Canyon Ultimate AL 9.0 ES Road bike review

Canyon Ultimate AL 9.0 ES Road Bike
Cycling Weekly Verdict

The £1,699 price tag will no doubt raise the eyebrows of many, given its aluminum heart and all that. But when you check out the spec, the Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels are around the £500 price mark and the VCLS Post 2.0 on its own that would set you back another £216.95. Then there's the complete Ultegra groupset, no cheeky swap-outs here, Ritchey bar and stem, Selle Italia saddle - this stuff isn't budget by any stretch. It's a lovely ride, once you get the final set up correct. Canyon is super-helpful on the phone, and it actively encourages you to call in advance of hitting the final 'confirm' button. However, it's that element of personal interaction you lose out on. It's definitely a bike worthy of the price tag, but at the cost of cutting out your LBS.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Comfortable

  • +

    Confident inspiring ride

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Not much

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

While we've become familiar with the Canyon brand name over the past couple of years under the likes of Joaquim Rodriguez, Denis Menchov and the rest of the Katusha squad, we've not actually swung our own leg over one of the bikes, or indeed got up close and personal with one.

So when offered the chance to climb on board one we jumped at the chance. It's worth taking a moment to explain the German brand. In summary, back in the late 1970s a salesman father saw an opportunity to make a few quid on the side at his son's bike races by selling a few spares out the back of trailer.

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Hannah Bussey

Hannah is Cycling Weekly’s longest-serving tech writer, having started with the magazine back in 2011. She has covered all things technical for both print and digital over multiple seasons representing CW at spring Classics, and Grand Tours and all races in between.

Hannah was a successful road and track racer herself, competing in UCI races all over Europe as well as in China, Pakistan and New Zealand.

For fun, she's ridden LEJOG unaided, a lap of Majorca in a day, won a 24-hour mountain bike race and tackled famous mountain passes in the French Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites and Himalayas. 

She lives just outside the Peak District National Park near Manchester UK with her partner, daughter and a small but beautifully formed bike collection.