Canyon Spectral 29 Review

This may be one of the sleeper bikes of 2021. This past year has allowed me to try some new trails and the Spectral has been first bike I've grabbed to accompany me. The Spectral 29 is a true jack of all trades as it climbs well and can handle some punishment on the downs without giving up too much on either end.

Our Recording Gear:

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#CanyonSpectral #Spectral29

0:00 - Intro
0:39 Build Overview
2:39 - Climbing
4:07 - Descending
7:05 - Things that could be Improved
8:54 - Comparisons

[gpearce]

From a performance perspective, the Spectral 29 legitimately seems to be the second best "all-mountain" trail bike on the market, right behind the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO, which keeps winning Bike of the Year awards for a reason.

Then you compare the prices between the two, and suddenly the Canyon pulls ahead quite convincingly, as equivalent specced Spectral models are consistently 30% cheaper than their Specialized counterparts (for example, in Australia the CF8 is $6.8K, while the equivalent EVO Expert is $10.2K, while on the low end the AL5 is $3.9K and the EVO Comp Alloy is $5.3K).

[christophernebo]

Great review. Thank you for putting in the time to do this!

[Skipperdilex]

have you wrecked at all? I wanna get it but the only thing i’m scared of is cracking the carbon frame. granted I haven’t wrecked in like 2 years, but yk always gotta be careful I mean I hit double blacks, jump trails and everything

[ckMTB]

Cool video and a great bike buddy. Ride on and have fun

[RydenDirty]

Dude I so like that bike. I almost got it. Canyons are pretty dope. My first bike was a canyon strive when I got an enduro

[nostrghtlinzs]

sweet! i just my little one Canyon young hero spectral. i hope she gets a lot of smile per mile. being a 2xs, the travel is 140 front and back. minor problems on with build, broken tire valve. i should contact them see what they say.

[pierrecarriere]

Hey ! Nice video :)
How would you compare it to the Ibis Ripmo AF ??

[claritean]

The spectral is the girl you want after you've married that casual blonde.. A. K.a makes you question your 8k dream build. The suspension +shock tube are so spot on!

[damacknificent]

Would like to hear your thoughts on the spectral 125 AL 6. The large seem more slacker and steeper seating and longer wheelbase. I'm 5'11" and can't decide M or LG size.

[JayNawaz]

how would you rate the spectral against the commencal metas for descending? the geo looks very similar

[petesahad]

The rear tire comes in exo+, the frobt tire in exo.

[ScoutsOut]

good vid bro, seems like a great all around bike

[MohawkMikey]

A jack of all trades IS a master of none

[kazenokami]

May I ask how these 29ers feel on this bike? I'm around 180cm tall and I ride a medium 27, 5er with a similar reach to a Spectral in the same size, but I once sat on a 29er hardtail and it felt so high up and weird to me. I'd like to get myself an AL version of the Spectral, but I don't know what wheel size to go for.

[justsomeguy]

How would you say this bike stacks up against the Marin alpine trail, idk which to get I ride in Arizona terrain

[jethrolindqvist]

Im thinking of buying the spectral 29 AL 5. do you think it is a good bike for my price range of under 3500 AUD?

[samitme]

Great review, loving your vids ♥️.
The spectral seems like the perfect do it all bike if you can only have one MTB, would you agree?
Combining the killer spec/price/availability I'm seriously considering buying this bike. Did you end up keeping it? Any noise/rattling issues? Love a quite bike 😅

[INSTASTABZ]

Is the meta tr more good in black diamond or spectral?

[pineapplepizza]

when will you review the spire you got?

[superawesomefuntimego]

Curious, are the standard EXO casings really that bad? I've put several thousand miles on some (EXO and EXO+) the last couple years and not one has been cut or torn. Granted I am only a moderately skilled rider and I ride in the PNW (WA) mostly at locations like Tiger Mountain, Raging River, Galbraith, etc that do not generally have a lot of sharp edged rocks to slice into tires. My only complaint is that under hard cornering they do not have the support of the DD casing and will move around under hard cornering load. I would say for sure if I was riding park or hitting extended rock gardens on the regular, then DD for sure would be mandatory.