The previous Canyon Grail made a splash of hell with a gravel scene in a frankly crazy-looking hover bar. Whether it worked as intended or not, people talked about it and got it on the list of the best gravel bikes, but because of the latest gravel race bikes (alongside the more adventure-oriented machine, the Grizzlies), the Canyon returned to its relatively normal cockpit.

This new Holy Grail has been seen as far back as Unbound, when he won the uci Gravel World Championships under Peter Stetina and, more recently, Kasia Niewiadoma. Under the radar, perhaps, it has also already been riding victories in the unbound 100 and 200, two national championships, and a whole host of other big-ticket gravel races by Canyon-sponsored players.

There's a fair bit to unpack, rather than at least a redesigned front end, so let's dive into what's changed, what's new, and how much you can expect to fork out if you want to throw your foot over one.

Let's start with the cockpit, as the demise of the hover bar, truly a marmite piece of innovation, is something that most people will notice straight out of the gate. With the introduction of the CFR layer (more on that later), as the cup became even more race-focused, having two bars seemed too much for aerodynamics for the performance gains that additional comfort might have provided.

Instead, the new Holy Grail is kitted out with a CP0039 double drop bar, sloping downwards from the stem. The CP0039 features what Canyon calls a "gear groove", a central channel of bar chat that can be turned off if you don't want to fit an accessory, but can also be fitted with a computer mount, front computer mount, or a very interesting looking set of adjustable aircraft bar extensions. Yes, Unbound prohibits aerobars, but that doesn't stop them from being useful in other races or FKT attempts. The main support for the extension also features a place to pop your computer, and some snack storage too.

Yes, Grizl is more an adventure bike and Grail is a racing model, but for races like Unbound XL and for humans who need more snacks, the new Grail has a similar internal frame storage system in the bag as the new Endurace, avoiding ugly (and non-aircraft) straps. This time of the downtube, rather than the top tube, comes along with a removable partial frame bag that uses the fidlock system to hold the bag in place. The bag covers the frame storage port to some extent, so you need to remove the frame bag for full access.

Naturally, it resembles a fairing, so the semi-integrated nature of a partial frame bag saves you 1.5 watts. To go with aerobar compatibility, another nod to aerodynamics is the lack of bottle bosses on the fork. Having a wide one kills the front area, but Canyon seems to be at least aware that consumers seem to prefer to take racy gravel bikes on longer, more heavily loaded trips.For a cargo cage for carrying bottle cages or dry bags, we have created a set of fork sleeves that add 3 bosses in front if you want. The forks are boss-free, but the top tube has a set for lunch boxes, and the down tube has a third set at the bottom, as it is increasingly standardized.Interestingly, there is also a dedicated mudguard (fender) set. As someone who likes to run a full mudguard on a gravel bike, this is a great thing to watch. The seat post, although not the popular twin-leaf model, claims to be much more compliant than the Canyon Ultimate and features the same rear light integration.

The outgoing cup is only cae in CF SL and SLX layers, but considering its stature as a racy number, it comes with all the bells and whistles (rod gear grooves, downtube storage, frame bag system) as Canyon matches Aeroad and Ultimate

The CFR layer is lighter than 118g (frameset). and 10% harder. It can be purchased with the Shimano GRX Di2 (€6,999) or the Sram Red AXS build with a power meter. (€7,999) You can even pay €10,000 to get your gravel feet on one of the 70 models made of splattery "GRVL DZZL" paint work - the middle tier of the vowel gravel industry now SLX still has the same cockpit and frame bag potential, but with lower spec levels. On the iPad, the Shimano Di2 build sets €4,999 and the Sram Force €5,299. This force-equipped model is the only line-up that does not have DT Swiss wheels and instead features Zipp303Firecrests.

Finally, it has a base-level CF to ditch the down-tube storage in the frame and replace the cockpit for simpler models without the possibility of modular accessories. It still comes with the ability to fit a frame bag. 2 GRX models (1x and 2x) and Sram rival setups are available, starting at €2,699. Global prices are added when they become available.