In 2013 Canyon took on triple DH world champion Fabien Barel and together they turned the Strive into a race-winning enduro bike. Now they’ve applied the Barel treatment to a fresh downhill bike. Enter the Sender. After 14 runs down five different Portuguese DH tracks, five aspects really stood out for us.
FAB GEOMETRY
Fabien’s input has yielded a long and slack machine. The head angle is adjustable from 62 to 64 degrees and chainstay length can be altered between 430mm and 446mm. The XL frame’s wheelbase and reach is longer than all of the Sender’s competitors’, and it’s available in a huge size range, so should fit most riders well.
AIR SUSPENSION
Canyon have designed the Sender around lightweight and easy to adjust air shocks. The motocross-inspired ‘MX Link’ suspension platform is designed to increase initial sensitivity and mid-stroke support, making an air shock feel more like a coil.
THE DETAILS
Rubberised protection against rock strikes, chain slap and heel rub, combined with a threaded BB and oversized pivot bearings, should keep the Sender sending again and again. There’s a fender too, and everyone loves a fender.
THE RIDE
The Sender is uncannily quiet. Those rubberised stays do a great job of silencing chain clatter. All that remains is the silky swoosh of damping oil and the dull thud of rubber on rock. Once we’d installed a healthy eight volume spacers in the Fox Float X2 shock, we arrived at a near-perfect bottom-out force, which coped with some really hard landings while still allowing full travel. The rear suspension remained incredibly active, even outshining the superb Fox 40 RC2 up front in sensitivity terms. It was able to soak up high-speed rock gardens with a quiet calmness even the fork couldn’t match.
After two runs in the shorter chainstay setting, we switched to the longer option. This led to a far more balanced feel, with improved stability on rocky straights and more predictable cornering too. Despite the long geometry, tight switchbacks were dealt with surprisingly swiftly on our XL Sender, while Fabien gave a cornering masterclass on his! The bike was taut and efficient under power, without excessive pedal kickback – a good compromise for racing.
THE PRICE
The range-topping bike we rode leaves almost nothing to be desired in terms of spec and will cost 5850$. There’ll be a mid-range option for 600$ less, but the smart money is arguably on the 4350$ base model.