Canyon waited almost two years to put a DJI Avinox motor in one of its bikes. When it finally happened on October 13, 2026, the result was not a cautious toe in the water. The new Spectral:ON CF carries the Avinox M2S, the 150 Nm, 1,500 W drive unit, inside a full-carbon frame that tips the scale at a claimed 20.8 kg in its lightest trim. That is a full-power eMTB weighing what many mid-power bikes weighed a year ago.
The Spectral:ON CF 9 geometry is modern in all the expected ways, a 64 degree head angle and a 78.5 degree seat tube. The more interesting story sits one layer down: this single platform now does the job that used to need two separate Canyon models.
One bike where there used to be two
Canyon previously split its mid-travel electric range in half. The full-power Spectral:ON ran a Shimano EP801 motor with a big battery and a heavy chassis. The lighter Spectral:ONfly ran TQ’s HPR50, a quiet, low-torque unit aimed at riders who wanted assistance without the weight. Two frames, two motors, two very different ride experiences, as Singletracks laid out in its launch coverage.
The Avinox M2S collapses that split. A full-power motor that only adds a couple of kilograms over a light-assist system removes the reason to build two bikes. BikeRadar’s first ride made the point that outright power is only one part of what makes a good electric bike, and Canyon seems to agree: the pitch here is a bike that climbs like a full-power machine and descends like a trail bike without the usual weight tax.
The full geometry chart
Canyon offers the Spectral:ON CF in four sizes. The numbers below are the stock mullet configuration (29 inch front, 27.5 inch rear), as published in ebike-mtb’s launch test.
| S | M | L | XL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reach | 445 mm | 470 mm | 495 mm | 520 mm |
| Stack | 634 mm | 642 mm | 650 mm | 659 mm |
| Head angle | 64° | 64° | 64° | 64° |
| Seat angle (eff.) | 78.5° | 78.5° | 78.5° | 78.5° |
| Chainstay | 442 mm | 442 mm | 447 mm | 447 mm |
| BB drop | 14 mm | 14 mm | 14 mm | 14 mm |
| Wheelbase | 1,231 mm | 1,259 mm | 1,293 mm | 1,323 mm |
| Top tube | 574 mm | 601 mm | 627 mm | 654 mm |
| Seat tube | 405 mm | 425 mm | 445 mm | 465 mm |
| Head tube | 117 mm | 125 mm | 135 mm | 145 mm |
Reach runs 445 to 520 in clean 25 mm steps, with the medium at 470 and the large at 495. Stack climbs gently from 634 to 659. The head angle holds at 64 degrees across every size, and the effective seat tube sits at a steep 78.5 degrees everywhere, which is where the modern climbing position lives.
Against the outgoing Shimano-powered Spectral:ON, Canyon slackened the head angle, steepened the seat, and stretched reach by roughly 10 mm across the range, according to CyclingElectric. None of that is radical in 2026. It is the sport’s settled trail-eMTB recipe, applied cleanly. The chart that matters is the one nobody expected to see on a 150 Nm bike: the weight sheet.
Size-specific chainstays, handled with restraint
The outgoing Spectral:ON used one chainstay length for every frame. The new one does not. Small and medium get 442 mm rear ends; large and extra-large step up to 447 mm. Run the full 29 inch rear wheel via the flip chip and each figure grows by 8 mm, with the rear axle rising about 20 mm.
This matters because it is a different answer than most of the recent launches this site has covered. Kona kept the Remote 160 on a single 445 mm chainstay for all sizes, and Cube ran one fixed 439 mm rear across the entire new Stereo range. At the other extreme, the Yeti MT grows its chainstays 16 mm from the smallest size to the largest. Canyon splits the difference. Two lengths, a 5 mm gap, applied only at the top half of the size run.
The logic is sound. The jump from large to extra-large is where a fixed rear end hurts most, because the front of the bike keeps growing while the back stays put, and the rider drifts toward the rear wheel. A single 5 mm step keeps the XL’s weight distribution closer to the medium’s than a one-length chart would. It is a conservative version of size-specific geometry, not the full per-size treatment, but it targets the size where it counts.
