Canyon’s aero bike gets back up to speed
Words Laurence Kilpatrick Photography Tapestry
‘The new Aeroad was defined by pro rider feedback,’ says Canyon’s lead engineer Lukas Birr.
‘The overall theme was to be the fastest bike, which it already is.
On the geometry, the pros were content.
We weren’t going to touch anything that wasn’t requested.’ In other words, Canyon’s new Aeroad, which the brand claims is the fastest bike in the pro peloton, has had a touch-up rather than a total makeover, and the claimed performance improvements – in line with the easy-to-miss changes to tube profiles and widths – are slight.
Canyon claims an average 2.5-watt advantage over a Cervélo S5 at 45kmh, while improvements over the previous Aeroad hover between the negligible and 3-watt mark, depending on yaw angle.
According to Birr the new Aeroad frames are now around 30g lighter in both the higher-tier CFR carbon fibre and the lower-tier CF SLX layup.
A size medium CFR frameset weighs a claimed 960g, with a Shimano Dura-Ace equipped CFR build tipping the scales at 7.07kg.
‘The pros said the previous Aeroad was not direct enough,’ says Birr.
‘The new seatpost offers clearer feedback because it is now clamped at the top tube and not at the backside of the seat tube.
We made a prototype and gave it to Mathieu van der Poel, and we couldn’t get him off it.’ Updating the seatpost also offered Canyon the chance to remedy some of the durability issues experienced by owners of the previous Aeroad.
‘The internal construction of the new seatpost doesn’t have to be split lower down, where the backside of the seat tube recess once sat.
This improves the strength of the clamping force on the seatpost,’ says Birr.
In the drops
Some of the most significant claimed performance gains are contingent on aftermarket alterations to the Aeroad’s componentry.
Canyon’s new Aero Drops ($349.95) are a removable set of aggressively flared drops that sleeve into the ends of the Pace T-bar stem and secure with bolts.
‘It takes 15 minutes to swap these in,’ says Birr.
‘There is no brake bleeding required – just a re application of the bar tape as the brake hoses run in a recessed channel on the bar’s underside.’ They are part of the Pace Bar system, which is an update to the Aerocockpit that featured on the previous Aeroad, and which is likely to be an area of some scrutiny after the mid-race failure of Van der Poel’s Aerocockpit bars in 2021.
‘The aerodynamic advantage of the Aero Drops comes from the rider position on the bike,’ says Birr.
‘Without a rider there is no difference in the wind-tunnel between Aero Drops and the Classic Drops.’ Canyon claims a potential 14-watt saving when riders fit the flared bars and adopt the aerodynamic position they promote.
At 105mm, the Aero drops are 25mm shallower than the Classic Drops that ship with the Aeroad and offer a 10mm increase in reach to the shifter, as well as a 20mm narrower width at the shifters and a progressive 19° flare.
Additional conventional adjustment is possible, with three bolt positions allowing for up to 50mm worth of width alteration, from 350mm to 400mm across the tops.
Different Pace T-bar stems can be purchased ($299.95) to adjust stem length.
Canyon continues to use the quill stem arrangement that Birr says has been slightly modified to be both stiffer and more aerodynamic.
‘We use a modern adaptation of the quill stem plus some split spacers to allow riders to raise or lower their position without cutting the fork or unwiring internal cabling.
We also raised the maximum stack by 5mm as part of the Pace Bar development, so bar height can be altered by up to 20mm now.’ The UCI is famously tight on innovation around handlebars, shifter location and rider positioning.
Birr knows it’s something to be aware of: ‘We’re not too worried.
The Pace Bar allows for such modularity that if we were to break UCI rules we would just make new drops.
We wouldn’t need to make a whole new handlebar.’ Unlike some WorldTour bike suppliers, Canyon has no plans to amalgamate its trio of road bike models into one do-everything machine, and that has contributed to a very similar-looking Aeroad with near-identical geometry to its predecessor.
An extension to the fork profile is apparent, which Canyon says has been modified in line with the UCI’s relaxing of rules governing tube dimensions.
The frontal surface of the head tube is smaller, and a reinforced top tube has allowed for a frontally narrower down tube, which Canyon says helps create smoother airflow.
The top tube’s larger profile is lengthened by the ridged connection to the head tube.
‘The thickening of the top tube allowed us to regain stiffness in this area too,’ says Birr.
At the rear triangle, in addition to the altered seatpost clamping, tubes are all shallower and slimmer.
According to Birr, while all these things represent refinements more than reinventions, the carbon fabrication of the new Aeroad has moved on significantly.
‘The interior has completely changed. We totally overhauled the production process, progressing to mandrels made from polypropylene instead of silicone, which allows for greater repeatability of production quality and better consistency,’ he says.
Canyon insists that the CFR uses a superior layup compared to the cheaper CF SLX frame, and indeed the latter weighs 100g more in a medium.
Birr says the CFR’s carbon is ‘best in class’, while the CF SLX is ‘focused on robustness’.
Fast and practical
‘Everyone asks for a lighter, faster bike, but we think about everyone who is affected by the bike,’ says Birr.
‘Not only the riders but the team mechanics.
The new Aeroad has a lot of smart solutions, using only Torx 25 bolts throughout the bike and a completely sealed headset.
It means you can worry a bit less about your bike.’ With the inclusion of the TX25 thru-axle lever – which houses a removable Torx 25 wrench – the Aeroad is ostensibly serviceable without carrying a multitool – all 13 bolts on the bike (excluding the brake pad retaining pins) take the same Torx 25 bit.
The CFR frameset benefits from titanium bolts in the cockpit to improve durability, and the whole unit has been sealed to supposedly withstand everything a pressure washer can put out.
Other refined touches include smoothed driveside dropouts to eke out maximum aero gains, small protruding strips built into the bottom of the fork designed to prevent paint chipping during wheel removal and a proprietary rear light that fixes magnetically to the seatpost.
Super-fast and super-easy to fix? We’ll be putting the Aeroad’s speed and practicality to the test in the near future.
Canyon Aeroad CFR AXS
AU Pricing $15,849
Website canyon.com/en-au
