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Canyon Lux Trail Tweaks Downcountry Bike with 5mm Extra Travel & In-Frame Storage

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, climbing
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Just like their XC Lux got its own CFR upgrade, now the Canyon Lux Trail downcountry bike gets its own complete refresh. An updated suspension layout with more travel. Slacker, lower geometry. More integration, including all-new internal frame storage. All-in-all, there are tons of updates to create a properly all-new carbon Lux Trail.

It’s still a racy cross-country bike, not really a full-on trail shredder. But the new Canyon Lux Trail aims to be faster over more technical terrain whether hunting long-distance Fastest Known Times (FKTs) or local single track KOMs. Think of it as your XC race bike for mountain bikers who don’t actually race.

All-new Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bikes

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, CFR
(Photos/Canyon)

It’s been only 2 years since Canyon added a slightly longer travel light trail variant of their cross-country Lux mountain bike family. But that one was just an updated front triangle to tweak the Lux’s geometry and travel for more trail riding prowess. Now, this new Canyon Lux Trail takes it a step further with a completely new frameset designed specifically as a fast trail bike.

In the end, all the changes to the Lux Trail seem like relatively tiny steps. But while it’s definitely more evolution than revolution, the new Lux Trail is now a purpose-made all-rounder mountain bike, without losing that fast XC inspiration.

What’s new?

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, marathon racing downhill

Suspension-wise, the new 29er Lux Trail bumps up with 5mm of extra rear wheel travel. Now it’s a 115mm travel bike, paired to 120mm forks. That’s pretty short on today’s trail bike standards. We’ve even seen plenty of World Cup-level XC bikes that offer as much or more travel. But Canyon thinks that just solidifies the Lux Trail as a race-worthy mountain bike that can transition smoothly from technical XC racing, to long distance marathon XC racing, to just lightning-fast singletrack trail shredding too.

All-new gen 2 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike

Speaking of smoothness, the new Lux Trail does get a slightly refined suspension layout, too. It’s still a single-pivot with flex seatstays and a linkage-driven shock. But compared to the standard Lux, the new Lux Trail now hangs that short shock link from under the toptube in a move that promises increased small bump sensitivity.

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, revised leverage ratio 115mm suspension kinematics

Canyon says this completely flips the leverage ratio compared to the Lux World Cup XC bike. The result is said to make the bike feel like it has much more travel than its cross-country origins.

Material-wise, the new carbon bike is available in two different specs. New to the Lux Trail is a top-tier CFR-level frame with a claimed weight of 1937g. Of pick from a more affordable CF carbon spec for a frame at 2101g. (Both DIN claims for a painted frame with hardware.) Interestingly, that’s still a tiny bit heavier than the old Lux Trail, even though it was only a CF-level frame. But the new bike promises a much more capable ride, plus new integration…

More MTB Integration

Everything integrated is certainly the buzz-worthy trends these days. And Canyon’s latest triathlon, road & gravel bikes have already started adding in-frame storage. Now, the new Lux Trail is their first mountain bike to add internal LOAD in-frame storage. Much like the new Grail, the Lux Trail adds a glovebox door above the regular water bottle cage mount at the top of the downtube. And inside, you can slide a neoprene sleeve with all the spares you need for a trailside fix.

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, LOAD internal storage frame cutaway

Adding to that CO2, levers & spare tube inside, Canyon also adds a few easier-access tools for quicker fixes. In the bar ends, they’ve partnered with Sahmurai for a collab set of v2 tubeless tire plug Swords. Probably my personal favorite for their simplicity & usability. Then, a simple flat mini multi-tool clips securely under the toptube.

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, what's inside LOAD in-frame storage

More integration comes from internal cable routing through the upper headset cup. Mountain bike haven’t gone fully hidden with integrated cables just yet (thankfully.) But tucking rear derailleur, dropper, and rear shock lockout cables inside does tidy the cockpit up quite a bit.

Tweaked geometry

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, old vs. new geo

Continuing the evolution concept. the new Canyon Lux Trail features gently tweaked geometry, as well. Up front, the headtube is just a 1/2° slacker, now at 67° for more confident descending. And it gets a 1.5° steeper seattube angle to 76° for better forward weight distribution while climbing. They are a bit shorter too, for improved standover and the option for longer 31.6mm dropper posts.

Otherwise the geometry is mostly the same. Same chainstay length, bottom bracket drop, and the same frame Reach as before. But all of the bikes get a slightly lower fit thanks to 2mm lower Stack across the board, as the upper headset cup is dropped slightly below the top of the toptube.

