# Canyon Exceed as endurance rough gravel, two-track and non-tech singletrack bike



## cabanaboy (Apr 25, 2019)

Anyone have thoughts on how a canyon exceed hardtail would perform in these conditions? Stuff that's too much for my gravel bike over the course of a 5+ hour ride? Not interested in racing it. 

I'm also looking at a yeti arc frame set. However, for the same price I can get a complete canyon CF5. Then replace the lesser parts with nicer ones I already have.

thanks


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## acedeuce802 (Jun 30, 2017)

It kind of depends on what handlebars you want. If you like drop bars for that kind of stuff, maybe an XPLR gravel fork is all you need. If you like using flat bars for a 5+ hour ride, than an XC hardtail like the Exceed is probably perfect. Looks like it can take a 36t chainring, which gets pretty fast with 29er wheels and a 10t small cog. I do a lot of gravel rides and long mixed rides with MTB and gravel on my 100/100mm full squish with 29x2.25 Vittoria Mezcals. I use SQ Labs inner bar ends for an additional hand position. The main limitation when it comes to more true gravel/road is the 32t I run, but that's needed for the trails. I also have a gravel bike that I build out of an MTB frame, so it's drop bars with 29x2.2 Teravail Sparwood tires, and the 38t chainring with 10-42t cassette is perfect for the gravel roads around me.


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## 141 (Jun 25, 2021)

I have thought about the same thing, and one thing I am concerned about is for my size, Medium, the Exceed has 425mm chainstays, compared to a Grizl of the same size which has 435mm chainstays. I think longer chainstays are more comfortable, and the only reason the Exceed has such short ones I presume is for maneuverability in XC racing, which doesn't really help in general gravel riding. Additionally the short chainstays mean it has to use the wider q factor M8120 cranks for tire clearance, which I don't think I would love.


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## Funoutside (Jul 17, 2019)

141 said:


> have thought about the same thing, and one thing I am concerned about is for my size, Medium, the Exceed has 425mm chainstays, compared to a Grizl of the same size which has 435mm chainstays.


Their Grail gravel bike for comparison has a 415mm cs. My gravel bike has adjustable cs & can do between 420-440mm. I didn't like 420mm as much for gravel, but for road it was fine, that is until the road got a bit rough & it was 15%+ grade downhill. 

Would you go 100mm or 120mm sus with the Exceed or would you go rigid fork with biggest xc tires it can fit?


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## cabanaboy (Apr 25, 2019)

Funoutside said:


> Would you go 100mm or 120mm


I'd go with 100mm fork. 120mm fork is tempting but I think that would deviate from my intention for this bike. I already have a 120mm FS bike so I'd like any potential new bike to be fairly different. 

thank you for the replies. I am leaning towards doing this project but have time to think about it. Canyon say the exceed CF5 has an availability date of summer 2022. This is also dependent on them sticking to their normal discount for NICA coaches during these challenging times.


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## 141 (Jun 25, 2021)

Funoutside said:


> Their Grail gravel bike for comparison has a 415mm cs. My gravel bike has adjustable cs & can do between 420-440mm. I didn't like 420mm as much for gravel, but for road it was fine, that is until the road got a bit rough & it was 15%+ grade downhill.
> 
> Would you go 100mm or 120mm sus with the Exceed or would you go rigid fork with biggest xc tires it can fit?


Just a small note, I think the Grail in size M has 425mm CS.


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