Seven years is a long time. In 2015, David Cameron was Prime Minister, Leicester City began their Premier League-winning campaign and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir was Christmas number one. In cycling, John Degenkolb won two Monuments, Alberto Contador won his final Grand Tour, Chris Froome won his second Tour de France and the fourth generation of the Canyon Ultimate was released at the end of the year. And it is only now that its successor is taking over the reins. Considering how the industry has changed, that’s one hell of a run.
‘We don’t see it as a revolution. We see this bike as an evolution, and we see it as the most wellbalanced road bike in our portfolio,’ says Canyon product manager Matthias Eurich of the fifthgeneration Ultimate. By ‘balanced’, Eurich means Canyon’s traditional climber’s bike has had to find a middle ground between the comfort-oriented Endurace and the aerodynamics-forward Aeroad, and with its designs still firmly on racing, Canyon has nudged this middle ground closer to the latter.
Ulti-mates
The new Ultimate has been given full integration using Canyon’s one-piece CP0018 bar and stem, previously found only on the Aeroad. Along with refinements to the tube shapes, the cockpit has helped the bike become 10W more efficient at 45kmh, according
