istoryhasa wayof
repeatingitself.But
normallyit takes
decadesforthecycle
oflifetocomearound
again.Notsowith
ourTrailBikeofthe
Yeartest.
Twelvemonthson
andtheoutcomeis
virtuallyidenticaltolast
year’stest;theCanyon
SpectralAL6.0theonly
bikeoutof 10 toscore
a double-digitrating,makingit theundisputed
winnerofthistesttwoyearsonthetrot.
And,witha cropofbrandnewbikesinboth
categories,it’snotlikeweinputthesamedata
togetthesameoldresults.EventheCanyonhas
changedinthelast 12 months,withextratravel,
revisedgeometryandsmallertyresmorphingit
intoanevenmoreversatiletrailbike.
Messingwiththatwinningformulawasa bold
moveonCanyon’spart,notleastbecausefitting
2.4intyresis diametricallyopposedtowhat
mostotherbrandsaredoing.Butmovingthe
bikeforwardsis exactlywhatkeptit aheadof
thecompetition.OnlytheWhyteT-130S came
closetochallengingCanyon’ssupremacy,butit
justcouldn’tcompeteonprice.
But it wasn’t always like this for Canyon. We
rememberthedayswhenitsbikeswerekiller
valuebutcouldn’tcompeteonperformance.
Productdevelopmentandinnovationtakestime
andresources,andasCanyonhasgrownits
R&Ddepartmenthasexpanded.Asa result,the
pricesofitsbikeshavecreptupbutthelevelof
performancehasincreasedevenfaster.
Givenhowcosteffectivethedirect-sales
modelis,it’shardlysurprisingthatit wastwo
onlinebrandsfightingforthetopspotinthe
29ercategory.TheCommençalMetaTR 29 in
Britishracinggreeninonecorner,theredYT
IndustriesJeffsy 29 intheother.Neitherbrand
managedtodelivera knockoutblowhowever,
andwhenit cametotottingupthepoints,the
YTtookthedecisionasit’scheaper,lighterand
pedalsbetter.
InterestinglytheYTJeffsywastheonly
carbonbikeinthistest,andit raiseda question
about how best to spend your money. Is itbettertohavea carbonfrontendandsavea few
hundredgrams,orwouldthatbudgetbebetter
spentonimprovedsuspensioncomponentsand
betterparts?It'shardtosay,butif YTwereto
makea £3kalloyJeffsy 29 witha Fox 36 forkand
thesame150mmtravelthat’scurrentlyreserved
forthetop-endProRaceedition,wereckonwe
wouldhavehadtwoperfect 10 ratingsinthistest
ratherthanone.Fingerscrossedwe’llgetthat
biketotestnextyear.
Untilthen,if you’reinthemarketfora new
29ertrailbiketheYTJeffsy 29 CFCompis
whereit’sat.If,however,youwanta 27.5in
trailbikewheretherearenowhat-ifs,butsor
hesitationsaboutthebuild,theCanyonSpectral
AL6.0at£2,250is withouta shadowofa doubt
thebesttrailbikeforthemoney.Notonlyis it
thestandoutbikeinitscategory,it wasthestar
thatshonebrightest in our 2019 Trail Bike of the
Year test.76 mbrM AY 2 019
BIKE TEST
The prices of the bikes have creptup but the level of performancehas increased even faster