We have 2 an Ultimate SLX with SRAM red and an Aeroad withDi2.
Zero problems, well packaged, well set up.
The Ultimate we have had for 5 years and it has had LBS services with no problems and minor replacements (chains, BB).
The Ultimate took 4 weeks to come , the Aeroad was ordered when they had distribution issues a year or so ago. They under promised but over delivered.
We thought it would take 10 weeks , it came after 5.
Can't recommended them highly enough.

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It's only impossible if you stop to think about it.

No tri bikesI'm afraid, but I own a Canyon mountain bike and my brother owns 2 Canyon road bikes. When I broke a part on my mountain bike in a crash I had to wait 3 or 4 days for the replacement to be shipped to me (probably no worse than if the shop hadn't had it in stock), and I had to pay $20 postage for a $5 part. My brother had a major crash on his aeroad. Canyon were great at helping him out with replacement handlebars at crash replacement price (can't remember what it was). You need to be at least vaguely competent at mechanics when the bike arrives, but everything is already pretty well set up. My next bike is also very likely to be a Canyon.

While I don't own one YET....... I will be at HQ for the Pure Cycling Festival in Koblenz next weekend (recently moved about 4 hours North in Lower Saxony) to decide on a road bike & hopefully receive some confirmation the speedmax gets discs next year ;)

Anyone else going? Or advise from last years event?

CC

I guess the issue is that some shops will see Canyon as a direct competitor and the canyon business model can be a bit of a killer to standard retail.

However where I live there are a number of independent bike mechanics so using Canyon or Planet x is less of an issue if you aren't self sufficient on bike servicing.

As for the bikes themselves I think they are right up there. I believe they use the same factory as Trek for their carbon frames. And there prices are good. If I wanted an aero road bike and money was no issue I would go for a Trek H1 Madone or a Cervelo S5, but given the cost differences then the aeroroad would probably be my weapon of choice.

I would love a Speedmax slx but the prices have risen a bit in the UK and it is currently on the edge of my affordability range but think it is up there in modern tri / tt bikes.

I've got a Canyon road bike 3 years ago, which came on time and as expected - zero problem sat all with it.
On the basis of that I went ahead and bough a Canyon Speedmax CF SLX in the middle of last year. Buying was easy - options for stem length, base bar shape, risers, spacers so that getting the fit correct shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm inn the UK and had a couple of calls and emails with their customer service team, all very friendly.
It was delivered bang on time, and was fairly easy to assemble (I'm no great shakes in the mechanic department). Having said that it did take some time to get the exact set up dialled-in.
In terms of customer service - Apparently there was a known problem with the hydration bottle being a bit loose and so a couple of weeks after purchase they sent all Speedmax owners a small tab that makes it more secure.

I haven't travelled with it yet, so can't comment on that aspect.

I own two Canyon Speedmax, an SLX and the model prior, both with Di2. Both bikes came set up from factory, all I had to do was adjust to my fit coordinates and off I went. Both bikes have been trouble free for thousands of miles.

I'm particular about my setup for tri, so I'm going to come out and say it: the SLX is the best tri bike on the market today, period. Get the two accessories at time of order, the rear carrier and the Garmin mount. The front hydration system comes with it. By adding the accessories, the bike is fully race complete for any distance. It is rock solid stable, lightning fast, and super easy to work on. If you need to travel with it, get the Silca ratchet, since the cockpit uses torx bolts that are a pain to get to otherwise. Failing that, the entire setup fits me like a glove and I didn't have to play the "what hydration/rear carrier/down tube bottle/etc" game, because the bike is set up correctly from go. I love this bike; it's what a super bike should be.

Good endorsement. Do they sell that setup in just a frameset?

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Salton Sea Triathlon Club
“I swim to get to the bike. I run because nobody gives a shit about aquabike.”

Looking at the site, it didn't appear that they did. To be honest, though, I'd just buy the Ui2 bike and then sell off the wheels if I didn't use them for a different build. I don't think that it's a poor value, and to be honest buying all the stuff and then trying to wire an integrated bike is just a pain. I'd rather just have it done by the factory and swap for the wheels I want.

