BIKE TEST
WTF IS A TRAIL BIKE?
Benji and the team set out to stick to the trail, without veering off into the enduro or cross-country.
WORDS BENJI
PHOTOGRAPHY AMANDA
We can’t remember when the term ‘trail bike’ came into being. It feels like it kind of snuck into the conversation sometime around the surge of enduro into the mountain biking mainstream. Like most bike niche names it’s annoying, but also useful.
A trail bike is almost defined by what it is not, as opposed to what it is. It’s not a weight-focused cross-country bike. It’s not a stopwatch-checking enduro bike. It could be argued that a trail bike is no longer ‘allowed’ to be a hardtail. A trail bike has got to consciously have no wilful restrictions about what sort of riding it gets up to. A trail bike has got to have suspension at the back and a healthy amount of travel up front. We’d say we’re now at the point in the evolution of mountain biking that the minimum amount of fork travel that can be truly classed as un-compromised is 140mm (maybe a very good 130mm fork).
With that in mind, here we have three mountain bikes that fall within the suspension bracket: 140–160mm forks, 125–150mm rear travel. Kitted out with realistic finishing kit. Nothing OTT in terms of needless bulk nor limiting weight weenieism.
In alphabetical order then, first up is the Canyon Spectral 125 CF 8, from Canyon’s totally new model range. Seriously modest amounts of travel (140mm/125mm) paired to eyebrow-raising progressive geometry. Next up is the Pace RC295. We’ve been waiting a long time to have a go on this unique looking 135mm travel (150mm fork) mountain bike from one of the most storied Brit bike brands of all time. Rounding off our trail bike trio is something of an obvious choice. It’s a Stumpy. But not just any old Stumpy. This is the Specialized Stumpjumper Evo Alloy. It’s a benchmark bike. It’s indicative of where we’re at with trail bikes.
CANYON SPECTRAL 125 CF 8
Price: £4,399
From:
canyon.com
Tested
by: Benji and Ross
The new-for-2022 Canyon Spectral 125 has pretty much the exact same geometry as the regular 150mm rear-travel Spectral – it’s arguably ‘radder’ in some of its numbers – but, as the name suggests, it only has 125mm of rear travel. Why?
It’s not really about saving any weight. This is not a down-country project. None of the Spectral 125 builds are very different in weight to the 150mm Spectrals. The Spectral 125 is essentially about a different feel. A different ride experience. Without wishing to give too much of the game away this early in the review, the Spectral 125 is an insanely firm mountain bike.
The Spectral 125 is an absolute outlier. Not only in the general mountain bike market, but also within Canyon. Canyon doesn’t typically do oddball bikes. Canyon makes race-proven, racer-promoted mountain bikes with mass appeal. This is something else – aplaybike – which Canyon describes as a bike which “can get wild with the best of them, yet has enough agility to turn even the mellowest trails into its playground”.
Just WTF is Canyon thinking with the Spectral 125? And who the heck is going to agree with them?
The Bike
One thing that is still very Canyon is the aesthetic and quality of construction of the Spectral 125. It looks very much like a Canyon. It is impressively put together. The whole package exudes quality and a design that’s been well thought through.
As mentioned, the rear travel is 125mm. The fork gets a bit more beef, but it’s still a modest 140mm travel Fox 36. To get nerdy for a moment, the suspension kinematic is not quite the same sort of vibe as the longer travel Spectral. Canyon mountain bikes are generally very firm around the sag point with high anti-squat values, and the Spectral 125 takes this to another level. The Spectral 125 begins firm, remains firm and ends very firm. We can’t be alone in thinking that the Spectral 125 is Canyon’s response to the YT Izzo range of bikes. The Izzo may have a similar-ish amount of suspension travel and even a similar attitude to anti-squat values, but the geometries are chalk and cheese.
What geometry numbers are we talking about here anyway? Head angle 64°, seat angle 76°, 486mm reach (Large) and the biggest dropper post you can possibly squeeze in there please (200mm on Large or Extra Large). The carbon Spectral 125 bikes come with a flip chip, but it’s a bit redundant as it doesn’t change the angles very much and the low BB setting is not massively low. The Spectral 125 uses double-sealed bearings and gets replaceable alloy thread inserts at all pivots. There’s also full internal cable routing.
The 140mm fork takes this bike out of the down-country ghetto, but is it a trail bike? Canyon claims that the bike has two demographics: experienced riders who prefer snappy handling bikes, and riders who live in terrain that doesn’t ‘need’ decent amounts of suspension travel. One of the reasons the Spectral 125 isn’t significantly lighter than the regular Spectral is that it’s still made to Canyon’s Category 4 strength rating. This is the same rating as their EWS-tastic Strive bikes. You don’t have to worry about smashing the Spectral 125 down whatever madness you wish.