Canyon Strive Review and Deep Dive Into ShapeShifter Tech

The Canyon Strive has been in the lineup at Canyon for the last 10 years, seeing a number of iterations over that time to keep it at the top level of performance and finding success under the control of many racers in the EWS. In 2015, Canyon brought an innovation to the market in the form of its Shapeshifter geometry adjustment system. Although polarizing, the Shapeshifter provided some clear benefits on the trail to those who got on board, earning its keep on both the race circuit and under the control of the consumers. This led to the development of the Shapeshifter 2.0 system that is found on the latest iteration of the Strive, which sports 150mm of rear travel paired with a 170mm fork and 29” wheels.

Though many have tried, the string of failures of on-the-fly geometry is long and very few remain, so there is a whole load of Kudos deserved for Canyon to maintain a model that contains such a system. A bike with dedicated climbing and descending modes is always going to be better than a halfway-house compromise, so a user-friendly implementation of such a system sits with us well at The Loam Wolf, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed putting the Strive to work.

The Shapeshifter-equipped Strive is available exclusively in Carbon Fiber, with two levels utilizing different grades and layups of Carbon. We tested the Canyon Factory Racing (CFR) frame, which features the higher grade of Carbon and allows Canyon to shave 300g off the weight of the standard carbon frame without compromising in stiffness or strength. The CFR spec frame is only available in a single high-end build, retailing for $6999/€5999, and the standard carbon frame is available in 3 builds: the $3999/€3199 Strive CF7; the $4999/€4199 CF8 and the €4999 CF9 (not available in North America). All these bikes share the same geometry, Shapeshifter system, 150mm travel and 170mm fork, with the differences lying in the parts spec.

Looking at the geometry chart for the Strive, you’d be forgiven for assuming it belongs to a bike from a few years ago, with a lack of the extreme length nor the steep seat tube angle of a trendy bike in 2021. However, the Strive is a bike designed to win races. If you scour the Enduro world series lineup you’ll notice that many of the racers are opting to down-size their rigs – think Richie Rude or Sam Hill, who have both enjoyed great successes on bikes that were “too small” for them. While ultimate stability no doubt makes it safer and less scary to go fast in a straight section of trail, there’s definite benefits to be found from a slightly more agile bike, especially for a rider at the upper end of the skill level, so the Strive’s geometry may have merit to those looking to put down as fast a time as possible over a day of Enduro racing. In the descending mode, a head angle of 65.4 degrees and seat tube angle of 72.9 degrees are paired with a 464mm reach and 645mm stack in our size Large, which has a 455mm seat tube that’ll accompany a good length dropper post. A 435mm chainstay and 32mm bb drop are common to the full S-XL size range and give the Large a wheelbase of 1234mm. Clicking into climb mode steepens the head angle and seat angle by 1.5 degrees to 66.9 degrees and 74.4 degrees respectively, combined with a reduced bb drop of 17mm to provide a preferable position to spin the pedals and ascend the hill. Although the seat angle had us pushing the seat as far forward on the rails as we could go, otherwise the geometry provided a solid platform to attack both the climbs and descents on, setting numerous PR’s on the way up hill yet still holding its own on the way down.

Chapters
00:00 - 1-20 Bike Spec
1:21 - 2:21 About the Strive
2:22 - 5:51 ShapeShifter Tech
5:52 - 9:45 Ride Report - Pros and Cons
9:46 - 10:32 Final Thoughts

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