 Thanks dude!

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Salton Sea Triathlon Club
“I swim to get to the bike. I run because nobody gives a shit about aquabike.”

I've got an 'old' speedmax, and love it. Ordering was easy, came ahead of schedule, just needed to do a little spannering to adjust it to fit and it was good to go. Ive traveled with it a few times without problem. Brakes are a pain to alter, but once you get the sequence they're ok.

id buy another without a second thought.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

Thanks all.

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https://www.pbandjcoaching.com
https://www.thisbigroadtrip.com

I had the previous version which i was happy with except for the lack of integration. Sold it when they announced the slx, but the wait for commercial availability was too long. Had a Trek 9.9 instead. I found the trek nice in terms of adjustability and had a good position on it (i think). Still, I missed the canyon and the way the previous version rode. Sold the Trek and got the SLX, and there is no other bike I would rather have at this time.

I will say though, it is certainly less adjustable than the trek so really important to get the right size and stem length. Also, cant remove front fork without completely undoing front brake cable, and you will never be able to route that again. So have an unused armored hen house that i dont have much use for any way.

Other than that i think it is pretty close to perfect. I think the solutions they applied are fairly simple and i seriously dont understand why other brands haven't done the same. I.e. Design two plastic boxes to make nutrition storage and garmin mount. Behind the seat bottle cage not exactly rocket science. Perhaps the spares integration is less straight forward, but then again, not impossible to come up something equally nice and useful that is not nessecarily the same. When i look at certain other brands adding after market parts and suggest they have made a nice integrated tri bike, well, lets say i strongly disagree.

I bought my Canyon around a year ago and I still love it. Canyon has good service I think, my front bottle was leaking a little bit and within a few days I had a new one. I did a bike fit and setup was also no problem. My next bike will definitely be a Canyon again!

I also have a mountainbike from Canyon (Exceed) and same good experience with that one!

I assume everyone commenting lives outside the US or bought it overseas?

I believe the worst people to get bike fit or product advice on are bike shop staff.
I'm sure some give good advice, but how do you know if that applies to the people you're dealing with?
Listen to what they say, but don't take it as fact until you've done plenty checking with those who DON'T have a conflict of interest.

I've had a number of experiences with bike shop staff talking a load of nonsense to me in the hopes of unloading what they had to sell as opposed to what I wanted, needed or asked for. I make it a point not to reveal how much I do or do not know until I get a fair idea whether they'll try and lie to me.

Get bike fits from independent fitters whether you're buying from a local shop or from Canyon. Double check any important advice, as you're doing!

Canyon specific:

I bought a Canyon Ultimate 3 years ago. I haven't regretted it for a second. Lovely bike. When I was deciding what to buy I looked at a few bikes available locally. I remember a member of staff in one LBS who was being perfectly friendly and helpful when I was asking about a bike they stocked. I was talking to him a few minutes, asking about prices, build options, etc. I told him I still had a few bikes on my shortlist but planned to make a decision soon and might be back. He pressed me to tell him what else I was considering so I told him. He said "Oh right Canyon, nice looking bikes, cheap and light but the bottom brackets all crack". I've never heard of anyone whose Canyon bottom bracket has cracked. At best he was citing a historical issue or an anecdote, or he was just lying and trying to sow doubt. I went with the Canyon.
To be fair I've spoken to other LBS staff/owners who've taken the more sensible and honest route of just saying "Yeah, they're nice bikes and there's no denying they're good value. Well whichever way you go, we're here if you need servicing or accessories".

Yes, I live in the UK, but will be bringing it to the US when we move there in summer

I just bought a Canyon Speedmax CF SLX 8.0 this winter. I had a friend in the UK buy it then mail it to me in the US (pretty complicated seeing as he is not a cyclist and I was trying to explain to him everything I needed but trying not to make it too complicated on him since he was a very kind middle man). I would not recommend this route cause it was a massive pain in the ass communicating with Canyon cause they are 6 hours ahead of me and we can't use phones so sometimes there was some crossed signals. I would however recommend the bike.

