Canyon Comes to America

Good news for our friends south of the border: Canyon Bicycles are coming to America. Long available in Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, South America, and Mexico, Canyon will be launching a US-based operation in Q3 (that’s July-September for you non-business types) of this year. Sadly they won’t be sending products to the frozen north that is Canada quite yet, but we reckon it can’t be far behind once the ball gets rolling. Get the full details after the break.

---

One of the world’s top innovative companies, Germany’s Canyon Bicycles GmbH has today announced continued progress in their launch of direct-to-consumer sales in the United States. Beginning in Q3 of 2017, U.S. riders will be able to purchase Canyon’s German designed and engineered road bikes, mountain bikes, and triathlon bikes for direct delivery to their home or office in the United States.

“Canyon has been selling the world’s best engineered and most innovative bicycles direct to consumers for years, and we quickly demonstrated in Germany, throughout Europe and beyond, that our riders can expect the highest level of service and quality when buying online,” stated Canyon Founder & CEO, Roman Arnold. Arnold began in the industry over 30 years ago and has progressed from importing parts, to running a retail business, to establishing the Canyon brand in 2002 and selling online in 2003. “2008 was the first year international sales surpassed German sales and our brand has continued to grow strongly across the globe ever since. For us, entering the U.S. marks the next big step for Canyon.”

“For many years, we have heard from riders wanting Canyon to come to the U.S. so they can have access to the same award-winning bikes ridden by top professionals across a range of disciplines,” said Frank Aldorf, Canyon Chief Brand Officer. “We are pleased to announce that we will be able to share the Canyon experience in the United States, with direct sales of our bikes beginning in Q3 of this year.”

Canyon has secured a warehouse facility in Southern California, and is in the process of choosing a location for management operations and dedicated U.S. customer service. Key staff have been hired, with other positions in the process of being filled. Continuing updates and event announcements can be found at the dedicated U.S. website online at www.canyon.com.

Canyon has always been at the forefront of engineering, design, and setting the highest quality standards
in the industry. The Canyon R&D Department is currently made up of some 50 engineers, designers, product managers and quality controllers. Strength in these areas truly sets Canyon apart as a brand, with innovation and expertise as the top priorities in all processes, from research, to design, to production, to delivery. Canyon also rely on the world’s top professionals in every discipline as integral parts of the R&D process. Teams and athletes include CANYON//SRAM Racing, Movistar Team with Giro and Vuelta winner Nairo Quintana, Team Katusha–Alpecin with ITT World Champion Tony Martin, Ironman Triathlon World Champion Jan Frodeno, Leadville 100 Course Record holder Alban Lakata, and the recently announced Canyon Factory Downhill Team, lead up by Troy Brosnan.

“It is incredibly rewarding to work with such driven competitors like Troy who is new to the Canyon family. The first time he raced on the Sender CF in Australia, he won,” said Aldorf. “But what’s even more important is to remember why we work with riders like him in the first place: we remain continually focused on our goal of democratizing performance – that means making bikes available to consumers who previously could not attain such a high level of innovation, engineering, and quality.”

The Nitty-Gritty

When will bikes be for sale in the US?
Bikes will be available Q3 this year. This is to ensure only MY18 inventory, reducing overlap of model years and streamlining efficiencies.

What kind of staffing will there be in the U.S.? What is progress on hiring these people?
We will have full-time staff in the U.S. for our warehouse and office operations. We will have dedicated US Customer Service staff as this is of top importance to Canyon. Customer service is one of our core functions when entering a new market. We are in the process of filling those positions and will be posting some additional job opportunities shortly.

Where will bikes be assembled?
All Canyon bikes are designed and engineered in Germany. We think “customer first” and in the interest of delivering the best buying experience to consumers who have been waiting the longest of Canyon bikes, we have now decided to go a hybrid way in our supply chain strategy. Some bikes purchased by U.S. customers will be assembled at our state-of-the-art Canyon factory in Koblenz, but in the interest of efficiency and to ensure that U.S. riders have the same high level of prompt service as in Europe, we will also be assembling some bikes in Asia, with final touch preparations being handled in the U.S.. Every single bike delivered to a U.S. customer will be pre-assembled and prepared with the same meticulous process and obsessive attention to detail as in our Koblenz facility.

Will there be a service center in the U.S.?
Our Southern California office will function as our U.S. service center, with dedicated staff.

How will Bikes be delivered in the U.S.?
U.S. customers will receive their Canyons exactly in the same manner as Canyon riders around the world, in our custom Canyon Bike Guard box. Bikes are pre-tuned and require almost no assembly, ready-to-ride in under 15 minutes. Bikes that are shown as ‘in stock’ on our website will ship within 2 weeks, typically sooner. The exact timing depends on our volume of orders on any given day, but once an order is placed for an in stock model, final touch is executed and the bike is shipped immediately.

Which Bikes will be available in the US and what will pricing be?
Canyon is all about “democratizing performance” – that is part of our success model and our ever-growing fan base globally. We will make sure to keep this promise to our U.S. customers as well. The majority of bikes offered will be the same as in Europe and pricing will be comparable. Exact stock and pricing is not 100% finalized as we are negotiating with some of our component suppliers in regards to their MY18 offerings.

---

With Canyon coming to the States, the pressure will be on for more companies to push their products online.