Is the Enduro Bike the Ultimate All-Rounder?

“This bike climbs like a cross-country bike and takes on descents like a downhill machine!” Such over-hyped marketing is often “rolled out” – it’s as common as sand on the beach. However, with the aid of professional test riders and race-proven timing, we’ve stripped these promises down with one aim: just how versatile are enduro bikes? Pitting an enduro bike uncompromisingly against discipline specialists, it’s now a case of ONE TO BEAT THEM ALL!

As the workhorse of the Canyon Factory Enduro Team, this bike has proven its downhill performance time after time on the world’s toughest courses, and thanks to its Shapeshifter technology it’s extremely versatile. With the push of a button, not only is the travel and rear triangle geometry altered, but also the bike’s entire geometry. So while this represents flexibility at its best, is that enough to hold its own against a speedy XC bullet, an agile freeride hucker, and a downhill bulldozer?

The Challenger

The Strive CF has to prove its worth across four categories: cross country, trail, freeride, and downhill. The battle will be tough as in each discipline, it’s up against a true master. The BMC Fourstroke FS01, the innovative Yeti SB5C, the brand new Specialized S-Works Demo, as well as the newest model of the legendary Scott Voltage FR freerider will be the opponents – each at the pinnacle of performance in their respective terrains, these bikes constitute the ideal benchmarks for a direct comparison.

The Opponent

The Test Sections

With the objective of testing the bike on suitably challenging terrain against each direct competitor, there could only be one location – Finale Ligure, a location that has it all. As well as EWS enduro trails, this Mediterranean bike mecca is famous for many other reasons: its 24-hour racetrack offers world class XC terrain and the Varigotti Downhill course is a super-tough descent that Gee Atherton immortalized in New World Disorder 10 by maxing out both the bike’s and his own limits. As abundant as the tourists in the summer, there’s more than enough flow trails to please the trail biker, and big jumps – the freerider’s raison d’etre – are everywhere.

The Test Criteria

Using the same timing system as the one they employ at the Enduro World Series races, we took multiple split times as well as overall times in order to see precisely where each bike’s strengths and weaknesses lie. In addition to these figures, the bike’s fun factor and confidence-inspiring characteristics were all decisive criteria, discussed in depth immediately after each ride.

Enduro vs. XC – Canyon Strive CF vs. BMC Fourstroke FS

In cross-country there’s only one winner: time! When it comes down to the gritty battle for the podium, every hundredth of a second is crucial. With efficient suspension, low overall weight, and a geometry that’s optimized for speed, the BMC Fourstroke FS can’t be beaten. With a 27-second advantage, it left the Canyon Strive CF floundering on the trail. But one thing is clear: this advantage comes at the cost of the massive losses in terms of comfort and stability. While the uphill was comfortably won by 17 seconds, the stretched-out position and the rigid seat post lost valuable time on the descent (5 seconds). If you want to win XC races and prefer to collect uphill rather than downhill KOMs, then you’re better of with a lightweight XC bike. At the end of the round, the XC bike and its time of 9 minutes 45 seconds was a full 27 seconds quicker than the enduro bike.

Enduro vs. Trail – Canyon Strive CF vs. Yeti SB5C

Confronting each other over various trails, including rapid cross-country routes as well as natural and perfectly shaped trails, the Canyon Strive CF and the Yeti SB5C dueled. The Yeti SB5C scored highly with its liveliness and higher agility when compared to its enduro competitor. For those who enjoy getting air from every single lip and place value on very direct, almost playful handling, you’re better off with a trail bike. On the 24-hour loop it embodied the perfect compromise between the lightning fast XC bike and the more sedate enduro one. On rough descents it struggled with its lighter parts and shorter travel – but it did give a confidence-inspiring ride. If you’re going to push here then you’ll need a clean choice of line and a great deal of control, otherwise technical issues and crashes could hold you up.

Enduro vs. Freeride – Canyon Strive CF vs. SCOTT Voltage FR

The new SCOTT Voltage FR belongs to an almost-extinct species of bike: a freeride bike with massive travel intended for the bike park. Thanks to its coil-sprung steel-stanchioned fork, a low yet playful geometry, and robust parts, the Voltage isn’t just pretty much indestructible, but also guarantees a fear-free ride. When it comes to big jumps, high speeds, and hard descents, it’s noticeably more than assured than the lighter enduro bike. Significantly more stable in the air than the Strive CF, the Voltage irons out bumps and minor riding mistakes like no other. If you’ve already got ‘Go big or go home’ tattooed on your forearm and your weekends are spent in the bike park, opt for the Voltage.

Enduro vs. Downhill – Canyon Strive CF vs. Specialized S-Works Demo

The Specialized S-Works Demo is currently one of the most interesting and technically adept downhill bikes on the market. On our extremely stony and loose test track, it dropped the enduro model with a comfortable 10-second advantage (total time: 55 seconds). With its low geometry and sublime suspension, everything is ironed smooth. Forget worrying about which line to take, just grip the handlebars and give full gas. Alongside the significantly faster descent time, the security of knowing how well downhill bikes perform on steep and technical terrain is pretty astounding.

The underdog – Enduro vs. Alutech Fat Fanes 1.0

The bike industry constantly wheels out developments, and while the past few years saw 29ers causing a stir, it was the turn of the fat bikes at 2014’s Eurobike. For this reason we’ve chosen to throw a glance at the future by allowing an extra candidate to have its turn on the two timed routes: the Alutech Fat Fanes fat bike. The results are surprising! As expected, it was a sizeable 47 seconds slower on the climb (4:13 Canyon/5:00 fat bike), but once it came to the loose and steep downhill section then the ALutech excelled in terms of its generous traction – even beating the enduro bike by one second on the first split time. The traction and control will make you audibly gasp and guarantees a good portion of certainty when riding. Who knows what’s waiting for us at the next Eurobike? For daily use on varied trails, the new plus-size wheel generation could be an exciting option if they manage to achieve the perfect balance of traction and rolling resistance.

Conclusion

Admittedly, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that many of the Canyon Strive CF’s opponents owned their specialist disciplines – and rightly so. But these tests have shown with a vengeance just how versatile modern enduro bikes really are. Even without changing the spec, they’re capable of taking on any of the test routes without issue. It’s doubtful that you’ll win a cross-country race or a regular downhill competition, but the fun factor and the versatility are exciting. In the future, expect further innovations such as plus-size wheels that will expand the usage potential of the bikes, and raise the bike’s fun and control to the next level.

Words & Photos: Christoph Bayer