BEN’S CANYON STRIVE CF 8.0
MONTH 15: Trail bike transformer or cheap trick? Ben gives his final verdict on the Strive
What was it that attracted you to the Canyon Strive?
Aside from the sharp lines, good looks, and great spec for the money, it was the revised Shapeshifter suspension on the second-generation Strive that really caught my eye. In theory it promised two bikes in one – XC mode offering taut suspension kinematics for better efficiency and an elevated BB for added pedal clearance; DH mode offering a lower BB and a more relaxed head angle, allowing you to tap into the full 150mm travel.
Did you change anything straightaway? Nowt, the spec was well thought out and wanted for nothing. After a short period I added some Renthal grips purely out of personal preference even though the standard grips were fine.
Was the bike easy to set up?
Yes. Just set the sag on the Rockshox Superdeluxe shock and dial in the rebound damping and it’s off to the races, literally.
How did it ride?
Really well. The Shapeshifter made a noticeable difference to climbing performance, a feeling backed up by the stopwatch in some back-to-back testing that I did in the April issue. Pointed downhill, it was also everything I wanted it to be: efficient, agile and playful but not at the cost of stability. One possible criticism is that Canyon has been too conservative with the geometry – given the way the Shapeshifter tightens up the angles and the suspension response, it could quite easily have made the geometry in DH mode a bit more extreme.
Did anything break or wear out?
Wear and tear over 15 months of abuse is inevitable, but I’ve been impressed with how the Strive has held up. In fact, only the chain and brake pads have been replaced. Oh yeah, and the entire frame...
If you could change one thing about the Canyon Strive what would it be?
I’d quite like the rear tyre not to rub on the chainstays. After spotting the marks where the tyre had worn through the paint and into the carbon on the inside of the chainstays, I spoke to Canyon and they swapped the chainstays under warranty. When the rubbing continued, the rest of the frame was subsequently replaced, in an attempt to find the root cause of the problem. It didn’t fix it. I’ve tried running different wheels to see if that made a difference but sadly the rubbing is still present. I then
Frame
Fork
Drivetrain
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£110 299g