A few weeks ago, the Koblenz direct mailer presented its new gravel bike. The Canyon Grizl was presented as the terrain-oriented brother of the popular Grail model and, with its long geometry and great features, offers an exciting platform for different requirements.
The gravel category has literally exploded in recent years. Whether on the country road, in the forest or in the city center, you can see the sporty bikes with the curved handlebars everywhere. Many manufacturers have also adapted accordingly and have one or the other model in their range.
With the distinctive "double-decker" handlebars, Canyon created a special design for the Grail that also works extremely well. However, since this concept focuses more on slightly easier off-road use with good rolling properties on asphalt, a gravel for use in rougher terrain was still missing, which should offer a platform for everyday adventures, bikepacking tours and races.
The Canyon Grizl CF SL – short and sweet
- Loom: Canyon CF Carbon
- Circuit: Shimano GRX RX810 GS
- Brake: Shimano MT800
- Weight: 9,89 kg with clipless pedals
- Price: € 2.999
optics and features
In contrast to the Grail CF models, the look is kept simple. The Grizl has a clean and modern frame design and a classic Gravel handlebar with little flair (Flair describes how much the drop handlebars are tilted outwards). The model made available to us is the CF SL 8 variant with a carbon frame and in a plain gray with black decals. However, the SL8 is also available in striking green/turquoise tones called Matcha Splash. There are more colorful and simple color schemes for the other equipment variants.
If you take a closer look at the Grizl, the above-mentioned area of application of the new gravel bike from Koblenz immediately comes to mind. Mounts for bottle holders and tools are placed in the frame and there are also options on the fork and on the top tube to mount bags for bikepacking tours, for example.
Geometry - sporty Gravel
The geometry is based on the same concept as the Grail. We have a long gravel bike here that, with its 409mm reach and a stack of 605mm in size L, is more sporty than, for example, a classic adventure/bikepacking bike (such as the Ritchey Outback). However, the chainstays are kept quite short. Here we have 435mm which makes the bike quite manoeuvrable.
28″ wheels with plenty of tire clearance
The Grizl series is based on two carbon frames and one aluminum frame. According to the manufacturer, the frame of the carbon premium variant CF SLX weighs only 950 grams in size M. The frames are available in 7 different sizes and are deliberately designed so that only the size 2XS and XS roll on 650B wheels. All other sizes are designed for 700C wheels only. The Koblenz-based manufacturer didn't want to make any compromises when it came to geometry and performance, so they made a conscious decision to go with 700C/28″ wheels.
Since you can get a lot of performance and comfort from a gravel bike with the help of the right tire choice, it was important to Canyon to give the Grizl a decent amount of tire clearance even on wheels with wider rims. That's why the Grizl offers space for tires up to 50mm wide. This is also important - because the Grizl is quite sporty and has a fairly stiff front end with a fork that hardly flexes. Here you can get a little more comfort by choosing the right tires and pressure. It's also nice that all tires are mounted on tubeless-ready rims from the factory.
While we're on the subject...
Comfort – slightly unbalanced
In terms of comfort, the front and rear are actually a bit unbalanced. Thanks to the flexible 27,2 mm VCLS seat post with the clamp integrated in the frame, Das Heck feels very comfortable when seated and is easy to pedal when seated, even in bumpy sections. In contrast, the front is very stiff and hardly offers any comfort. Since the fork hardly flexes, you can only influence the comfort here, as I said, via the tire pressure. If that bothers you, you can access the alternative: The new Canyon Grizl CF Suspension has a Rockshox Rudy fork with 30mm travel.
components and equipment
As already mentioned, Canyon made the Grizl CF SL 8 available to us. For 2.999 euros you get a very fair package. The basis of the Grizl is the light CF frame, which has a wide range of uses and offers good tire clearance.
The in-house Canyon FK0087 carbon fork is installed at the front. This has decent rigidity and three attachment points on each side for mounting bottle cages & bags and the like.
For the rear derailleur, Canyon relies on Gravel-specific components from Shimano. The GRX RX810 GS comes with an adjustable chain stabilizer to prevent chain slap and chain dropping. A front derailleur is mounted on the crank, which serves the two chainrings with a gradation of 48/31 teeth. If you combine this with a cassette with 11-34 teeth, you get a sporty range that requires a lot of strength in steep and technical terrain.
Braking is also done with Shimano components. The MT800 comes with lightweight premium Centerlock brake discs with proven Ice Freeza technology. This stands for rapid heat dissipation and constant braking performance
Wheels with a great tire combination
The Grizl CF SL rolls on DT Swiss G1800 aluminum wheels with a rim depth of 25mm and a width of 24mm. The rims are equipped with Schwalbe G-One Bite tires, which were mounted tubeless. These offer a good combination of grip, rolling resistance and a great width of 45mm. This also has advantages in terms of puncture protection, whether stones or sharp-edged gravel - the tires kept their promises.
The Grizl CF SL in action
We were able to ride the adventure-oriented gravel bike on a wide variety of surfaces. From relaxed tours along the Isar to rough Bayer forest trails, everything was there. However, we quickly noticed that the Grizl is not as touring and adventure-oriented as we are used to from other bikes in this category. That may sound negative at first, but it is by no means. Because the Grizl is a really great gravel bike in its own way.
Especially on technical forest paths with roots and stones, the long geometry conveys a lot of safety and is fun even at faster speeds. Especially our test riders from the mountain bike area felt really comfortable on the local hiking trails and mountain bike trails.
And although the Grizl has a slightly unbalanced comfort, it is a great feature to be able to mount relatively wide tires and thereby take some of the stiffness out of the front end. This also contributes to more grip. If you play with the tire pressure of the grippy G-One Bite tires, even wet surfaces with roots and stones are easy to cope with.
But the Grizl also does justice to its intended use on tours with lots of forest and gravel paths. The flex in the saddle allows the bike to step over loose and bumpy ground without any problems even when seated and ensures a comfortable seat.
