The Science – Canyon Torque DHX
We like to take the time to understand what’s going on with our test bikes, so we hand them over to Tam from BTR Fabrications for a once over.
The Canyon Torque DHX downhill bike has proved itself all summer as a great bike for shredding bike park and off piste all over the shop. At the heart of the bike is a “Horst Linkage”, a patented 4 bar design that Specialized own the rights to. By using the same design Canyon take the predictable characteristics that it offers on a number of their bikes including the Torque.
Leverage is quite strongly progressive and fairly linear; 3.5 – 2.3. This should make the suspension very predictable and controlled. It will also allow quite a lot of sag, in order to relax the geometry further.
Axle path goes rearwards to -7mm at 73mm travel (close to sagged position), then forwards to +17.5mm at full travel. This should work pretty well with the 425mm chainstay, though it’ll definitely be on the short side at full travel.
Pedal kickback is quite low (as hinted by the rather forwards axle path); 13degrees at 11t to 19.5degrees at 25t, that with a 36t chainring too!
In general there’s nothing crazy going on; everything should be predictable and steady. My own preference would be to sacrifice some pedal kickback for a more neutral axle path…but beggars cant be choosers!
Riding the bike, you certainly notice this no nonsense approach to the suspension. The Canyon delivers a wonderfully controlled ride, with no strange characteristics to get used to. This is certainly a bike to jump on and shred build round a well developed and proven suspension design. Check back for our full review soon.
Words – Tom Laws and Tam Hamilton
Canyon Bikes
