2025 Canyon Sender CFR

If you missed the prologue, this piece ends with me in pieces, and off the bike for a while. But I’m already out of my cast, suffering on the trainer and through range of motion physiotherapy exercises before I get cleared for weight-bearing on my mechanically augmented wrist. Progress.

But before we get to the promised details on that incident, let’s talk about all the fun parts beforehand and why I was down in Tennessee to begin with; Downhill bikes. My foray back into the mythical beasts has been one of my favorite bits of ‘journalism’ to date. As a competitive sport, downhill has waxed and waned episodically throughout the past decades, perhaps last having a real highpoint in the noughties with mainstream-ish TV coverage, and big money sponsorship deals with the likes of Volvo Cannondale.

Those heady days of wild non-consumer-available prototype racing, dedicated FRO - For Race Only frames, and globe-trotting World Cup Circus are contemporaneous with my last real stint on downhill bikes. Ignoring WBD's paywalls and changes to the racing itself, I’m thrilled to say those days are back. Specialized has been racing a full-fledged prototype, Cannondale tried two shocks again, there's a 16 race calendar, and Canyon is unapologetic about designing the new Sender CFR to win World Cup races rather than mass appeal and park rats.

This isn't news, and we've talked about it before with the Mondraker Summum, but it's hard to overstate what a launch like this means to a brand pouring it's heart and soul into racing. This is the bike that will make or break the next years of Canyon's CLLCTV team, determining if the millions it takes to run a race team year after year are worth it.

Ten years after the first one, the third generation of the Sender launches today and it’s already achieved the design brief. It’s already won at the highest level under Troy Brosnan, so nothing else matters really. Whether or not I like this bike, it’s done what it’s supposed to do - win World Cup downhill races. Canyon’s theory here isn’t that this is going to sell thousands of Senders; after all Ferrari doesn't sell the SF-25 or 499P to anyone. Yes, Canyon wants to sell Senders to racing privateers and washed up ex-racers that never-were like me, but the raison d’etre of a winning race organization is selling everything else that says Canyon on it, from the critically-acclaimed Spectral to the value-oriented hardtail shredder Stoic I reviewed in 2021. That said, let’s dive into my experience on the new sled thus far. I’ll be doing a long-term writeup later in the year, when I’ve got two fully functional arms again.

Development

The new Sender's origins are ugly. After working closely with the CLLCTV team, and going into the deep nerdery of 'Team Mentor' Fabien Barel's decades of experience and ideas, there were some concepts on how to achieve the kinematics and traction desired. The Frankenbike was born - a mix of 3D printing, carbon tubes, and rough machining work designed to be adjustable in just about every way imaginable. Five different possible axle paths. Adjustable anti-squat. Adjustable anti-rise. Adjustable seat angle. Adjustable BB height and fore-aft adjustability. Adjustable reach. Adjustable chainstay length. Gearbox. Derailleur. High pivot. Adjustable high pivot idler location. Mullet. 29er.

This mule was ridden extensively by the CLLCTV team, development team, product managers, and engineers to pinpoint hardpoints before committing to carbon. I'll spare you the full presentation, but the takeaway was everyone across the project worked together to make the fastest bike they could imagine, and the camaraderie was evident.

Frame Details

What they arrived on wasn't a drastic geometry departure from the previous generation but the swap to high-pivot architecture allowed some significant changes in kinematics - especially Fab's and the team's belief that high anti-rise was the way forward; effectively pulling the bike down toward the ground under braking to lower the COG while maintaining traction and suspension movement. The rearward axle path, and corresponding chain growth, is managed with the help of the new idler pulley.

There's a lot going on in the rear linkage, but I've been assured everything is serviceable with a combination of the included tools, and tools a privateer or competent home mechanic would already have.

Adjustability wasn't eliminated after the Frankenbike. Racetracks are all different, and as such, the Sender retains the ability to drop the bottom bracket with a chip, tweak rear shock progressivity, and change reach by +/- 8mm. Canyon's KIS system is also present, giving the ability to dial in additional steering stability if you so desire.

Of note, the rear end is 12x148mm, which Canyon says gives a little extra room for heels and derailleur safety, as well as giving most users the ability to swap a wheel off their enduro bike if need be (Ironically, my We Are One is SuperBoost), but otherwise the rest of the details are as you'd expect for a top tier bike in 2025; nice internal routing, good molded guards where you need them, UDH, and built in fender mounts all conspire to keep the bike modern and quiet.

It comes in any color you want, as long as that's black (raw carbon), or 'CFR Mint'.

Specs and Builds

There are only two options if you're looking for a Sender CFR - the Underdog, or full Team. Frames are identical for each option. It really boils down to what you want for dampers. Pricing varies; in the EU an Underdog will set you back 4500 EUR, while a Team demands 6000 EUR for the premium accoutrements. In the USA you can't be an Underdog and your only choice is top-spec for 7,800 USD. I'd note that's a significant difference over the FX, which may be attributable to tariffs. So that difference could triple next week, or be halved, as they seem to change in every gentle breeze down. Best to just check the website for the most reliable, up to date information.

