CANYON SENDER GEN 3

May 6, 2025

The Canyon Sender CFR has been floating around the World Cup circuit for years now, with development starting in 2021 for this third iteration. The new Sender hones in on what a downhill race bike really is. Designed to be as fast as possible, Canyon is clear that this bike was designed with one goal: winning races. The Sender isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It’s a purebred race sled — no fluff, just fast. Even with this race focused design ethos, it still proved to be fun for slower riders off the World Cup circuit, like myself!

ABOUT THE GEN 3 CANYON SENDER

FRAME AND FEATURES | The new Canyon Sender chassis takes cues from the previous version but adds in some new spice allowing riders to really fine tune the feel the rider wants out of the bike. Most notably the new frame has moved to a high pivot “MX Link” suspension layout, more on this later. The Sender still retains Canyon’s MX link with updated kinematics to suit the race forward focus of the new bike.

Brought over from the Gen 2 model is the reach-adjust headset up, this allows you to choose from 3 different positions, either shrinking or growing by 8mm from center. The bottom bracket height is also adjustable by 5mm, resulting in either a 347mm or 352mm bb height, and brings the Headtube Angle from 63º (high) to 62.7º (low) (note: all factory riders use the hi position). And lastly, the upper shock mount rotates 180º to adjust between a linear progression rate to a more progressive option (note: all factory riders run in progressive).

A first for the Sender is the addition of Canyons K.I.S steering stabilization system. If you are unfamiliar with what KIS is, essentially, it is a spring-driven self-centering mechanism that lives in the top tube. The system can be adjusted to increase or decrease tension. You can also remove the system entirely if you are not a fan of how it feels.

Canyon has also ditched the 157 hub spacing out back and has moved to 148 Boost. This has allowed them to run a more compact rear triangle increasing heel clearance. A benefit to the switch, gives you the option to run a spare wheel you may have from a trail or ebike. Great to have in a pinch!

All pivot hardware and bearing seals are easy to replace, they have also used threaded inserts across the frame aiding in the ease of teardown maintenance. When it comes to protection there are multiple integrated fenders keeping mud and rocks out of key areas of the frame linkage. Rubber chainstay and seatstay protection helps to mitigate chain slap, helping it run super quiet. Lastly, cable routing is fully integrated making brake and shift cable housing changes a headache free affair.

SUSPENSION | When it comes to eating up the biggest holes on the World Cup circuit, the High Pivot MX-Link remains at the core of the Sender. Along with the addition of the idler, the kinematics have been reworked to improve sensitivity resulting in a chassis that develops more grip.

The big talk with high pivot frames is the ability to drive the axle rearward, moving the rear wheel away from the bumps/compression events. This delivers a feeling of reduced speed loss through rough sections of trail. The Gen 3 Sender has a 3-stage axle path. From 0% travel to SAG (19mm of shock stroke or 25%) the axle moves rearward by 17.5mm, and then from SAG to 70% of travel, the axle moves a further 6mm. From 70% to 100% (bottom out), the axle path regresses back forward 5mm.

Canyon has included an easy way to alter the progression rate, utilizing a flip chip on the. The upper shock mount will rotate 180º to change between a linear or more progressive setting. The bike ships in the linear setting with a 32.7% progression rate. Moving to the more progressive setting brings that value up to 37%. Changing this setting is isolated from the BB height adjustment and headset reach adjust, only netting changes to the bike’s kinematics.

The anti-rise sits at 124% at sag, giving good geometry preservation under hard braking. Anti-squat sits around 125% at sag, with pedal kickback kept under control with the idler pulley.

GEOMETRY | The biggest thing to note in the geometry is the option to add or remove 8mm from the nominal reach figure of 468mm, thanks to the adjustable headset cup. Depending on your riding style or trail conditions, you could opt for the short setting of 460mm or the long setting at 476mm. Chainstays are 438mm static, but the rear center grows to 455.5mm with the 17.5mm rearward axle path. The Wheelbase is 1273mm for our size medium, unsagged. On our size medium the stack comes in at 630mm.

