Canyon’s fit finder system puts me right on the fence between small and medium with regard to height. I spent a fair amount of time here on Reddit looking for the accounts of others. I also called Canyon to see what advice they could offer.
In the end, I ordered a small. The TL;DR: I am very happy with it.
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Let’s get my measurements and body details out of the way:
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* 178cm tall
* 82cm inseam
* Ape Index 1.028 (+5cm)
* Moderate flexibility – can always touch toes but hips don’t rotate much
* Weight hasn’t been outside of 63-68kg for a decade
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My main bike for the last several years has been a 2018 Canyon Endurace CF 7 in size medium. I have all of my big cycling achievements on this bike – the century (the sub-5hr, too), double metric, 10,000ft elevation, etc, but I’ve never been completely satisfied with the way it fits.
I absolutely compared the geometries of a medium and small Grizl to my medium Endurace. Here’s a 99spokes [link](https://99spokes.com/en-GB/compare?bikes=canyon-endurace-cf-sl-disc-7.0-2019,canyon-grizl-cf-sl-7-etap-2023;*z.sm-700-700|w.700). They don’t have a geo-model for the 2018 so I used the 2019.
My Endurace has always felt too long. The 100mm stock stem was swapped for a 90mm one from the very beginning. I’ve always wondered what 80 would feel like, but oversized stems aren’t the most common thing to find in the $5 bin at the local co-op. The fact that even a small Grizl is longer in reach than my Endurace was my biggest hang-up initially. I slammed my Endurace’s stem, something I’ve never even tried, and went for a two hour ride. From a flexibility standpoint, the ride was fine, I had no problem getting low, but I was definitely stretched.
This is the point I called Canyon. The agent I was connected to didn’t offer much help, but he was the same height as me, “definitely” unable touch his toes, and did not like the feeling of a small Grizl.
Beginning to lean towards a small, I went back to the geometry chart and remeasured my inseam just to be absolutely certain. Here is where I noticed the difference in standover height between the two bikes. If I were to order a medium Grizl, the standover height about be 10mm higher than my Endurace. That sealed the deal on a small. I need room on the seat post for a Varia radar and want room to mount an extra tail light for dark rides. Plus, Canyon’s leaf spring VCLS post will work better with more showing and this being a bike for off-tarmac means I may need to throw a foot down and don’t want my bits meeting the top tube.
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After a couple of fitment rides totaling \~100mi and 6 hours in the saddle, I was set on keeping it. Saddle nose to shifter trough is actually \~3cm shorter than my Endurace. It’s no wonder I feel great on the Grizl. The stock saddle is pretty damn nice, too. A shame the Lux Trail I bought earlier this year didn’t come with the same. It may take a proper long ride to know this 140mm wide Fizik Argo Terra X5 a keeper, but the indications are good right now. The 420mm bar width is fine although my two other road-style bikes have 400mm bars. The flair is perfect.
My only gripes: First, I really wish Canyon would spec shorter cranks on the small, 172.5 is dumb. Second, the VCLS post shouldn’t be clamped, so they should include a dummy “clamp post” with the bike as well – it doesn’t even have to function as a seat post.
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Thanks for coming to my FredTalk.
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by This-Dbag_Right-Here