Pro bike check: Canyon Rad Pack's unreleased new Grail

A Canyon grail with suspension fork on some grass

(Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

Days of hard gravel racing at the Traka finished up today with the event's shortest ride, the 100. The 360, considered the race's premier event, was won by Karolina Migoń and Tobias Kongstad, both of PAS Racing, in the women's and men's categories, respectively. You can also check out all the most exciting tech from the event in our Traka mega tech gallery, as well as a roundup of the winning bikes from the 360 event.

Several Canyon Grail gravel bikes have been ridden at the event with suspension forks. There are plenty of images online, and it does appear a new Canyon Grail and or Grizl with suspension fork is on the way.

We spotted a leaked video back in March of a Canyon gravel bike with a suspension fork being ridden by Canyon athlete Mateu Cavallé, which made us assume the German brand had a new bike in the works or was developing a suspension fork.

We have spotted quite a few Canyon bikes at the Traka with these suspension forks. It's probably fair to say the time for speculation is over and you can expect a new Canyon model soon, especially after seeing Freddy Ovett's Instagram post of a Grail frame with a similar-looking fork yet with a different build and much bigger tyres than the ones fitted here. The post had a 'Show me the optimal Traka bike' caption, though we didn't see it in the wild on the ground.

From these pictures, it looks like the bike has been developed in partnership with DT Swiss, thanks to a sticker on the fork leg, there's a rebound adjust dial, and some sort of removable cap on the top of the fork crown. This could well be another option for riders and competition for the RockShox Rudy XPLR gravel fork, which features on gravel bikes like the YT Szepter.

This isn't exclusive or groundbreaking news, but it is a look at one of the Canyon Rad Pack gravel team bikes and forks up close, as well as a few other interesting mods on an eye-catching gravel bike. The standout is the fact that SRAM wireless blips to the insides of their Force levers to replicate Red AXS bonus shift buttons. A setup that felt pretty comfortable and nice to use.

A Canyon grail cockpit with top tube storage bag — This bar has been pretty much slammed with some round spacers left on top. The top tube storage bag provides another option for a 200k event. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A SRAM Force shifter with wireless blip taped on — Sram's wireless blips mean you can place them anywhere on the bars, or in this case shifters. Apparantly they were too big to try and integrate into rubber shifter cover neatly. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A Canyon grail integrated handlebar and stem — Shifters turned in for some aero gains on the Traka 200 course. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A SRAM Force shifter with wireless blip taped to it — The blips actually felt really easy to use in this setup when holding them in an aero tuck. It's not the the cleanest, but it works and that's all that matters. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A Canyon grail suspension fork crown — There are no visible adjusters on the fork, but the flat 'panels' on the side of the crown do have small bolts, so we assume they can be removed for service etc. There's also a DT Swiss logo on the fork crown. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A Canyon grail suspension fork — It looks like this one by DT Swiss, the Swiss company also produce suspension forks and shocks. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A suspension fork red rebound adjuster — The fork has a rebound adjust dial at the bottom of the non drive side leg. Could this cutout be susceptible to water and dirt ingress? (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A Continental Terra Speed gravel tyre on a carbon wheel — 45mm Terra Speed tyres from Continental. This rear tyre had been plugged during the race. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

A Shimano XTR pedal — Shimano XTR spd pedals are classics; the best the Japanese brand offers for off road riding. (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)

Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.

He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.

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