Pros:
-Bike showed up in England mostly assembled which would have been a sweet perk for getting it up and running.
-Value. This bike is fast and to get an ultegra Di2 setup for 6500 bucks was incredible (that was the exchange rate I got).
-Front integration. The bento goes on with two screws and the bottle slides into place and clicks so it doesn't move. Really easy to take off and take apart to clean. I previously used the Nathan AP Pro on my old Trek SC and I could never get every nook and crannie clean.
-Garmin mount. Even though this prolly falls under front integration, holy crap, its perfect. Its right between my hands and I can see it without having to tuck my head. Goes on with one screw.
-Fast. I haven't been in a wind tunnel (yet) but hot damn does this thing feel fast when you race it. I raced at San Juan 70.3 last month and the thing is a rocket and whisper quiet.
-If you get one in the US everyone will drool over you bike at races which is nice if you are into that sort of thing (Come on, don't lie, you would love to have the bike that everyone is drooling over. P5-X owners know what I am talking about)

Cons:
-Canyon won't sell you the crank length you want. This pissed me off to no end and I tried everything to make this easier on myself and they convinced me there is no way to change the size because they buy groupsets in batches and apparently that includes cranks. I bought a Large (I'm 6'0") so it came with 175mm cranks. I wanted 165mm cranks for reasons that are prolly in another thread on slowtwitch and although they had that size for their small or xs road bikes they wouldn't switch it. I had my bike shop order me the 165s and I swapped them out immediately. Now I'm just gonna sell my crankset on Ebay (or this forum #shamelessplug, hit me up if you are a giant in the market for 175mm ultegra 53/39 cranks) to try and recoup some money for that.
-The rear storage. They claim that in frame storage will hold a tube, 2 co2's, levers. Yeah, no. Unless you are whoever the guy is who packs things the way they come from the factory and then can never be returned the same way. I figured out how to fit one but it was a pain and once the cover for the storage flew off so I am very paranoid about it. Not the end of the world, you can put it somewhere else.
-Sizing. Because of the incredible value of this bike, they have to mass produce the bikes. Because of this, they have 3 sizes. It took me a week with them and my fitter to figure out the size I should be cause either I would have a maxed out stack on the medium and never be able to be less aggressive or min on the reach on the large. Basically my fitter said there was no good answer and deferred to Canyon. They went with large and it fits well but I am absolutely minimumed out on the reach. Good thing I am not gonna shrink anytime soon.

I don't think any of those cons are enough to deter me from buying it since I do actually fit on the thing. The worst thing was the cranks, still slightly sore about that. Would 100% recommend the bike to a friend once its available in your country cause the whole semi-smuggling thing was annoying and very stressful. As for my bike shop, they love it. My mechanic loved working on it and said he can do any repair on it now fairly quick now that he has built it (some disassembly required when transporting it in a smaller box so I had to get it built here). I imagine shops would hate on it cause they aren't getting a cut. Mine was cool with it since they know they will be getting all the repair work that I am not comfortable with. Good luck, I hope your friend gets one and enjoys it!

I assume that given your method of purchase, you didn't get the VAT refund? Given that's a 20% bump, you probably could have bought a ticket over to the UK and brought it back yourself and still saved some money.

Yeah, I got hit with the VAT. The preferred method was to have a friend who was already travelling between where it was and where I live (I work with some Brits) bring it over as a checked box but then I looked into going myself. I ended up not having the time off from work and needed the bike so that I could race on in in Puerto Rico (my old bike was trainer but not road worthy so I was in a bit of a pickle). Again, don't recommend this method. If you can wait for them to get to the US is highly recommend that method.

Ok, so how are you getting the bike because I am already down this road of having a friend purchase there and either bring with him or have bike flights pick up and deliver. Would really like to hear how the story ends.