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, updated geometry

One really big geometry improvement though, is an additional frame size. Adding an extra-small opens up the light trail bike to more riders with a new 5 size, XS-XL range.

Tech details

All-new gen 2 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, chain guide

The new Lux Trail is a 115mm carbon single pivot 29er cross-country bike. The frame features bearings and replaceable threads at all pivot points, plus a mini chainguide at the main pivot. It fits 2 full size water bottle in all sizes. It has internal routing and a rotation stopper built into the headset. And built-in downtube and molded chainstay protectors.

It features a UDH interface making for universal derailleur or new SRAM T-type transmission compatibility. Plus, it still gets a quick release lever built into that Boost rear thru-axle, and 2.4″ tire clearance.

All-new gen 2 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, BSA threaded bottom bracket

Oh, and a BSA threaded bottom bracket!

All-new gen 2 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, complete

The top CFR models also feature size-specific one-piece carbon bar+stem cockpits, developed to soak up trail vibrations for enhanced rider comfort without sacrificing control.

Canyon Lux Trail – Pricing, Options & Availability

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, CFR LTD
2023 Canyon Lux Trail CFR LTD

The ground-up redesigned Canyon Lux Trail is available in 2 top-tier CFR builds and 4 more affordable CF carbon spec options. All with the same upgrade frame tech and features.

The absolute top is this 8500€ Lux Trail CFR LTD with a SRAM XX Eagle AXS transmission, RockShox 120mm SID Ultimate fork, 115mm SIDluxe Ultimate rear shock, Reverb AXS dropper, and 30mm internal carbon DT Swiss XRC1200 wheels – at a claimed 11.66kg complete.

2023 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, CFR
Canyon Lux Trail CFR

Just a shade more affordable and even lighter is the 7000€ Canyon Lux Trail CFR with full XTR mechanical. For that you get Fox 34 SC Factory, Float SL Factory suspension & a Transfer SL Factory dropper, and the same carbon DT wheels at 11.25kg.

At the lower CF carbon frame spec, the 5700€ Lux Trail CF 9 specs RockShox Select+ suspension, a GX AXS transmission, and carbon DT XRC1501 wheels – 12.45kg. The 4700€ Lux Trail CF 8 scales that back with Fox Performance Elite suspension, an XT mechanical group, and still carbon DT XRC1700 wheels – 12.48kg.

The 3700€ Canyon Lux Trail CF 7 features a Fox Performance suspension, Shimano SLX, and alloy DT Swiss X1900 wheels – 12.9kg. Then lastly, the 3300€ Lux Trail CF 6 dials back to Deore 1×12 & DT LN wheels to get entry-level costs down – 13.1kg.

All-new gen 2 Canyon Lux Trail carbon downcountry mountain bike, FKT at night

The CFR models are not being offered in the USA for the time being. But all are otherwise available now direct from Canyon, with delivery dates varying from today through December.

Canyon.com

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11 Comments
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nooner
nooner
2 months ago

Looks 1x only… nobody getting a KOM on that thing.

ryan
ryan
2 months ago
Reply to  nooner

dude go back to shimano’s HQ

Fitness
Fitness
2 months ago
Reply to  nooner

2013 called and they want your comment back

Riccardo
Riccardo
2 months ago
Reply to  nooner

Ok nooner

pablo luzall
pablo luzall
2 months ago

fight me … but in-frame storage is daft … cutting a big old hole into the frame structure
seems misguided

Dinger
Dinger
2 months ago
Reply to  pablo luzall

I agree with you. Any ride long/far enough to require parts carry and I/most are carrying some kind of pack. While this is tidy, it’s too slow and fiddily for race applications and “down-country” marketing aside, this is a XC race bike. There is a weight cost to this (to gain back lost strength) so that runs counter to the goal of light weight.

That said, the feature by no means offends me. It’s becoming more common so clearly people like it. I really like the bike overall. It’s what I’d buy if I were in the market.

Jose
Jose
2 months ago
Reply to  pablo luzall

Go fight with the designers at Specialized.

Uppo
Uppo
2 months ago
Reply to  pablo luzall

Why have something sweaty on your back when you don’t have to? 2 full water bottles gets me 90 minutes of riding – beyond that I’ll take a pack, but you still need a tube and some CO2 for shorter rides

pizzaface
pizzaface
2 months ago
Reply to  pablo luzall

Until you’ve had a bike with internal frame storage and want nothing but that ever again. Saddle bags are so 2019

Oliver
Oliver
2 months ago

Wish they’d offer a frameset.

Frank
Frank
2 months ago

Sadly, headset cable routing 🙁

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