Canyon has launched its own range of premium cycling footwear, taking aim at the likes of Specialized and Trek with options for road and gravel riders.
The Canyon Tempr shoes get the brand’s premium CFR billing, as applied to its top spec bikes, signifying Canyon Factory Racing.
The road shoes are in action with the women’s Canyon//Sram Factory Racing pro team, while the off-road shoes were worn to the U23 women’s world cyclocross championship by Zoe Backstedt.
The Tempr CFR Road shoes weigh a claimed 250g per shoe in size 42 and are available in sizes from 36 to 48, with half sizes between 40.5 and 46.5. They come in either black or white and are priced at €329.95. Branding is subtle, and that is no mistake. Canyon is hoping to reach a much wider market than its existing customers, an initiative Cycling Weekly's Tech Writer Joe Baker thinks they succeed at.
Canyon has collaborated with Boa on the shoe’s closure, which uses two aluminium Boa Li2 dials. These are Boa’s latest top spec offering with incremental tightening and loosening and a lower profile design than its previous generation IP1 dial. The retention system is also positioned so that it totally wraps around your foot, rather than just pulling the upper part of the tongue together. This, Canyon claims, means that the shoe is held to the bottom of your foot, rather than your foot simply being pinched between the two sides of the shoe upper.
Canyon says that the design of the upper ensures a close fit at the heel without restricting the forefoot. It incorporates pressure relief zones, a stretch tongue, which it describes as sock-like, and a toe box designed to allow toe splay for greater comfort.
There’s a custom insole for the new shoes developed by Solestar, which Canyon says offers all-day comfort, while still providing maximum power transfer through the carbon sole, which has a 6mm stack height.
Gravel option
The Tempr CFR Off-Road shoes share the features of the road shoes’ upper, with the same two Boa dials and other features. They add grip thanks to a Vibram Megagrip sole unit, which Canyon says sheds mud easily, and offers the same 6mm stack height.
The off-road shoes are designed for gravel and XC MTB use. They have a claimed 290g per shoe weight in size 42 and are available in the same size range as the road shoes. They share the road shoes’ €329.95 price tag too and are available in grey in addition to black with a tan gum tread or white.
As with its bikes, Canyon is selling directly from its site and its app, although you can also view the shoes at its European and US Factory Service locations.
Start of a new Canyon CFR range
Canyon already offered a variety of other cycling kit and accessories before it launched the Tempr CFR. It has a range of Canyon branded cycle clothing including team replica and other bib shorts, jerseys and the like.
It also sells some Giro helmets and Abus x Canyon branded helmets, as well as Alpecin-Deceuninck team helmets, as worn by Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen.
Third party bike parts sold by Canyon extend to tyres and tubes, bells and bottle cages and even a number of different power meters,
It’s only the clothing and Abus x Canyon helmets that, until now, have been Canyon branded though. Are the new shoes the start of a wider range of CFR branded cycling gear?
Canyon’s own-brand gear & accessory line has been expanding rapidly in the six years since its launch, with the addition of the Signature Pro clothing line for road riding, CLLCTV MTB team wear and the recently introduced CLLCTV Rideable Streetwear.
Canyon Gear Director Stan Mavis says: “We are constantly striving to exceed our customer’s needs and expectations carefully with intense and in-depth design and development in all areas.
“For example, we are in the process of launching two key categories: Footwear and Helmets. This has been a three-year undertaking with our Canyon athletes at the core of product testing, feedback, and development. Both categories have been branded CFR due to the athlete’s involvement. Same as our CFR branded bikes.”
Joe Baker's first ride review
It seems clear to me that Canyon is aiming rather high with the new Tempr shoe collection. The move into this part of the cycling market shows the German brand’s force in the market, and more importantly that it is taking aim at big players such as Specialized and Trek - but that won’t work if the products aren’t up to scratch.
Having spent some time with the new kicks from Canyon though, I can tell you that they have certainly delivered a quality product that will absolutely go ‘toe to toe’ (sorry..) with the big-name competition from bike-first brands, and shoe brands alike.
So first, let’s tackle the fit. I have relatively narrow feet, with a rather high instep, and was able to get pretty comfortable pretty quickly in the new road-going Tempr shoe - pretty impressive considering on my first rides, I was actually riding a size smaller than I should have been. Now, sized up with the correct 43.5 shoes, I find that Canyon has struck a good balance between a secure footing, and comfort.
Particularly appreciated is the wide toe box, which features a thinner layer of material around the outside edge of the toes, leaving plenty of space for both breathability and saving you from claustrophobia!
The sock-like tongue too works really well. With such a high instep, I have found with shoes in the past that I struggle to get comfortable around the front of the shoe, particularly when they are new. I had no such fight with the Tempr shoes, which felt comfortable from the first wear in this area.
Stiffness too seems to be right on the money. Canyon hasn’t explicitly quoted how the new shoes rank on any stiffness index, but the shoes’ lead designer did tell me that they are “stiff enough for any human” - i.e. we can’t flex them, and they don’t remotely hinder power transfer. Sense checking that statement on the road, I can say with certainty that this is true. The shoes have felt rock solid in all scenarios, be it longer rides or sprint efforts.
Overall I think Canyon will make more than just a little splash in the market with these shoes, and I look forward to testing them further, and properly comparing them with the best cycling shoes on the market.
