In a seismic shift for the Canyon Endurace the new CFR, officially unveiled today, comes with cutting-edge aerodynamics, pro-race geometry and a side order of comfort.
The new CFR had already broken cover, being raced to a top-10 placing for Jasper Philipsen at Dwars door Vlaanderen. It featured again at the Tour of Flanders, with Zoe Bäckstedt fifth in the women's edition. This week Charlotte Kool won on the Endurace CFR at Scheldeprijs.
It’s also confirmed to be the bike of choice for the cobbles of this weekend's Paris-Roubaix for Alpecin–Premier Tech.
Sporting a design based heavily on Canyon's three-times Paris-Roubaix winning race bike, the Aeroad, the new CFR gets 35mm tyre clearance, a UDH rear dropout, a new series of cockpit options and a new VCLS aero post.
With the new Endurace CFR testing in the wind tunnel at only one watt less efficient than the 3x Paris-Roubaix winning Aeroad, Canyon has created the most aerodynamic endurance bike ever made. Could this be the ultimate blend of aerodynamic speed and cobble-crushing comfort?
Design engineer Chris Senn says of the new bike: “The frame and geometry is aerodynamically very close to the Aeroad – almost identical – but the wider tyres and comfort reduce fatigue. It’s a bike to win really hard races.”
Canyon Endurace CFR – what you need to know
- The CFR is a Classics-optimised race bike with pro geometry
- Developed with Alpecin-Premier Tech
- 35mm tyre clearance
- Two models at launch and MyCanyon custom options
- Multiple cockpit options
- New VCLS aero post
- Only one watt more drag than the Aeroad
Built for racing, optimised for comfort
The CFR’s development involved a huge amount of input from the Alpecin–Premier Tech team, in particular team manager Christoph Roodhooft and van der Poel.
Senn explains: “For the new Endurace, our development philosophy was: comfort creates speed, and in turn speed creates more comfort. If your bike and setup are comfortable enough, you can ride faster.”
The decision to create a hybrid between aero race bike and endurance bike came from talks between the team and Canyon’s engineers.
Lead engineer Lukas Birr says: “We took our winning Aeroad as a basis, then transferred what we wanted to do onto the new Endurace. We talked to the pros, talked to the mechanics, and analysed our own data. The wishes from the pros were explicitly for sprint scenarios – accelerating abruptly out of 90-degree corners on the cobbles. So, we made the bike as efficient as possible in power transfer.”
The added comfort comes from the ability to up tyre width to 35mm, along with a new, dedicated aero seatpost with VCLS tech that provides 25% more compliance than the post found on the Aeroad. The reshaped seat tube tapers at its bottom third, adding comfort-bringing flex.
A stiffer endurance bike?
The Aeroad has already proven its worth multiple times on the testing cobbles, but Canyon’s engineers listened to team feedback, and in particular van der Poel's. His opinion about the Aeroad was he wanted the stiffness to be increased to keep the handling sharp on the demanding surfaces of the cobbled Classics.
It seems Canyon is impressed by van der Poel's ability to feel out a bike’s performance. Canyon’s global director of pro sports, Andreas Walzer, reveals: “We have learned a lot from Mathieu. He is completely interested in the bikes and knows a lot from cyclocross. He’s really connected to the material and feels everything.
"For example, when we started developing the old Aeroad, he could immediately feel a difference in the bottom bracket stiffness. There was a difference of just 10 Newton meters, and he said: ‘This bike is not as stiff as the old one’.
"Our engineers didn’t believe him until they measured it in the laboratory – they were amazed he could feel that difference. His sensitivity helps us a lot in development.”
Head-tube stiffness
For the new Endurace CFR, the choices of carbon fibre material and design have led to a head-tube stiffness tested at 116Nm, compared to the Aeroad’s 103Nm.
The carbon composition uses a blend of YS80 pitch-based fibres, as a complement to the usual Toray T1100 and T800 fibres common in high-grade carbon framesets.
