First Look: 2022 Canyon Torque - Options For Almost Everyone
Looking for a 27.5” park bike? What about a long travel mixed-wheel machine? Or maybe something with dual 29” wheels? Aluminum frame or carbon? Whatever your answer, there's a good chance there's a version of the 2022 Canyon Torque that will fit the bill.
According to Canyon, the new Torque was designed to be “the perfect option for a seaon in Whistler, Queenstown, or any other all-time riding destination.” In other words, they wanted a bike that could stand up to months (and years) of hard charging on a wide variety of terrain, everything from big jump lines to rugged, natural, EWS-worthy tracks.
According to Canyon, the new Torque was designed to be “the perfect option for a seaon in Whistler, Queenstown, or any other all-time riding destination.” In other words, they wanted a bike that could stand up to months (and years) of hard charging on a wide variety of terrain, everything from big jump lines to rugged, natural, EWS-worthy tracks.
Torque Details
• Wheel size: 29", 27.5", or mullet
• Rear travel: 170mm on 29" / 175mm for 27.5" and mullet
• Carbon or aluminum frame options
• 63.5º or 64º head angle
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
• Price: 2,699 - 5,499 Euro
• www.canyon.com
• Wheel size: 29", 27.5", or mullet
• Rear travel: 170mm on 29" / 175mm for 27.5" and mullet
• Carbon or aluminum frame options
• 63.5º or 64º head angle
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
• Price: 2,699 - 5,499 Euro
• www.canyon.com
To help with that goal, the 29” Torque has 170mm of front and rear travel, while the 27.5” versions have 175mm of rear travel and a 180mm fork. The mullet versions, which use the front end of the 29” bike and the back end from the 27.5” bike, have 175mm of rear travel and a 170mm fork. That's a lot of numbers, but the main takeaway is that the Torque was built to handle the rowdiest trails around. The fact that it's dual crown compatible is a testament to that, and the frame itself has the same Category 5 rating as Canyon's downhill bikes.
A flip chip allows for 8mm of bottom bracket height adjustment, and changes the head angle by .5-degrees.
The Torque uses Canyon's tool-free thru-axle - that lever slides into the axle once the wheel is secured.
Even with that Category 5 rating, Canyon was able to shed around 200 grams off the total frame weight for both the aluminum and carbon models – the claimed weight for the carbon frame (without shock) is 2650 grams. They also added the ability to carry a water bottle inside the front triangle, something that was lacking on the previous version.
Other details included a threaded bottom bracket, SRAM's universal derailleur hanger, and fully guided internal routing on the carbon frames (the alloy frames use foam tubing to keep things quiet).
Geometry
The Torque received significant revisions in the geometry department, gaining up to 30mm of reach for each size compared to the previous generation. In order to keep the cockpit from feeling too stretched out during seated pedaling, that longer front center is tempered by a steep 78-degree seat tube angle. The head angle now sits at 63.5 or 64-degrees depending on the position of the flip chip at the rear shock mount, which is nearly two degrees slacker than before.
The chainstays grew by 10 millimeters, and now measure 435mm for the 27.5” and mixed-wheel models, and 440mm for the 29” versions. The chainstay length is the same no matter the frame size – although the Sender downhill bike has adjustable chainstays, that feature isn't available on the Torque.
Yes, the new Torque is dual crown compatible, as Thomas Genon demonstrated at Rampage.
The Torque is designed to work with both air and coil shocks, and there's now room for a water bottle.
It's also long-travel dropper post compatible - the amount of drop can be adjusted in a matter of minutes by unscrewing the post's collar and turning a plastic sleeve.
A mixed-wheel Torque CF 8 just showed up for testing – look for a full in-depth review once we get enough land and air miles in on it.
Models & Pricing
There are a total of six different complete Torque models. In the United States, the list of available options is a little smaller - riders will be able to choose from the AL 5, CF 7, or CF 8.
