£1500 Canyon bike advice - Alu or carbon

[jfis89]

Hi

I’ve been mulling over a couple of options in Canyon’s Endurance range at the £1500 mark.

Options are:

AL Disc 7.0 - full 105, Dt Swiss 1850, discs, alu frame
AL CF 7.0 - full 105 but caliper brakes and fulcrum racing 900 wheels, carbon frame

I like the idea of hydraulic discs coming from a mountain bike background, but realistically I’m not going to riding in the wet regularly, plus I am not heavy. The carbon bike is a decent bit lighter (say 700 grams) and possibly a better ride from the frame?

Links here:

Alu - https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-...

Carbon - https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-...

Both not available for a couple of months unfortunately. Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

James

[TwistingMyMelon]

All year round : Alu model

Summer: Carbon model

I have discs on my cx bike, offroad and commuting in winter they are great, im not bothered about them on my carbon road bike in good weather

Lots of MTBs often complain about road bike calliper breaking.

[Bathroom_Security]

TwistingMyMelon said:

All year round : Alu model

Summer: Carbon model

I have discs on my cx bike, offroad and commuting in winter they are great, im not bothered about them on my carbon road bike in good weather

Lots of MTBs often complain about road bike calliper breaking.

Why? to all of that. Interested

[wobert]

jfis89 said:

Hi

I’ve been mulling over a couple of options in Canyon’s Endurance range at the £1500 mark.

Options are:

AL Disc 7.0 - full 105, Dt Swiss 1850, discs, alu frame
AL CF 7.0 - full 105 but caliper brakes and fulcrum racing 900 wheels, carbon frame

I like the idea of hydraulic discs coming from a mountain bike background, but realistically I’m not going to riding in the wet regularly, plus I am not heavy. The carbon bike is a decent bit lighter (say 700 grams) and possibly a better ride from the frame?

Links here:

Alu - https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-...

Carbon - https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-...

Both not available for a couple of months unfortunately. Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

James

I have an Endurace CF9.0 Disc bought back in 2017, but still a current model.

Given the choice between those two models I would go with the aluminium framed bike.

If you can stretch to another £350 the CF 7.0 comes into view, which would meet both the disc and CF requirement.

Personally I would chuck the extra money at it.

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-...

[klootzak]

Personally, I'd go for the carbon bike.

Both have 105, which is absolutely fine, and similar wheels. But the (heavier) alloy bike has (heavier) discs that are nice but far from essential. Particularly if you don't ride in the wet.

k

[anonymous-user]

klootzak said:

Personally, I'd go for the carbon bike.

Both have 105, which is absolutely fine, and similar wheels. But the (heavier) alloy bike has (heavier) discs that are nice but far from essential. Particularly if you don't ride in the wet.

k

I pooh-poohed discs for years but they make way more sense than rim callipers now. Having ridden a disc brake bike for a month or two now I’ve found;
The weight difference, if it even exists, is so minimal and you’d never notice it. We’re talking 50g max or the weight of a banana... you’re replacing a caliper with a caliper, but the weight of disc pads is less than rim pads... It’s all so minor values that arguing discs are a weight penalty is trivial
You’re wearing out pads not rims which means wheels last longer and when you do have to change pads, it’s is a two minute job.
Realistically you shouldn’t need to change the brake fluid in a closed reservoir system so it’s maintenance free, no cables to faff with.
Braking modulation is better with discs and thus not only safer but faster. Less braking required, maintain avg speed.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 3rd June 12:29

[lufbramatt]

the dual pivot style Shimano rim brakes are really good, certainly wouldn't put me off buying the carbon bike. Fair point about wearing out rims though.

Obviously the correct answer here is spend more and get the one with carbon and discs

[klootzak]

pablo said:

I pooh-poohed discs for years but they make way more sense than rim callipers now. Having ridden a disc brake bike for a month or two now I’ve found;
The weight difference, if it even exists, is so minimal and you’d never notice it. We’re talking 50g max or the weight of a banana... you’re replacing a caliper with a caliper, but the weight of disc pads is less than rim pads... It’s all so minor values that arguing discs are a weight penalty is trivial
You’re wearing out pads not rims which means wheels last longer and when you do have to change pads, it’s is a two minute job.
Realistically you shouldn’t need to change the brake fluid in a closed reservoir system so it’s maintenance free, no cables to faff with.
Braking modulation is better with discs and thus not only safer but faster. Less braking required, maintain avg speed.