BUILD SPECS | At launch there are two models on offer, the “Privateer Value” a.k.a CFR and the “CFR Team”. In the USA we will only be getting the CFR Team option and is the build we had to test. The CFR build received outside North America gets a more value-focused build spec with Fox performance suspension and SRAM Maven Bronze brakes. The CFR Team build get’s the RockShox Ultimate treatment with Maven Silver brakes and X01 drivetrain.

THE DIRT

Our first ride test took place at Windrock the day after the National Race. I was lucky enough to have the entire Canyon CLLCTV Factory team on hand to show me lines and help with bike setup. I even had my very own dedicated mechanic – quite the royal treatment! The RockShox Factory support semi was also on hand, providing some much appreciated covered area for us media squids to escape from the relentless rains that hung around for day one of testing.

SETUP | Knowing the trails were basically rivers and traction was going to be at a minimum, I opted to run a pretty soft setting to deliver as much grip as possible. I started with a 400lb spring out back and 140psi in the Boxxer with 1 reducer. The Vivid Coil was set with HBO fully open, HSC fully open and LSC 2 from open. This proved to be an ultra comfortable and pleasant setting for the conditions. Day two of riding was a stark contrast: the skies were blue, and the dirt had soaked up that moisture overnight producing some seriously tacky conditions. After building speed in the morning, I needed to go up in spring rate on both ends. Since we had the Sram folks on hand I had my 400lb spring dyno’d, which came in at 388 lbs (well under recommended for my weight). We opted for a spring that dyno’d at 448. At first this was a big change, but after 1 full lap I was very pleased with the extra support as my lines were coming together and speeds were building. I matched the change out back with a stiffer fork setting at 153 psi with 2 reducers. Tire pressure stayed the same both days at 23 psi up front and 25 psi out back.

One thing to note on setup is that I opted to stay in the middle headset cup. I was looking for a bike that had a bit more maneuverability over outright stability at speed. Not knowing the trails turn by turn, the shorter front end gave me a bit more confidence to make mid-line adjustments and just put the bike where I wanted it.

DESCENDING | When first sitting on the bike the Anti-Rise value was VERY apparent, grabbing a handful of brake while bouncing on the seat netted a rear shock that was keen to enter its travel. Translating this to the trail, I was able to maintain grip when braking through heavy compression zones into corners. The result of this was increased confidence in the bike staying composed, and while this did not help my terrible late braking habits, it made it much smoother and more predictable.

As I built speed throughout the two days of testing, I found that once I let go of my fear, the bike came into its own. While I could “putt” around and chill on the bike, it really thrived when I was pushing the limit. The rear end was very active and tracks the ground incredibly well. I could feel how fast the bike wanted to go, but I lacked the strength to hold on in a safe manner. I kept my riding within my relative comfort zone letting it hang out when the body felt good and confidence was high.

Like with most bikes that have a rearward axle path, it took a quick minute to get used to how the chassis reacts when being loaded into corners. My rearward biased riding position greatly benefitted from the wheelbase growth under compression. It was not the most rearward traveling axle path I have been on, but found a solid balance of growth and agility in tighter corners. I think this was because the majority of that wheel path growth happens from 0% of travel to SAG. After that the change is minimal, which gave a predictable feeling to the bike when deeper in the travel. All things added up, there was loads of traction on hand to be tapped into. I did not lose feel of the front wheel even once in the monsoon conditions of day 1.

With the softer setup, generating speed on the smoother flat trails took a fair amount of work, and at times I felt like whatever I was doing did not net more speed. This was apparent when following other riders within the same ability level and getting dropped by a few bike lengths rather quickly. Even with this “ultra soft” setup, I did not have any unusual harsh bottom outs, sure completely missing a landing found the end of the stroke but that was no surprise. Once going up in spring rate, I immediately gained more speed in sections I was struggling to keep up on previously. My body inputs translated to increased speed rather than wallowing into the mid stroke. I initially was worried I would lose the nice supple feel, which was not entirely unfounded. But overall, there was no harshness introduced, just more support at speed. With that extra support my speeds increased and thus the momentum of my bike and body weight brought back the supple feel. All that said, the bike handled both setups well. If you want a super comfy traction abundant bike, run it under-sprung. If you are racing, no doubt you want more support, but you will also regain a supple feel at speed.

