As WA’s Canyon Service Center, What have we Learned So Far?
It’s almost been 12 months since we teamed up with Canyon Bicycles as their Authorised Service Partner here in WA, so what have we learned?
Willing to go the extra mile.
This might sound painfully obvious but Canyon are hyper-aware of the fact that they don’t have ‘boots on the ground’ and as such devote a tremendous amount of resources to after-sales care. We as the service agent are not tasked with deciding what is or isn’t a genuine warranty claim, we just present canyon with the facts if and when needed. More often than not we are surprised by how flexible and accommodating they are and the lengths they will go to for their riders. They’re pretty slow at responding to our emails, but behind the scenes they do ‘make stuff happen’ remarkably quickly. This is actually my go-to piece of information I choose to share with customers who ask about the Canyon ownership experience.
Speedmax Recall
The Speedmax recall has been a long and still ongoing process. Affected owners are well looked after by Canyons warranty process. There are still a LOT of people who haven’t responded to multiple recall notices and customer outreach, and we have definitely noticed that these customers seem to prefer to sell their bikes (the warranty transfers to the new owner) instead of addressing the issue. How do we know this? The prospective buyers call us about it. The total failure rate – bikes that fail inspection and need a new fork – is fairly low especially considering that we treat any and all imperfections with extreme caution, and Canyon has never once disagreed with our recommendation for a new fork.
The Road Bike Range
We’ve become intimately familiar with the inner working of the Endurace, Aeroad and Speedmax fork/steerer/bar/stem setups. As far as fully integrated cabling goes they are one of the easier brands to work on. The need for a proprietary tool to properly fasten the ‘quill’ style steerer tube on some of these models might be annoying to mechanics who only use hammers and pliers but it is a very neat solution. Losing the rubber grommet that plugs the top of the stem is painful, but we’ve stocked up on those!
(Absence of) Campagnolo
A Campagnolo groupset is a rare sight on a Canyon – it is rarely specced as an option, and chosen by paying customers even less. In 11 months of service, we’ve seen 1 campy-equipped model. Yep, just one.
The MTB Range
Canyon’s MTB range has serious credentials. My personal favourite is the Spectral. So much so, we bought the actual press bike used by the Australian MTB media to review the bike. Suspension, geometry, in-frame storage and total weight are all seriously competitive. If you’ve got $7k or more to spend on a new bike (a pretty normal number these days), the spec of Canyons models in this range is almost untouchable. Lots of bike for your buck. Model-specific parts (hangers, etc) are readily available when they’re needed. I think their colours are a bit unimaginative, but my opinions on aesthetics are not to be taken seriously.
The Customers
I’ve been really surprised (and grateful!) how far people are willing to drive to have their bike looked after by us. Lots of the international triathlon crew will drive from suburbs over an hour away on a regular basis for bike packing/unpacking, servicing and whatever else they need. You guys are awesome.
