By Oscar Huckle

Published: Wednesday, 11 January 2023 at 12:00 am

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Although the days are slowly starting to grow longer in the UK, we’re still deep into the winter season.

It seems appropriate, then, that our latest Bike of the Week is the Canyon Grail AL 7 AW, an ‘all-weather’ version of the brand’s Grail AL.

Canyon has paired the bike’s aluminium frame with mudguards, Lupine bike lights and a top tube storage bag to make winter riding more comfortable.

Could the Canyon Grail 7 AW be the ultimate winter gravel bike? Let’s take a closer look.

A workhorse frame

At the centre of the Canyon Grail 7 AW is a 6061 aluminium frame, painted in a ‘Sand’ colourway, and full-carbon fork.

The frameset fits 12mm thru-axles and flat-mount disc brakes, and has plenty of mounts, making the bike versatile for many purposes, such as bikepacking or commuting.

There are three bottle cage locations, the third being under the down tube towards the bottom bracket junction. The down tube bottle cage features three bolts, so you can alter the position of the cage.

Kaden Gardener / Our Media

The Grail AL frame is designed to fit a press-fit B86 bottom bracket, which Canyon has previously described as creating a “better pedalling platform for rapid acceleration”.

Canyon specs a thread-together Token Ninja Lite BB4124 bottom bracket rather than a typical Shimano BB86.

Kaden Gardener / Our Media

The Grail AL runs on 700c gravel wheels, although the 2XS and XS sizes use 650b wheels.

In this build with mudguards, the Grail AL can fit gravel bike tyres up to 40mm wide. However, without mudguards, the frame can fit tyres up to 42mm.

What is Bike of the Week?

Every fortnight, we’ll bring you a detailed first look at one of the latest bikes (or framesets) to arrive at BikeRadar HQ – from road to commuting, gravel to enduro, and anything in between.

This is our chance to introduce the bike and everything that makes it unique before hitting the road or trails.

Head to our Bike of the Week hub for previous editions.

Trusty components for winter riding

Kaden Gardener / Our Media

The Canyon Grail AL 7 AW retails for £1,999 / €1,999 and has a mix of hard-wearing and trusty components for winter riding, alongside its lights, mudguards and top tube bag.

The bike’s groupset uses a mix of Shimano GRX components. It has a GRX RX812 rear derailleur alongside GRX RX600 cranks and shifters. The bike has a 1x drivetrain with a 40-tooth front chainring and an 11-42 cassette.

Kaden Gardener / Our Media

The Grail 7 AW spins on DT Swiss Gravel LN wheels, shod with 40mm-wide Continental Terra Trail tyres. Due to availability issues, Canyon says it may send this bike out with comparable Schwalbe G-One Bite tyres.

The bike’s bar and stem are made by Canyon, the V13 aluminium stem is 80mm long and the HB0063 aluminium handlebar is 44cm wide. This is a much more conventional setup than Canyon’s carbon fibre Grail bikes, which have the brand’s double-decker hover bar.

The Canyon SP0043 carbon seatpost will likely add some squish to your ride. Sitting atop the seatpost is a Selle Italia Model X saddle, which Canyon says is hard-wearing and comfortable.

Canyon’s CLite mudguards should protect both the bike and rider from the majority of road spray or mud.

The bike comes fitted with Lupine SL Nano AF and C14 bike lights. The SL Nano AF front light has a 1,100-lumen maximum output and is StVZO-compliant. The rear light emits up to 45 lumens and there’s a switch mounted to the handlebar to control them remotely.

Canyon’s Load waterproof top tube bag should provide a suitable space for storing energy bars or gels and features a cable outlet for the lights’ battery pack.

Kaden Gardener / Our Media

In a size medium, the bike weighs 10.47kg without pedals on our scales.

While there is only one dedicated winter build, the Grail AL range starts from £1,499 / €1,499 for the Grail 6, which runs on a Shimano GRX RX400 groupset. The range tops out at £2,299 / €2,299 for a SRAM Rival XPLR eTap AXS build.

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