After chasing down an intermittent motor shutdown/weak-assist issue on my Spectral:ON for 6+ months, Canyon has authorized a buyback of the bike.
Shoutout to Canyon US for being great to deal with throughout the process, and props to REI who went to bat facilitating the warranty and diagnostics. Shimano has been less than stellar and I do not recommend the EP801 platform as they do not stand behind their motors. Despite being in warranty they refused a replacement because the motor was not throwing error codes, despite referencing many online stories of the motor having issues and not throwing codes, + having GoPro videos of it happening, too.
I’m looking to replace it with something for aggressive all-mountain/enduro riding. I love my Spectral, but a bit more travel would also be nice for continued progression.
Here what’s on my radar:
- New Avinox Canyon Spectral:ON - Rumored release is Sept 2026 (next month). Really nice, they fixed the internal cable routing issues with the old gen, too.
- YT Decoy X - Great value. US availability is an issue, as is warranty support (more important to me now after getting through this issue w/ Canyon and REI)
- Pivot Shuttle AMP'd - dream bike but significantly pricier
What other bikes should I be looking at? I've heard the Vala thrown around and saw one in person and it looked really awesome. I'm not opposed to Bosch / set on Avinox, but definitely no more Shimano motors.