Tronzambony

I wanted to ask for some suggestions i have been looking at this Canyon Grail for months and months now
https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road-bi...accordions=0_1
Seems like a great bike for the price point. They keep pushing is back in productions and do not know if or when it will come available. I wanted to get some insight on maybe some alternatives max price for me is like 2300.
Let me know what yall think
Cheers

Chris(NJ)

Everyone I have spoken to who rides a Canyon gravel bike claims to love it. No personal experience on one, only what I've been told. What about looking at last model year bikes? I've seen some killer deals on leftovers.

thehammerdog

buy it.
I spent half hour just looking a web page had bike all ready to go but feared the wrath of my wife.....so I wait till fall my b day.
😃

mstateglfr 

https://www.konaworld.com/rove_nrb_dl.cfm

https://www.norco.com/bikes/2020/roa.../search-xr-s2/

https://www.norco.com/bikes/2020/roa.../search-xr-a1/

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribbl...l-shimano-grx/

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribbl...n-shimano-105/

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribbl...imano-ultegra/

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribbl...imano-ultegra/

dwmckee

I simply would never lay out that cash for a bike I had never ridden. Even a great bike may not have the fit or geometry that suits you and your riding well. And high-end gravel bikes are still pretty available in may shops, though lower-priced bikes are largely sold outrigt now.

mstateglfr 

Its an understandable concern.
I got over it by learning about geometry and what I like.
Its allowed me to build up every bike from a frame, and even build a frame in a class.
All were sight unseen and all have fit well and been fun(except my mountain bike, which I just sold last week and came out effectively even for the use it got).

If you don't know what you like when it comes to bottom brakcet height or trail, then yeah its a good idea to stay away from sight unseen.

But since what fits me is almost never in stock at shops around me, and I would be choosing from a very limited selection of brands even if my size was in stock, I've found my options have opened up to the world(literally) since I decided to consider buying sight unseen.

Its also allowed me to see how woefully terrible some brand's sites are. How any brand can list geometry but exclude stack and reach, fork offset, bottom bracket drop, or tire xlearance is beyond me. Those should be minimum expectations on geo charts.

Steve B.

I guess it takes some faith in your experiences with a few bikes to be able to understand the geometry and how it affects the bike. The Topstone I purchased as new from a shop I didn’t even test ride around the parking lot and as I owned bikes with similar geometry, as well as bikes with different geometry, knew what to expect. I experimented with a few stem lengths and positions on a few rides before settling in. I’ve also owned 13 road, touring and gravel bikes over 30 years, building 9 of these from frames, so that helps.

msu2001la

The aluminum Grail looks awesome, and that bike is a great buy for the money. It's unfortunate they didn't use the geometry/cockpit on the carbon version.

I have no idea if you'll actually be able to buy one anytime soon. I was really interested in buying a Canyon Inflite earlier this year, and they were also out-of-stock on the size that fit me. I started shopping in March and hit the "notify me" button. I'd check back on the website every few days and every time I looked it was still listed as out-of-stock. I had assumed they would get more in a few weeks, maybe a month... or at least let me buy with a delayed shipping date, but I never heard from them. Eventually in mid-May I contacted their customer service email. Two weeks later I got this response:

"Thank you for your email and our apologies for the delayed response. We are eagerly awaiting an updated date of availability for the Inflite CF SL 8.0 in all sizes. As this information becomes available, we will be able to pass along details. We appreciate your patience! Please let us know if you have any additional questions."

That was 2 weeks ago. I've since bought another bike (a Cannondale SuperX) that was in-stock at a LBS.

I am totally on-board with the whole customer-direct/buying online thing, but I was a little surprised at the lack of communication from them on a potential $3500 bike purchase.

Steve B.

Puzzles me why they use a press-fit bottom bracket on an aluminum frame. No reason for that other than to save a few bucks. That would be a No Thanks on a buy for me.

mstateglfr 

I heavily considered the bike last year during winter, spring and summer because of the value for what you get. Ultimately, the fact that it was never in stock for me during 6 months helped make it easy to eliminate as an option. Had it been in stock, I would have had to make sure i could accept the pf bb and toothpaste welds, but it never came to that since canyon apparently doesn't actually have inventory.

Tronzambony

Thanks for all the replies and thank you mstateglfr for the suggestion! i was actually able to find the bike last night
they had 2 left over in warehouse. I agree with the communication i am subscribed through email to update me if it comes in stock which i never got. Lucky i was looking on the site to notice. Looking forward to seeing the bike. Ill definitely give some feedback.

Cheers