The heritage of the Ultimate platform has always been stiffness-to-weight ratio, according to Sebastian Hofer, Canyon’s carbon fibre engineer, but the new Ultimate seeks to maintain the stiffness-to-ratio of the previous version, while, crucially, improving comfort by ten per cent and reducing aerodynamic drag by ten per cent. That three-way goal made up Canyon’s chief objective for the Ultimate CF SLX.

How have Canyon achieved that? The tube profiles of the Ultimate CF SLX have been overhauled, with particular focus on the headtube and downtube, while also introducing the integrated Aerocockpit first seen on Aeroad, resulting in a claimed 7.4-watt improvement (or an eight per cent drag saving) for the frameset, and a claimed 12.9-watt improvement (14 per cent drag saving) for the frameset and Aerocockpit combined. The challenge for Canyon has been in achieving those improvements without negatively impacting on the frame’s stiffness-to-weight ratio, which we’ll come on to in more detail.

Aero-influenced

While the Aeroad CF SLX, unveiled ahead of the Tour de France last year, remains Canyon’s all-out aero road bike (see what they did with the name there?), the aerodynamics are now also at the heart of the Ultimate CF SLX.

The biggest challenge in development, however, was to boost the Ultimate’s aerodynamic prowess without adversely affecting the frame’s stiffness-to-weight ratio, according to Canyon’s aerodynamics engineer Michael Adomeit. That’s because stiffness comes in the width of the tube (by doubling the width of a tube, you increase its stiffness eight-fold, says Adomeit), while aerodynamics is all about reducing the front area of the tube exposed to the wind.

Typically, any aerodyamic gains are offset by increased weight and/or reduced stiffness, and so Canyon weren’t able to use the Trident 2.0 tube profiles adopted on the Aeroad, simply because they would add too much weight and thus reduce the stiffness-to-weight ratio of the Ultimate.

“Adopting previously developed tube profiles such as Trident 2.0, as used on the Aeroad CF SLX, was not an option as these are only effective when they are applied above a certain aspect ratio, something that was incompatible with the voluminous tube shapes required to achieve our STW targets,” according to Canyon.

To combat this, Canyon have adopted a narrower, rounder D-shape profile on the new Ultimate’s downtube, which gives the tube a far blunter profile and is said to decrease the separation of airflow from the tube. This does result in a loss of lateral stiffness, but Canyon say they’ve overcome this by introducing a broader, box-like toptube and wider-set seatstays, as these areas have a smaller impact on aerodynamic performance. Canyon have also applied a D-shape profile to the seattube and seatstays.

Canyon have also re-worked the headtube, using an untapered 1-1/4″ fork steerer, which is said to improve handling performance and torsional stiffness. While this could potentially result in a larger frontal surface area than a 1-1/8″ fork steerer, Canyon say this is offset by the headtube’s sleek, hourglass profile, helped by the use of compact Acros headset bearings.

“Comfort can make you faster”

That’s aerodynamics and stiffness-to-weight sorted, but what about comfort? Comfort has become a key trend (or buzz word, depending on how you look at it) in recent years, and that’s no different here, with the thinking that, even at the top level of professional cycling, a more comfortable bike will help you save energy, which in turn can then be used to press harder on the pedals.

While the carbon fibre layup plays a significant role in the comfort of the Ultimate CF SLX, as it does any bike, the key talking point here is the innovative seatpost clamp, which has been moved from its traditional position at the exit of the seattube, to the junction of the seatstays and seattube. Canyon say this frees up more of the seatpost for deflection, contributing significantly to that claimed 15 per cent improvement in comfort.

“The hybrid injection-moulded synthetic insert is one of the most complex components Canyon has ever developed and consists of three parts: a fibre-reinforced base, a soft seal where the seat tube ends and an aluminium press to transfer the tightening screw’s force onto the seatpost,” say Canyon.

Comfort is a hard thing to quantify, but Canyon have arrived at this number by clamping the frame at the dropouts and applying a torsional load to the headtube to measure vertical deflection.

Small details matter

While stiffness, weight, aerodynamics and comfort are at the heart of the Ultimate CF SLX, Canyon haven’t overlooked the small stuff, with an impressive level of attention to detail across the frame.

When it came to cable routing, Canyon’s aim was to achieve a frictionless braking and shifting feel and they’ve sought to do this by first using a ‘splash guard’ around the front derailleur cable exits, where dirt and debris can collect. This is said to keep the internals clean, reducing friction.

The toptube cable stop has also been redesigned – to the point that it verges on over-engineering, Adomeit admits – and using a synthetic, folding design that provides a secure fit and reduces the cable angle from 22 degrees to 17 degrees, again to improve feel and performance, with the thinking that the cable should run as straight and smooth as possible in order to maintain tension.

Geometry

Finally, the geometry of the Ultimate CF SLX has also been revised. Canyon sought to achieve ‘symmetrical size distribution’, so the options now run from XXS to XXL, rather than XS to XXXL as before.

As a result, the stack-to-reach ratio has been tweaked across the range. Canyon say smaller riders have more to gain from this move, with the XXS size offering a greater range while, at the other end of the spectrum, the XXL frame is said to be almost identical to the previous XXXL. A medium frame, meanwhile, is said to be 35 per cent closer to the previous large size, benefiting riders who previous fell between an M and an L.

That’s it for now but we’re about to head out for a ride in the hills surrounding Pamplona with a handful of the Movistar team, including Quintana, so look out for a first ride report.

Website: Canyon