Written by:
Rumours of an aluminium version of Canyon Bikes Grail have been knocking around the internet for a few months now, but the German company have remained tight lipped. Until now.
Unveiled at the inaugural Toros de Gravel, in Mallorca this weekend, the first thing you’ll notice is that the controversial double decker handlebar is missing. Designed to take the sting out of rough gravel roads, many consumers and press alike just couldn’t get to grips with the ungainly looks of Canyon’s Hover bar.
Admittedly, retaining the Hover system would give the Grail AL a USP in a crowded market, but to keep costs down and ensure the alloy Canyon remains competitive against rivals such as the new Cannondale Topstone, it had to go.
Canyon Grail AL
Details of the new range and specifications are still to be announced by Canyon. But with the entry level version of the carbon CF 7.0 model equipped with Shimano 105 groupset retailing at £1,999 we can expect prices of the AL range to start significantly lower.
Carbon fork and a normal pair of bars up top. Haters of the Hover bar rejoice!
Other than the lack of the integrated stem, geometry remains faithful to the carbon Grail. Other than provisioning for mud guards, the straight blade carbon fork doesn’t have any additional mounting points for bidon or ‘anything cages’.
DT Swiss rims and Schwalbe G-One rubber all bodes well for a sensibly speced build.
The bike on show at Toros de Gravel was equipped with SRAM’s Rival 1x groupset and hydraulic disc brakes. Mounts for a front mech are visible on the frame and we predict that there will be Shimano groupset options available for those who prefer 2 chainrings up front.
Also visible on the frame are routing for Di2 cables, two bottle cage mounts inside the main triangle and a third slung under the downtube. Clearance looks generous enough and the bike on show was wearing new, larger Schwalbe G-One Bite tyres in 700x40c. Currently the widest listed on the Schwalbe website is 700×38…
The show bike was presented with SRAM 1x but mounts for a front mech are present.
Prices (Updated)
Prices start at £1,099 for the Shimano Tiagra equipped Grail AL 6.0, £1,249 with Shimano 105 groupset and topping out at £1,349 for the SRAM Rival 1x Grail AL 7.0
All the range roll on DT Swiss Spline 1850 wheelsets and feature Canyon Bikes own brand finishing kit for the cockpit. Colour options are the brushed alloy finish as seen in our photos, along with anodised green and copper red.
For more information and full specification, check out Canyon Bikes website here: www.canyon.com
Last modified: 1st November 2018
