Canyon Grizl:ONfly CF 9 overview: tough-terrain trekker with supreme spec

Canyon Grizl:ONfly CF 9 journey impressions and fluctuate

The Grizl:ON is a succesful off-roader with a cushty journey place. The side specification meets the best requirements.

It’s a motorbike that revels in getting means off-grid, the excellent Schwalbe tyres current grip in spades and the consolation provided by the fork and put up retains you updated.

The one concern holding the Grizl:ON as soon as extra is its weight penalty over lighter assisted bikes. For example, 3T’s equally specced Exploro Enhance weighs in 3.75kg lighter.

The SX motor impresses, with 4 modes – ECO+, TOUR+, Dash and Turbo. In widespread situations, ECO+ presents higher than satisfactory help to shortly get you as so much as a result of the 15.5mph/25kph restrict and the system feels comparatively freed from drag, so spins merely with little or no help.

Oddly, although, throughout the event you flip the motor off you furthermore lose the ability to shift gears due to the AXS rear derailleur attracts its energy from the Bosch PowerTube battery. On the Scott Solace Gravel eRide I examined in 2023, which paired a SRAM AXS drivetrain with the TQ motor, I had no such components.

When the going will get actually strong and undulating, the Tour+ mode works accurately, nonetheless step up into the Dash mode and the Grizl:ONfly actually comes alive. The system responds finest at greater cadences, which isn’t onerous to attain with the broad cassette.

Preserve your cadence spherical 85-95rpm and the SX motor is in its candy spot. That is simpler to do throughout the event you pair the system to your bike laptop computer laptop and use the system’s onboard cadence sensor and energy meter too.

I solely resorted to stepping as so much as Turbo on severely steep and unfastened climbs, the place it is vital to carry seated for traction and go all-in.

The bike handles accurately over rougher surfaces – the mixture of fork and seatpost do a unbelievable job of isolating you from perhaps primarily essentially the most jarring vibrations. It excels with its stability fairly than velocity, and that’s no unhealthy concern when coping with a motorbike that weighs over 16kg.

On fireroad descents, it feels balanced and warranted as a result of a lot of the bike’s bulk being low down and central. The same old wheels shield it feeling nimbler than a heavy ebike would possibly in one other case.

On extra technical terrain, just like woodland singletrack, it’s straightforward to get correct proper right into a rhythmic stream on the Grizl:ON, though it definitely not feels fairly as fast to level out on account of the lighter Scott Solace eRide or 3T’s Exploro Racemax Enhance.

The mode swap mounted into the perfect tube requires a single push to go up the modes and a persistent press to shift down into simpler modes. It’s easy satisfactory to make the most of, though I would favor a bar-mounted swap to avoid having to take my hand off the bars.

It’s the same with the Mahle X20 system on the Ribble AllRoad SL R e Expert, nonetheless there you may have gotten the choice to pair the motor to your bike laptop computer laptop and use the present show display to vary modes – which a minimum of retains you making an attempt additional forward fairly than downwards.

The SRAM Stress XPLR AXS shifting proved easy, quick and correct, and chain retention is superb – even though the Canyon runs a non-SRAM chainring.

Irrespective of its lighter, lower-capacity battery, the Grizl:ON impressed with its fluctuate. On rides which have been 95 per cent off-road, I achieved between 97.4km/60.05 miles with 456m/1,497ft of elevation and 72.4km/45 miles with 952m/3,123ft of climbing.

With Canyon claiming as so much as 100km of fluctuate, it’s refreshing to see an proper reflection.