedalling, high speeds and predictable control, we reckon the 29er Spectral might be a better bet. However, the character that the coil shock and mixed wheels have given the mulleted CF 8 is enthralling, and has, so far, made it difficult to leave in the garage.
www.canyon.com