Perhaps long-awaited for Canyon’s staple e-bike but the Spectral:ON has received an update for 2022. This time around, the brand claims that it’s lighter, stiffer, and stronger while offering a playful ride and a lengthy range all in a brand new frame.

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With the new Spectral:ON, Canyon faced a mighty dilemma. The brand wanted to retain the ride that the long-legged trail e-bike was known for but also wanted to increase the bike’s range. Usually, the latter would mean adding weight.

Rather than fettle with the existing frame, the brand has turned its attention to a whole new chassis, giving the designers the ability to lop off weight. Now, for 2022, the bikes are full carbon and come equipped with a carbon rear triangle for the first time. It’s also been graced with a new carbon layup and a more efficient frame architecture, Canyon says, enabling the lighter weight.

Adding a new rear triangle to the frame has meant that the brand has been able to boost rear end stiffness by adding a new seat stay bridge and bigger bearings that revolve around chunky 15mm thru-axles at the main and seat stay pivots. This is said to not only increase durability but also offer a noticeable boost in handling and precision, says Canyon.

The new Spectral:ON benefits from the classic longer, slacker, lower tweaks to its geometry but the brand hasn’t gone wildly progressive. Aiming for a more centered ride, the new bike gets its reach stretched by 25mm on all frames, the head angle has been slackened by a degree and five millimeters have been added to the chainstay. Canyon has also chopped 20mm off of the seat tube to allow riders to take advantage of longer dropper posts, or to help smaller riders fit on longer bikes.

Putting the new bike’s geometry into numbers, it receives a 65.5° head tube angle, a 76.5° seat tube angle, and a 440mm chainstay length. The reach on a large frame measures in at 485mm. As for suspension travel, we’re looking at 155mm of rear suspension with 150mm at the front, though Canyon says that the frame can accommodate a longer, 160mm fork. The bike remains as a mullet bike with a 29” front wheel and a 650b at the rear.

Canyon claims to have eliminated ‘range anxiety' by sorting the Spectral:ON with one of the biggest power plants on offer. The bike is now available with either 720 or 900Wh batteries, boosting the range. Though, all size small models will be limited to the 720Wh battery due to the size of the frame. Mediums and upward get a choice of either.

With the new battery, the brand has broken the norm and has rearranged the battery cell architecture to keep the bigger battery’s weight lower in the frame. By arranging the cells horizontally, Canyon reckons its optimized battery placement within the frame. Aiding the cause, the Shimano EP8 motor has been tilted upwards by 30° to help the battery tuck lower in the frame all in pursuit of a lower centre of gravity.

All of those changes have amounted to a lighter (claimed) weight of up to 23.95kg found on the base level Spectral:ON CF7 when equipped with a 900Wh battery. The lightest that Canyon says the bike gets is 21.94kg, a weight which is found on the Spectral:ON CFR LTD with a 720Wh battery.

Prices for Canyon's Spectral:ON start at £8,650 and go up to £10,500.

• www.canyon.com

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