Pitch-based fibres such as the YS80 are derived from coal tar or petroleum pitch, compared to Pan fibres, which are petroleum-derived.
The advantage of Pitch is the extreme rigidity – more than three times that of Pan fibres. However, they need to be used smartly and sparingly because they're much more brittle than Pan fibres.
Aerodynamics at its core
The Endurace CFR shares much of its design with the Aeroad, with the vital differences of upping tyre clearance to 35mm and tweaks to the geometry – longer chainstays and wheelbase to accommodate the tyres and improve stability at speed.
| Size | 2XS | XS | S | M | L | XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider height | 160-166cm | 166-172cm | 172-178cm | 178-184cm | 184-190cm | 190-196cm |
| Seat tube | 432mm | 462mm | 492mm | 522mm | 552mm | 582mm |
| Top tube length | 515mm | 528mm | 550mm | 560mm | 573mm | 599mm |
| Head tube length | 88mm | 107mm | 121mm | 142mm | 162mm | 188mm |
| Head angle | 69.5 | 71 | 72.8 | 73.25 | 73.3 | 73.5 |
| Seat tube angle | 72.5 | 73.5 | 73.1 | 73.1 | 73.2 | 73.2 |
| Chainstay | 413mm | 413mm | 413mm | 413mm | 413mm | 415mm |
| Wheelbase | 985mm | 986mm | 986mm | 990mm | 1003mm | 1029mm |
| Effective stack | 590mm | 610mm | 625mm | 645mm | 666mm | 691mm |
| Effective reach | 519mm | 537mm | 548mm | 563mm | 580mm | 598mm |
The CFR was developed and fully tested at race speeds using the GST wind tunnel in Immenstadt, and the results were suprising.
With a pedalling dummy (called Ferdi) in place, the CFR tested with a system drag of 205W at 45km/h. Compare that to Canyon’s out-and-out aero bike, the Aeroad, and it’s only a single watt less – or, in Canyon’s words, "within the margin of error".
Multiple cockpits
The Endurace CFR comes with an updated Pace bar – the width-adjustable integrated cockpit system. That gives the bar 50mm of width and 20mm of height adjustment with a single TX25 torx tool.
The new Pace bar comes as standard with the ‘classic’ drop – that means a 130mm drop, zero flare and adjustable widths across 370, 395 and 420mm bars. You can also specify a 'Race' 116mm drop. This bar adds 10mm to the effective reach and comes with a 14-degree flare.
The final option is a Comfort drop. This is compact, at 108mm, and reduces the effective reach by 10mm.
If you want the full pro option, Canyon also offers the new one-piece non-adjustable Race bar (CP0053).
Fashionably narrow at either 350mm or 375mm, this bar reduces the effective stack by 20mm and adds 10mm to the effective reach. It comes with a 14-degree flare and 116mm drop. According to Canyon’s testing, it saves 2W at 45km/h over the Pace bar and shaves 120g in weight.
The price for all upgrade drops (Compact, Race and Control) is €229.99 / $259.95. The CP053 Race cockpit is €599.95 / $699.95. Accessory pricing for the UK is still TBC.
Two models, lots of options
The CFR is unashamedly a pro-level race bike, and at launch there are only two, high-end models. One has Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and DT Swiss ARC 1100 wheels, and the other is a SRAM Red AXS model with the same wheelset.
Both come with pro-level gearing – 50/36, 11-30 on the Shimano bike and 50/37, 10-33 for the SRAM model.
Both bikes are priced impressively keenly at £8,500 / €9,000 / $10,499. In comparison, Cannondale’s Synapse LAB71 with RED AXS is £13,000. A Specialized S-Works Roubaix with Dura-Ace Di2 is £12,000 and Giant’s Defy Advanced SL 0 is £9,499.
That’s not the whole story, though, because both bikes are part of Canyon’s MyCanyon programme. This gives the choice of multiple cockpit options, paint finishes, components and accessories.