Torque AL 5: $3,299 USD / €2,699
Torque AL 6: €3,199
Torque CF 7: $4,399 USD / €3,699
Torque CF 8 Mullet: $5,399 / €4,499
Torque CF Fabio Wibmer: : €5,499
Torque CF 9: €5,799
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219 Comments
Canyons warranty dept "our metallurgist has checked over your frame and said its been used for doing jumps, therefore we can not accept your warranty claim"
i wont bother buying another, thanks
The gesture is nice, but I'd rather have to pay for the small parts and know they're going to replace my frame if it fails from normal MTB use.
www.pinkbike.com/u/Kaspitch/album/RADON-Jab-rocker-fail
It's better to voice which office exactly rather than Canyon as a whole because if in the slight chance that anyone who works at Canyon reads it, then that specific information is useful rather than a blanket 'Canyon service sucks' statement.
In the end you deal with a person on the other end, and they could be completely useless or an absolute legend. If the Australian staff were in the US office then you'd likely be singing a different song.
Not for years?
wow...
Buyers beware!
So 2700€ for the AL5 with a Zeb, piggyback shock and Deore drive seems abotu as good value.
Add an adjustable seatpost and it would have been 2500€ then.
Looks like a good value today for the AL5 as it looked with the FR8 to me.... before I broke the frame and they said it was my fault, seatpost to long etc... got a new frame in the end, but I don't want to get through all of this again.
I guess, I’d be the first to say it but yea,
It Looks like a Hightower ahahaha
Which isn’t so bad
The other variable is rear wheel travel. This bike has 170mm so with any reasonable kind of sag it’ll put riders waaay over the back if you have long-ish legs.
The owner's group had a poll on who had this issue and very little to none had it. It's just the people with the loudest voice get heard and get assumed they're the majority.
Some owners just had very worn bushings which does come down to maintenance.
Your mate could be an exception.
Hope you're getting one in for review @mikekazimer ? Preferably the 29er, but also stick it in the high setting to see if it works as a mullet. Thanks in advance.
Unlike some other brands where the post fouls on the rocker pivot (eg a friend's Scott Spark only allows 14cm insertion), Canyon have actually constructed the frame to allow you to fully slam the seat post right down to the collar if you need to.
Running less than 210mm drop is a last resort for my size and riding, and for example if I look at a 29" Spindrift in size L, the post will stick out so much that it's as if the ST is 515mm (and not the real 460mm).
A more standard frame like the Pipedream Full Moxie (so no custom options) has a 420mm seattube on both their long and longer size though there is a bend lower down. I'd say you probably still have at least 290mm of straight tube in there though.
The king of it all is probably Liteville with their Eightpins dropper. Full length seattube and a good amount of travel out of their own dropper.
Either way, for a bike like the one featured in the article I'd expect you should be able to get the saddle properly out of the way and a seattube of nearly 18" on a size large seems like a reason to look elsewhere. It may just be more relevant to me as I ride a hardtail, but I'd say the bike can be so amazing but first and foremost it should give you the space to move around and actually command such a bike properly.
Bear in mind that the max insert length Canyon give is for the circular cross-section of the tube - you don't need to include the actuator length, so your One-Up V2 comes down to 282mm.
FWIW for relevance to this article, the Torque CF lists max insertion as 275mm on the large size (240mm only on the AL frame). As @mikekazimer says above, it's enough to allow a rider that would typically choose a large to run at least a 200mm dropper.
Yes the correct measure is 282mm, and I hope Canyon/Propain are conservative and thus a large Spindrift will still allow me to slam "enough" the post.
Before long droppers, I used the quick release even with a dropper, depending on terrain. Megavalanche part on snow requires the seat completely out of the way for proper use of tripod technique haha and then there's big uphills in the second part too, for example
6'7" speaking.
Its the thing, lots of little things done to drop a bit of weight soon add up to a big difference, even if they've not really compromised durability, just cost.
Given its front center of 79cm, a 50/810mm riser bar, and 50mm spacerless stem, at 6' I'd like this in Small. Going by seat tube length, it's closest to what I already have. @chakaping: also crazy
That steep seat tube angle does make a difference, and the pedaling position on the large is quite comfortable - sizing down would make things pretty cramped.
At 190cm (6'3") here I won't consider longer than the L, and the ST is almost too short .. never thought I'd have that problem haha