Last Summer I posted my unboxing of the 2021 Canyon Neuron 6. To date, that video has over 20,000 views – which tells me there’s plenty of riders, who wanted to know whether or not the Neuron is the bike for them.
Well I’ve now been riding it for about a year, this time on 5MR I’ll share what I really think, now that I’ve put some good milage on the Canyon Neuron 6.
If you’ve been watching my channel, you’ve seen me give this bike a serious run for its money with fun stuff like this, this, this, and more… And it’s seen its fair share of not so fun crashes too.
The Neuron 6 is the entry level AL model. At the time, I did consider the AL7 but budget conscious, I decided to save a little. Of course over the past year I’ve made a few mods, and spent the extra dollars anyway, but I haven’t necessarily turned my Neuron 6 into a 7. I’ll share the mods I’ve made in detail soon.
After my Greenvalleys video, some people were surprised by my riding, leaving comments like “wow, all this on a Neuron!” Yes, 130mm travel front and rear is a trail bike. Not an Enduro bike and not XC. But somewhere in between is quite perfect for the diverse range of trails I ride. I only have room for 1 bike, so a do it all mountain bike is what I needed. And from technical trails with rocky climbs, to jumps, drops and flowy downhill – the Neuron has been my faithful steed.
It’s a comfortable bike. It pedals up and down easily, the dropper post is super convenient, and the Canyon frame is clearly a sturdy build. And I’ve enjoyed riding it.
I have however made a few modifications over the past year.
First up, the Iridium saddle it comes with is just painful, and I immediately swapped it out for the much more comfortable Giant Connect Upright saddle taken from my previous bike. Now, I get that this is fairly personal, so not everyone will feel the same. But for me, I wasn’t going to let it be a pain in my arse, litterly. The only thing was that the Giant Connect saddle off my old bike was red and black and I hated the way it looked on my new black and silver Canyon, so I actually re-purchased another Giant Connect saddle with matching colours.
My second mod was to go tubeless. Thankfully the bike comes tubeless ready so it was an easy upgrade and I’ve not had a single puncture in 12 months of riding. Very well worth the upgrade and as a bonus, according to science, going tubeless also lowers the rotational mass of the wheels, effectively reducing the weight of the bike when in motion. Yes, it’s a thing… Google it!
My third mod was by force rather than choice. I put the One Up Components alloy pedals on the bike (which I’m very happy with) but I didn’t tighten them properly and on my second ride I smashed a pedal against a rock, tearing the thread out from within the crank arm. So less than a week into ownership and I was already footing the bill for new cranks. Lesson learned, get someone who knows what they’re doing to put your pedals on!
Back when I was selecting the size, I found myself on the cusp of medium and large. Once I started riding, I knew the large was right, but the reach always seemed just a tiny bit too far. Luckily Santa solved that for me at Christmas with a Nukeproof 50mm stem and a 25mm carbon riser bars. That small change made a huge difference to my overall comfort when out on the trails.
And finally, my most recent upgrade was the Rockshox 35 Gold 150mm travel fork. Yes, I decided at the 1yr mark to increase the travel. Only a few days ago I had Dan the mobile Trail Mechanic around at my house to take care of the install, and that afternoon I was crushing rocks on a few of my favorite single tracks. So far, so good. I did some research prior and a few others had also said they liked the upgrade. This mod, does slightly change the geometry by increasing the headtube angle, although still leaves the bike in the trail category. The front end is a little lighter and the burlier fork is more rigid on the rough stuff. Apparently with the Neuron 7, the travel on the Fox fork can be altered without changing it out for another fork but, not so with the Rockshox Judy on the Neuron 6. And a comment from a much heavier rider than I who had done the travel increase with a Neuron 7 was that he didn’t like how unweighted he felt the bike became. I on the other hand at only 70kgs, really liked the feel as hopping over big rocks became a lot easier.
So, what’s the overall verdict then on the Canyon Neuron 6? Well, after putting it through its paces, it’s definitely stood the fun test, stood the strength test, and continues to ride like the day UPS knocked on my door.
I love this bike. And if you’re looking for a value for money, all round dual suspension trail bike, then I’m sure you will too.
Thanks for watching. If you haven’t already, please check out my other videos and remember to like and subscribe for more 5MR.
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