There is a common misconception that high pivot bikes are sluggish and not playful. While this can be true, the impact is not as wild as you may think. I still was able to play around, yank for gaps, cutty into corners and overall just have a blast riding the Sender. It’s not a fun poppy trail bike by any means, but that is not at all what this bike was designed to be. Canyon has not built this bike to be a playful jib-focused weapon, but dedicated the design to be built for racing under some of the fastest riders on the planet. While they accomplished this, they still produced a bike that is enjoyable to ride for us average riders.

At my weight, frame stiffness is typically something that lives in the background, unless it’s very out-there. I found there to be a nice balance of support where you want it without being rough on the hands and body. More time is needed on tracks that I am more familiar with to really feel out how the frame itself reacts under load.

FINISH AND VALUE | My time on the bike was short so I can’t speak to long term durability, I can touch on the fit and finish. The bikes chain protection provided a chain slap free ride experience. We fully put to test the mud guards on day one, and I did not get any debris in the linkage areas so they did their job. For privateer racers and home mechanics, having fully guided cable routing is a sweet touch. The paint after a day of brutal mud (TN mud is no joke) did show some scratches, but I have seen worse. (ed: please wrap your expensive new bike, it’s worth it). Nearly all the bolts are very easy to access, with the exception of the lower shock mount requiring a full length allen key (this is included with the bike). At the time of launch Canyon will have all spare parts available for riders to pick up spares for the rest of the race season. Easy access to all these small parts is super important, and is often overlooked.

While the sizing on paper is not the norm, the actual fit of the numbers works very well. Add in the reach adjustments, and there is something for any size rider. It is weird at 6’1” to say I wanted a medium, but hey, it worked! I also would not be fully put off had I needed to ride a large bike, I just would have lost a bit of the fun flickability I like in all styles of bike. Of course, the headset would have let me pull the reach a little closer to offset things.

COMPONENT REPORT | The RockShox Vivid Coil and Boxxer worked without issue, the shock was rarely thought about where the fork took a bit more to dial in. The high levels of adjustability were much appreciated, but were always going to add a little more time and effort to the setup process to satisfy my inner tinkerer.

I wrote off a rear wheel on a blue flow trail with a nice shark tooth in the flats between some tight corners. It was an odd one, and likely just one of those unfortunate incidents.

The SRAM Maven brakes were just “ok” right out of the box. By day 2, the pistons seemed to sort themselves out and my preferred lever feel came back. I opted to change brake pads after our first day of riding as the sand/clay combo wreaked havoc on the initial bite point.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

If I were to travel back in time and put the sender up against the bikes we had in our DH group test last fall, I would say it would have a strong running for the top spot for someone looking at a race-focused sled. While I still prefer the peppy feeling YT Tues if I were to to be spending my own money, the Sender would have taken my #1 spot for a race bike. The GT was undoubtedly crazy fast, but you really had to be on your A-game to get the most out of it. The Canyon Sender has a more chill approach to speed, allowing you to relax and be comfortable, but still mash. The GT was also a handful on the less technical trails where the Sender still remained agile enough to have a good time.

The Wolf’s Last Word

Canyon has for sure delivered with their race-focused version of the pinnacle of bikes in our sport. The Sender CFR is unapologetically built for racing, and gives riders of all skill levels a gentle nudge towards the top step of the podium. It still is comfortable and playful enough to be your bike park shuttle machine, but make no mistake it wants to go fast.

Price: €4499 (CFR) – €5,999 / $7,799 (CFR Team)
Website: Canyon.com

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