A high bottom bracket for a reason
The number on the chart that will catch experienced eyes is the 14 mm bottom bracket drop. That is high for a bike with 155 mm of rear travel. Most trail bikes in this travel bracket sit at 25 to 35 mm of drop.
On a mullet eMTB, that choice makes sense. The smaller 27.5 inch rear wheel lowers the back of the bike, so a shallower drop keeps the bottom bracket height sensible and preserves pedal clearance, which matters more on an electric bike because riders pedal through rougher, more technical lines under power. The flip side is a slightly taller, less planted feel than a deep-drop bike. Whether that reads as lively or tall depends on the rider, and it is worth a test ride rather than a verdict from the chart.
Travel is 160 mm up front and 155 mm at the rear, with Canyon approving up to a 170 mm fork and a longer-stroke shock that adds 6 mm out back. The frame is rated Category 4e, Canyon’s enduro durability tier, so the chassis is built to take more than its stock travel suggests.
20.8 kg with 150 Nm is the real headline
Full-power eMTBs with 150 Nm motors and 700 to 800 Wh batteries have generally lived in the 24 to 26 kg range. The Spectral:ON CF LTD claims 20.8 kg. The volume CF 9, in size medium, comes in at a still-impressive 21.7 kg on a 2.93 kg carbon frame.
That weight comes from the Avinox M2S package. The motor and its FP700 battery are compact and light for the output they deliver, which is the entire reason DJI’s drive system has reshaped the full-power category this year. The M2S puts out up to 1,500 W of peak power and 150 Nm of torque, and Canyon quotes a range of up to 150 km and an 80 percent charge in about 76 minutes with the optional fast charger.
Riders who have followed this site’s breakdown of eMTB motors and drive systems will recognize the M2S from the Amflow PR and the Ari Wire Peak 3.0. What Canyon adds is packaging discipline: the same motor, in a lighter, more mainstream trail bike. For anyone still weighing whether to prioritize the drive system or the chassis, the Spectral:ON is Canyon’s argument that you no longer have to choose.
Builds and pricing
The CF 9 is the launch model, priced at 6,999 euros, 6,699 pounds, and 9,499 US dollars. It rolls with a Fox 36 Factory fork (GRIP X2 damper), a Fox Float X Factory shock, SRAM’s wireless X0 AXS drivetrain, SRAM Maven Silver four-piston brakes, DT Swiss HXC 1700 wheels, and Maxxis Minion DHR rubber. That is a complete, no-excuses enduro-trail build at a price that undercuts most carbon full-power competitors.
Three more models follow between November 2026 and January 2027: a CF 7, a CF 8, and the limited 150-unit CF LTD that carries the 20.8 kg claim. Pre-orders open December 4, 2026, per Canyon’s press materials, with deliveries from January 19, 2027.
The tall-rider read on the XL
At 6 feet 4 inches, I read every chart from the top down, and the XL here is genuinely built for a big rider rather than scaled up as an afterthought. A 520 mm reach and 659 mm stack give real room, the 1,323 mm wheelbase is long enough to feel calm at speed, and the 447 mm chainstay keeps the rear from feeling stranded behind a long front end. That last point is exactly what the size-specific chainstay buys you. An XL on a fixed 442 mm rear would feel distinctly more rearward.
The one caveat is that 5 mm is a modest correction. Riders at the very top of the height range, or anyone who likes to weight the front aggressively, may still want to think about the longer 29er chainstay setting, which pushes the XL rear to 455 mm. The flip chip that changes wheel size is doing double duty as a weight-distribution lever, and on the biggest frame that is worth experimenting with.
Canyon has not released bottom bracket height or standover for every configuration yet, so the deepest analysis will wait for the full chart. What is already clear is the shape of the decision: a 20.8 kg full-power trail bike with a sorted modern chart and Canyon’s first properly size-tuned rear end. For a brand that sat out the first Avinox wave, that is a confident way to arrive late.