Edited by pablo on Wednesday 3rd June 12:29

I have no issue with discs at all. In fact, I'd choose them over rim brakes pretty much every time (both my main road and mountain bikes both have discs).

But in this case, the carbon frame with rim brakes makes much more sense than alloy with discs. As I said, particularly if most riding is in the dry.

k

[anonymous-user]

Explain why it makes “much more sense“ other than by just saying “because carbon” because I don’t think it does, it’s a well regarded alu frame probably on a par with a CAAD10. They share group sets, discs are better than rim brakes, even reselling it I’m a few years will be easier with discs than rim brakes....

[nammynake]

I have discs on my winter/touring bike and they are great but I don’t miss them when riding my carbon summer bike. The carbon bike is also more comfortable than my Alu bike although you can mitigate that to an extent by fitting fatter tyres.

In summary, carbon and rim brakes for summer/dry weather. The bike will be lighter and generally just ‘feel’ nicer to ride.

[moonigan]

Carbon all day. Easier to change discs, wheels, etc than it is to change the frame and forks. I had two CAAD10s because I foolishly thought a top of the range £1000 alloy bike would be better than a entry level £1000 carbon one. I bought a £1100 Specialized Tarmac with basic groupset and it was lighter and more comfortable than the second CAAD10 that had been on a weight weenie level of weight reduction.

P

[klootzak]

pablo said:

Explain why it makes “much more sense“ other than by just saying “because carbon” because I don’t think it does, it’s a well regarded alu frame probably on a par with a CAAD10. They share group sets, discs are better than rim brakes, even reselling it I’m a few years will be easier with discs than rim brakes....

If nothing else, the carbon bike is £100 cheaper. Plus it will feel a bit nicer to ride (subjective, granted). Braking performance won't be hugely different (except in edge cases), and it will almost certainly be lighter.

In the end, disc brakes are better. No doubt about it. But whether they're better enough to make the ally frame a better purchase than a carbon one, I'm not so sure.

k

[wobert]

Per my original reply, another £350 solves the issue of rim vs disc and carbon vs aluminium.

Nothing like a bit of man maths to justify a better bike to purchase.....

[Parsnip]

pablo said:

Explain why it makes “much more sense“ other than by just saying “because carbon” because I don’t think it does, it’s a well regarded alu frame probably on a par with a CAAD10. They share group sets, discs are better than rim brakes, even reselling it I’m a few years will be easier with discs than rim brakes....

Sorry - hand your road nazi card in at the door. "Because carbon" always makes sense...

It is hard to say rim brakes are better than disc brakes (although rim brakes do look better), but the big difference will always be cost, or trading performance elsewhere. Something has to give and in the OP's position, I would be going carbon.

I was in a similar position with my last bike:
Rim brakes and mechanical DA
Disc brakes and mechanical Ultegra
Rim brakes and Ultegra Di2
Were all about the same cost. You could argue a case for any of them - in the end I went for option 3 because that's what works best for me.

I have once in the UK felt jealous of roadie disc brakes - on a wet descent in single figure temperatures coming down Bealach na Bà - which is not something I do that often. The rest of the time, my rim brakes (even with a carbon braking surface) do the job and I have never found them wanting.

[z4RRSchris]

buy the one you like and dont care what others thing.

then in a years time you can buy another one

[Sa Calobra]

Personally I'd buy discs and the decent wheelset but that's not possible on the two models.

Can you upgrade on the order? Those Fulcrum wheels arent great

I'd personally go with the aluminum.

However 1500!. Have you looked at Paulscycles?

[Maracus]

Have you checked the lead time on Canyon bikes recently?

I was looking at buying, but the delivery dates were into August in some cases. The timescales may work for you.

[Sa Calobra]

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/road-bikes

[Kawasicki]

Rim braked carbon for me. It's about 750g lighter!

[Kawasicki]

pablo said:

We’re talking 50g max or the weight of a banana...

In this case it's about 750g....so a decent bunch of your exotic bananas.