Canyon Ultimate CF Evo Disc 10.0 LTD £7,449 | 5.98kg (size XS)

Michelle Arthurs-Brennan takes wing on Canyon’s featherweight race bike

- Michelle Arthurs-Brennan

On my first ride aboard the Canyon Ultimate Evo Disc 10.0 SL, I set a new PB up my local test climb – Toys Hill. A PB on ‘new bike day’ legs is not necessarily remarkable, but it is quite notable considering I’ve ascended that 1.8-mile stretch on an almost weekly basis over the last couple of years, in an array of conditions.

Happily, I also had the chance to take the bike with me on a training camp, staying with Café Ciclista in Denia, Spain, where I logged over 500km on smooth tarmac before returning to the rutted roads of Kent and Surrey. In total, I’ve covered close to 1,100km on the Evo.

The bike was tested over a week in Spain as well as in the UK.

The Ultimate Evo Disc is Canyon’s lightest ever disc-brake equipped production bike. My size XS weighed in at 5.98kg. That’s with the carbon Selle Italia SLR C59 saddle fitted, which I quickly removed. Even with pedals, bottle cages and a more sensible perch attached, it’s comfortably under the 6.8kg mark set by the UCI.

The Evo was released in 2019, and this 2020 model shares the same frame. The only real difference is the tyres have been updated to the newest iteration: a fetching pair of Schwalbe Pro One TT Evo tan wall rubber shoes.

To create the 675g frame and 285g fork, Canyon used a new carbon layup comprised of ultra-high modulus (UHM), ultra-high tension (UHT) carbon-fiber, weighing in at 90g per square metre.

The obvious concern with a super lightweight frame is that stiffness will have taken a big hit, but Canyon says the stiffness-to-weight ratio has been improved in this iteration. You only have to lift the bike up to confirm it’s lighter, and it takes just a few pedal strokes for you to realise that it is stiffer, too.

PROS & CONS

+ LIGHT

+ STIFF