Canadian pricing on launch day is listed at 5899 CAD for the Underdog, and 7749 CAD for the Team.

Race Day

Where do you launch a race bike? At a race, of course. While the third Sender has been out there winning World Cups, Canyon has been tight-lipped about it; when it came time to change this, they brought a few of us down to Windrock, Tennessee to watch the Red Bull National Series Race. While a downhill at a small, relatively new bike park in Appalachia might sound like an odd place to unveil a globe-trotting carbon fiber superbike, you're missing a few key factors.

Downhill is having a resurgence in the USA, and is big down in the Southeast. There's someone who knows a thing or two about downhill at the helm: Aaron Gwin purchased the park in 2023, and National level events like this one are not just a breeding ground for fast up-and-comers. A glance at the start list shows how many World Cup winners were using this event (and the following round at nearby Rock Creek) for a season warmup. For a pile of (excellent) trails sandwiched in a holler between an ORV park and a gun range, Windrock provided at least as much action as the nearby Barkley Marathons.

Riding

Conditions were not exactly what you'd want for day one on a new bike in unfamiliar terrain, but we weren't going to pass up full factory support from Canyon and SRAM. After a bit of discussion with relative local Luca Shaw, it was agreed that the racetrack was probably a bad plan, but there was plenty of other trails that'd be good in the current wet conditions. Fortunately for me, this entailed mostly sticking to the rockier, slower trails. Riding technical trails in the wet... Where are we, North Vancouver?

After a couple of laps recalibrating to downhill bikes and adapting to the grip (low, but consistent), I settled into a rhythm, working to learn the bike. I kept it simple - KIS off - and worked through a couple of spring rates and damper settings that'd put me in the right ballpark for the next day, that was anticipated to be much drier. Initial impressions were that 1) downhill bikes are still the f*cking best, and 2) the Sender provided heaps of traction through the rough stuff, and perhaps Fabs and the development engineers were onto something with the whole 130% anti-rise thing.

After a night with a pitcher of spicy margaritas, my traditional quesobirria, and washing muddy gear out in the hotel bathroom, day two dawned and conditions looked set to be spectacular. The sun was out, the track was drying all the peanut butter away, and we dove into dissecting the racetrack, which really has it all. It's a mix of chunky natural rock gardens, high speed rough bits, tight switchbacks, and some machine-built motorways and jumps. I found a happy place on a 400lb spring, 157PSI in the Boxxer, and after getting lost a few times we started lapping (nothing inspires confidence like realizing you're on the completely wrong side of the track with a World Cup athlete like Marine Cabirou behind you).

Once I knew where I was going, the Sender felt at home on the racetrack. Unlike the previous day where in a few slow-speed situations the bike felt like it was ka-chunking around being underutilized, it thrives when you hit things hard and fast. At my weight - and riding ability - the chassis is stiff and composed to the extent that it could potentially be softened to improve tracking, especially on rough sidehills, but part of that is the bike highlighting my deficiencies.

There's a lot of stack on modern downhill bikes, and the upright positioning this demands takes a bit of getting used to, but again the anti-rise helps here, assisting to keep you from getting pitched too far forward under braking. The bike also provides a good amount of mid-stroke support, which provides a platform for pedaling, pumping, or jumping as you see fit.

Catastrophe

And then, someone said it. It was possibly even me. "Probably just time for one more lap?"

I was tired from a full day of riding, and ready to relax with a beer. The track ends with a high speed machine built section; the large Red Bull branded step-down, into a long and low skipper over a creek, and the final step-up before the finish line. The skipper was a pull all day and more than one person remarked it could use another foot of dirt on the takeoff. As I came off the step-down, my internal monologue noted I was going a little slow, so my tired shoulders pulled as hard as I could... and the world basically goes black until Canyon's Global Communications Manager Ben was driving me into the emergency room parking lot. Considering the speed and amplitude involved, it could have been a lot worse. I'm thankful for Ben, Troy, Fabs, Diego, John Dawson, and everyone else from SRAM and Canyon that helped package me up and ship me off to the ER. Big shoutout to the Kali Protectives Trinity Carbon as well; while the intent of helmet testing is never to actually crash test, it did it's job admirably.

Conclusions

Can I push the limits of the new Sender? No. Can the new Sender push my limits? Clearly.

What I can say is the Sender likes to be pushed to the best of your abilities, and the harder you can push it the happier it is. Results sheets will show if Canyon can continue to meet their goals with the Sender, but it's off to a great start with a pile of wins including a World Cup already, and a bike that's easy enough to get comfortable on in tough conditions in a short time.

I'm looking forward to having it on home terrain for a long term test, checking out the serviceability, testing KIS, and generally seeing if it's as fast as it feels (we did no actual timed testing in Tennessee). I'll also be keenly watching the first World Cup in Poland next weekend, as will a cadre of young guns who were at Windrock racing alongside their heroes in the same way I used to watch guys like Fabien in Japan after rubbing shoulders at NORBA Nationals.

Now, if my arm would go ahead and heal up, I'd like to get back to riding this thing...