Canyon launches alloy version of its Grail gravel bike
A lower priced gravel bike option from Canyon
Canyon has aimed to meet affordable price points for the Grail AL, to complement the carbon Grail CF range. So unlike the Grail CF with its shock-absorbing double-decker carbon bar, the new Grail AL has a conventional alloy bar.
The bar is specific to the Grail AL though, and comes in widths of up to 46cm, with a moderate flare to the drops. It’s designed for control and stability on off-road descents.
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But the alloy Grail shares its carbon fork with the Grail CF range. And it uses the same Canyon-developed Schwalbe G-One Bite TLE tyres as the carbon model too.
As you’d expect, the frame features internal cable routing, disc brakes and thru-axles. There are mudguard and rack mounts and the capacity for two bottle mounts even when using a top tube frame bag for bikepacking.
Canyon quotes weights between 9.8kg and 9.3kg for a size medium alloy Grail.
Specs and prices
The Grail AL comes in three men’s/unisex specs and seven sizes. There are also two women’s specs, available in four sizes. Like Canyon’s other bikes, the smaller alloy Grail frame sizes come with 650b wheels rather than 700c. All bikes use DT Swiss C 1850 Spline DB wheels.
The AL6.0 and AL 6.0 WMN are priced at £1099 and come with Shimano Tiagra. The AL 7.0 and AL 7.0 WMN at £1249 come with Shimano 105.
The unisex AL 7.0 SL has a SRAM Rival 1 groupset. and is priced at £1349. At launch, all Grail CF models had 2x Shimano groupsets, but the carbon Grail CF range too now offers SRAM 1x drivetrain options.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.