After being teased for what seems like a year, the 2021 Canyon Aeroad is finally official. This slippery road racer is slated to continue setting new aerodynamic benchmarks for Canyon and aero road bikes in general. Now, fresh off the overall win at the 2020 BinckBank Tour, the all-new Canyon Aeroad is ready for business (under the legs of wunderkid, Mathieu van der Poel and now the rest of us).
First unveiled in 2014, the previous-generation Aeroad had some notable wins at the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders over the years. For 2021, the Canyon Aeroad was re-designed with the following goals in mind:
- Further improvements in aerodynamics
- Weight reduction
- Modern integration of all the things
- Less-aggressive geometry for wider adoption
- Improved comfort
- Crisper handling
- Clean aesthetics
As always, new models are slipperier and the 2021 Aeroad is no exception — beating the outgoing model’s drag coefficient across the full spectrum of yaw angles. In addition, the frame is 14% stiffer but drops 168 grams (Aeroad CFR over Aeroad CF SLX). There are a few more tidbits that make the 2021 Canyon Aeroad stand out from the other aero road bikes on the market. Let’s dig in a little.
Unique innovations abound
Integrated, aerodynamic cockpits are one of the primary areas where aero gains are achieved and Canyon has delivered some unique attributes here. For those who travel, each side of the handlebars are removable, leaving a 230 mm wide section in place that can easily fit inside bike boxes for travel. In addition, each size of bar offers up to 40 mm width variation, to suit your proper fit or to vary up based on the race or terrain. For example, the medium-sized cockpit can be adjusted between 39, 41 or 43 cm wide.
Further, the head tube and steerer are a unique sleeve-in-sleeve “quill 2.0” design that allows for easy stack adjustments and cable routing — all while keeping the stem centered and straight. This allows for up to 15mm of spacers to be added, if needed.
In addition, the stepped design of the seatpost sees a half-width post down into the seat tube with the cinch bolt hitting just above the dropped seat stays. No official word on the range of adjustability with this design, but those with abnormally long legs may need to size up and short legs may need to size down. I’m guessing that the usable length should cover 99% of riders within the frame’s intended fit range.
Something that everyone will be asking about is tire clearance. For optimal aerodynamics, Canyon has spec’d the top-end models with a 25mm front and 28mm rear tire. Narrower up front is faster and the wider in the rear provides added comfort and traction without sacrificing speed. Official tire clearance is 30mm (measured).
Here in the USA, we will see the following models:
- Aeroad CF SL 7 Disc $3,999.00 Shimano 105, Reynolds AR 58/62 DB
- Aeroad CF SL 8 Disc $4,399.00 Shimano Ultegra, Reynolds AR 58/62 DB
- Aeroad CF SLX 8 Disc Di2 $5,999.00 Shimano Ultegra Di2, DT Swiss ARC1400 Dicut DB 62
- Aeroad CF SLX 8 Disc AXS $5,999.00 SRAM Force eTap AXS, DT Swiss ARC1400 Dicut DB 62
- Aeroad CFR Disc Di2 $9,000.00 Shimano Dura Ace Di2 including Power Meter, DT SWISS ARC1100 Dicut DB 62
- Aeroad CFR Disc AXS $9,000.00 SRAM RED eTap AXS including Power Meter, DT SWISS ARC1100 Dicut DB 62
More Info: Visit Canyon.com
Photos: Tino Pohlmann
