BEYOND THE GRAND CANYON

Canyon’s new hardtail, the Stoic, is an alloy-framed all-rounder built for 140mm forks and serious abuse

Canyon has a huge range of mountain bikes on its website, 14 at the last count, and that’s before you start totting up the kids’ bikes and women’s-specifics.

All the more surprising then that it’s never had a proper trail hardtail before — the mile-munching Grand Canyon coming closest.

The new Stoic is designed to fill that hole, bringing slack geometry and downhill-focused components to riders who still want the thrill of a hardtail. Decked out with a 140mm fork, tacky tyres and a huge number of sizes, it’s aimed squarely at the UK market, which still has a unique affinity with the hardcore hardtail.

The Stoic is made from 6061 alloy, with 29er wheels in the biggest sizes and 27.5in in the smallest. It comes in a truly amazing spread of sizes (the biggest size range across any of Canyon’s models, in fact), with XXS to XL on offer, fitting anyone from 1.49m in height to 2m.

The idea is you can use the Stoic as a trail bike, a jump bike, a big kids bike, or a winter hack.

There’s no denying the Stoic is a fabulous looking bike. The top tube runs straight from the head tube to the rear dropouts, which also adds oodles of standover height. It’s a well-designed bike too, with easily accessible internal gear cable routing, and an externally routed rear brake hose.