Pro bike: Connor Swift's Canyon Ultimate

A look at the 2018 National Champion's winter training bike

Yorkshireman Connor Swift is gearing up for his second season with Arkéa–Samsic, and we caught up with him whilst he was out logging winter miles on his Canyon Ultimate.

The 2018 British National Road Race champion moved on from the folding Madison-Genesis team in May 2019. Last year's racing saw him take a win at the Redditch edition of the Tour Series, as well as top 10 finishes at the Tour de Yorkshire and Tour de Normandie. 

Arkéa–Samsic has penned a two-year deal with Canyon, and riders have access to the lightweight Ultimate, wind cheating Aeroad and Speedmax time trial bike.

Preparing for what 2020 has to offer, he's training on a his dazzlingly white Ultimate, with the team logo stamped proudly on the fork blades and chainstay bridge, with his own name on the top tube, compete with a Union Jack.

With terrain and conditions in mind, his machine is specced out for grimy pre-season miles, with a pair of 25mm Continental 4 Season tyres fitted to 40mm Dura Ace carbon wheels.

The groupset matches, in Shimano's tip flight Dura Ace incarnation - and Swift rides with a 54/42 chainring set up with 172.5mm cranks. He's collecting his wattage data via Shimano's own power meter chainset, with a Wahoo computer on the bars.

Up front, Swift uses Canyon's category 1 CP10 Aerocockpit carbon bars, with a 410mm width,  130mm drop and reach of 74mm.

The 24-year-old has  perched himself on a Sella Italia Flite saddle, with a Zefal saddle bag to carry the essentials for those long winter miles.

He's fitted an Exposure TraceR rear light to increase visibility, or perhaps as a safeguard against being caught out should the ride be longer than planned.

Swift's Shimano pedals feature an extra 4mm spacer at each pedal spindle, widening the q-factor to create the pedal stroke he's looking for.

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Michelle Arthurs-Brennan

Michelle Arthurs-Brennan is a traditional journalist by trade, having begun her career working for a local newspaper, where highlights included interviewing a very irate Freddie Star (and an even more irate theatre owner), as well as 'the one about the stolen chickens'.


Previous to joining the Cycling Weekly team, Michelle was Editor at Total Women's Cycling. She joined CW as an 'SEO Analyst', but couldn't keep her nose out of journalism and in the spreadsheets, eventually taking on the role of Tech Editor before her latest appointment as Digital Editor. 


Michelle is a road racer who also enjoys track riding and the occasional time trial, though dabbles in off-road riding too (either on a mountain bike, or a 'gravel bike'). She is passionate about supporting grassroots women's racing and founded the women's road race team 1904rt.