Canyon has just presented the latest edition of its flagship model for road cycling
at high competition level: the Canyon
Ultimate CF EVO 10.0. Like its predecessors, it is manufactured in two versions: SL and LTD. As the main innovation, the German manufacturer has deployed its full engineering arsenal with the goal of beating the scales and achieving the lightest bike in the company’s history. And they have succeeded. The frame of the Canyon Ultimate CF EVO 10.0 SL weighs just 665 grams
. According to the brand itself, to achieve this they used a new carbon fiber technology for which they had to request permission from the Japanese Ministry of Defense, since the patent belongs to them. 2017/02/canyon-ultimate2.jpg"> The bike is equipped with the SRAM Red 11-speed groupset and a set of Lightweight Meilenstein tubular wheels weighing less than 1 kilo in total. Canyon has spared no expense in achieving a bike under 5 kilos. In fact, this Canyon Ultimate CF EVO 10.0 SL weighs 4.96 kilograms in the size M model.

Waiting for the end of the weight limit

Canyon states that this is a bike designed for high-level competition. However, professional cyclists will have to wait until the UCI lifts the minimum weight restriction for bikes in its statutes in order to fully exploit its potential. Currently, the highest body in world cycling establishes that no bicycle can weigh less than 6.8 kilos fully assembled to participate in an official UCI World Tour event. This regulation was approved in the year 2000 with the aim of ensuring that manufacturers did not compromise the safety and rigidity of their frames, parts, and components. However, in recent years, brands seem to have demonstrated that they are capable of manufacturing increasingly lighter bikes without posing a greater risk to cyclists in terms of aerodynamics, handling stability, or impact. 2017/02/canyon-ultimate3.jpg">

Several manufacturers have requested that the UCI remove the minimum weight restriction from its regulations. Mark Barfield, head of the technical area of the International Cycling Union, described this regulation a few months ago in an interview with Cycling Tips as "a relic of the past," and revealed that the UCI is working on new regulations where weight criteria will be replaced by safety criteria. In other words, bicycles must pass a certification test that guarantees the reliability of the materials. Until the UCI lifts the ban on lightweight bikes, brands are trying to adapt their latest generation models to the current regulations by adding lead weights and extra modules to bring the frame weight up to 6.8 kilograms.

The lightest in the peloton

The new Canyon Ultimate CF EVO 10.0 SL has entered the select club of bicycles that have managed to break the 5 kilogram weight barrier. However, it still has half a kilo to shed to become the lightest mass-produced bicycle on the market: the ax VIAL evo ULTRA, at just 4.4 kg. Ranking of the lightest mass-produced bicycles on the market:

• AX Lightness VIAL eco ULTRA (4.4 kg.)
• Merida
  Scultura 9000 LTD (4.55 kg.)
• Trek
  Emonda SLR 10 (4.6 kg.)
• Canyon Ultimate CF Evo 10.0 SL (4.96 kg.)

All of them, however, are far from the 2.7 kilograms of the Spin Ligh Bike designed by the German Günter Mai. It is not a mass-produced model, as only 43 custom units were made. It sounds like science fiction, but if the UCI finally lifts the weight limitation for its competitions and brands intensify their commitment to building increasingly lighter bicycles, will we end up having bikes that weigh less than a carton of milk?