It might be built heavy but this elephant can fly
looks less angular, with more traditional swoops and curves to the seat tube. There’s no shock yoke anymore like the old Torque used to use, instead the Fox Float X2 bolts right onto the end of the seatstays. The frame also benefits from a UDH, mounts for a bottle cage, bosses under the top tube for a spare tube, and internal cable routing in the front triangle.
HOW IT RIDES
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the mammoth weight of the Torque
29 AL 6. In size XL it’s just 100g under 17kg, which is about the same weight as most of the latest generation of midpower e-bikes. Even if the price is less comparable. Couple that with the draggy Maxxis tyres with their mix of Double Down carcass and Maxxgrip rubber, and the hefty DT Swiss FR 560 rims, and you’re practically guaranteed to be last up any climb. The sound of rubber slurping on a tarmacked climb will haunt my dreams. That said, the X2 shock doesn’t actually bob that much when you’re sat down pedalling, and if you were to lighten the load with new wheels and rubber then enduro racing would be well within its capabilities.
When I tell you that the bike now passes Category 5 testing for downhill use and will take a triple-crown fork, you’ll probably twig that downhill is the Torque’s forte, though. It might be built heavy but this elephant can fly when you get it up to speed, the feeling is of a lively bike that wants to pop and get airborne at every lip or rise in the trail.
When you’re on the ground the Torque will take on any terrain – at least, any I was brave enough to hurl it down – remaining calm and composed on the roughest and steepest tracks at Bikepark Wales. It shrugs off rocks that would bounce most enduro bikes off line and out of shape, and that gives you tons of confidence to let the brakes off. Despite that butter-smooth ride, I did manage to put a hole right through the Double Down reinforced rear tyre, but the DT Swiss wheel survived unscathed, testament to its solid build. It’s not a deadening ride though, the Torque still manages to let you feel the surface you’re riding on, judging the limits of grip and really pushing your riding on.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear the Torque 29 AL 6 also gets its components absolutely spot on: the Fox Float Performance level X2 shock and 38 fork are unmatched by any other bike at this price point, while dropping down to the lower-tier SLX drivetrain is a price worth paying for all that suspension prowess. The SLX four-piston brakes proved powerful and without the wandering bite point some Shimano brakes suffer from too. And rounding it off is the excellent G5-level cockpit Canyon rolls out on its more gravity-focused bikes. In terms of value for money, it doesn’t get much better than this.
In all honesty, the Torque is unlikely to win any special stages. It’s too slow to accelerate when you turn the pedals, and the lower-tier Fox suspension is more calm and comforting than taut and poised. What it will do is take you down any section of trail you want, the steeper and rougher the better, and you’ll probably have more fun doing it than anyone else… and probably for half the price too.