On the descents, the Ultimate is a dream at full flight – with a stable base giving unprecedented confidence and a certain balance offered in the corners that lets you always feel in control, even when you’re possibly not! This balance is aided by the thru axles which give great stiffness to the frame under cornering loads. It means you can carve corners much tighter knowing there won’t be any flex-induced understeer to lead you astray.
The disc brakes add more confidence to the descending prowess of the Ultimate. They are incredibly powerful, which is awesome when you need to stop on a dime. But they are also great when you only need a small amount of braking, such as through a corner. You can feather the levers to keep the perfect amount of pressure running though the brake pads. This feathering is a big benefit over rim brakes and once mastered did seem to increase cornering speed. It’s kind of funny how better brakes make you faster!
Making you faster is one thing the Ultimate proved itself very good at throughout the test. The sum of its parts seem to work so well together, with only a few niggly issues – most notably the narrow bars and oversized hoods, which may actually prove not to be an issue for everyone.
Our take
“The Ultimate CF SLX Disc 9.0 is the best bike you can buy for all your road racing adventures.” That’s the bold claim Canyon make themselves, but did the Ultimate live up to those heights? From the first ride over that obnoxious piece of bumpy bitumen to the sweeping descents of Mt Hotham, those lofty ambitions from Canyon were achieved proudly and repeatedly.
The Ultimate proved to be a balanced speedster that was capable of racing at the highest level one day, while backing up with a gravel adventure the next. Looking over the bike at the end of the test, I struggled to find anything I would drastically change. Every component and angle of the frame has been thought out to create a ride that could traverse the grand canyons of each buyer’s expectations and deliver one conclusion, this really could be the ultimate.
Canyon Ultimate CF SLX Disc 9.0 |
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Weight | 7.5kg |
Price | $7,699 |
From | canyon.com |