Canyon Factory Freeride Team Aced 2016

The Canyon Factory Freeride Team finished the season with a bang, bringing home gold with the 2016 FMB Factory Team World Championship Title.

Factory teams must register a minimum of 2 athletes. Each athlete can contribute a maximum of 3 results and the final team score is the total of the best six results. This year, Thomas Genon (BEL) and Tomas Lemoine (FRA) each secured top ranks at different FMB Events and showcased their top level riding as well as unified team spirit.

Thanks to top performances by Thomas Genon and Tomas Lemoine for their manufacturer, based in Koblenz, Germany, the team beat their competitors and can proudly celebrate their team efforts. In addition to Thomas and Tomas, the Canyon Factory Freeride Team 2016 lineup consisted of three other members, including Anton Thelander (SWE), Darren Berrecloth (CAN) and Peter Henke (GER).

Tomas Lemoine: “The fact that we won the FMB Factory Team Ranking, shows me once again that our team is perfect. Each and every one of us is so stoked to ride for such a sick brand like Canyon. Personally I just tried to do my best during every event and I feel the same vibes go for everyone in the team. We will continue to train and give our best.”

Thomas Genon: “I have known my teammates for a very long time and we are super stoked to ride together. Everyone did great this season and now we´re all going to spend the winter riding, training and improving the things that didn´t work out this season.”

Sports Director MTB at Canyon, Florian Goral: “Our athletes can choose from a range of bikes, which have been developed by the engineers, being as close as possible to the riders. When we created the team back in 2013, it was our intention to build the best bikes possible. We started from scratch and have been listening to all their needs right from the beginning. Winning contests is the logical proof of pure talent combined with excellent material.”

Congratulations to the Canyon Factory Freeride Team and good luck for the next season.

About Canyon Bicycles

Canyon was founded in 1985 as Radsport Arnold and was officially renamed Canyon Bicycles GmbH in 2001. Bikes have been sold under the Canyon name since 1996. Everything from product development, assembly and direct sales of their mountain bikes, road bikes and triathlon bikes in addition to accessories and clothing takes place in Koblenz, Germany. Canyon employs its own engineers, composites experts, designers and quality controllers to ensure in-house quality management of the highest level. Canyon counts a number of prestigious design awards, reader’s choice awards and hundreds of test victories carried out by international publications to its successes.

www.canyon.com

2016 Canyon Sender

Your line is the difference between the podium and no man’s land. Blazing trail through a rock garden, hitting that hidden transfer or cutting the corner everyone is railing, piecing together the perfect run is an art form. To make it happen, we set out to create the ultimate downhill bike with geometry configured for absolute control, suspension that builds momentum on track and a construction that leaves no doubts in your mind.

This is where we Draw The Line.

The all-new Sender CF.

Canyon Sender Geometry

Kinematics

When developing the Sender’s four-bar suspension system we set out to create the perfect mix of three interlocking characteristics: anti-squat, pedal kickback and anti-rise. Finding the sweetspot for all three results in a system that delivers efficiency, control and builds momentum on track.

Inspired by motocross setups, our all-new MX Link enables us to tune the shock leverage ratio independent of any other factors.

The combination of our MX Link and the latest generation of lightweight, highly adjustable air shocks means we can create the ideal racing suspension setup consisting of three distinct phases.

Triple Phase Suspension

Phase 1: Air shocks require more force for activation than coil shocks. The MX Link transmits high power at the start of the stroke to overcome this. The result is outstanding responsiveness, small bump sensitivity and traction around the sag point equal to riding a coil shock.

Phase 2: Lower power through the mid-stroke provides a stable platform to reduce momentum loss. This enables the rider to actively pump for more track speed and make pinpoint line choices.

Phase 3: We combine the progressiveness of air shocks with a moderate progression at the end of the stroke to avoid blowing through the travel and give the suspension its bottomless feel.

Geo Tune

No two tracks are the same, but Geo Tune means you can transform the Sender’s geometry to match the terrain. For tracks that are either faster and steeper, or flatter and twistier, standard 63° headset cups can be swapped out for eccentric cups that enable a slacker 62° or steeper 64°. Chainstay length is also easy to adjust to suit both course and riding style. Where tight corners make all the difference, the shorter 430 mm setting provides a rapid responding rear end. If high speed is what it takes, the longer 466 mm setting increases stability.

Canyon Sender 9 CF

Canyon Sender 9 Build Kit

Canyon Sender 9 CF

Canyon Sender 8 Build Kit

Canyon Sender 7

Canyon Sender 7 Build Kit

CANYON SENDER

Canyon Welcomes Freeride Legend Darren Berrecloth

It’s official. Darren Berrecloth, one of the seminal names in freeriding, now rides for Canyon. If there’s anyone out there who needs no introduction, it’s Darren. As part of the Canyon Factory Freeride Team, the Claw will add experience to the setup unmatched by anybody else on the circuit.

“At my first meeting with the guys from Canyon, I immediately felt like I would be welcomed into a family. From that point on Canyon was my top pick for a brand to partner with. Everyone I’ve met has been laid back and easy going, and we’ve got some big plans I can’t wait to get started with.” – Darren Berrecloth

“With Darren on board we’re super lucky to have another one of the biggest names in the sport riding for us. Few riders out there compare to Darren when you look at what he’s done for mountain biking. Freeriding is what it is today because of him. He’s an inspiration to so many riders and we’ve now got the chance to showcase all his experience and talent. There are so many cool ideas flying around right now that we cannot wait to make happen together.” – CFFT Manager, Flo Goral.  

It all kicks off this weekend. Darren is busy prepping lines to ride on his new Torque DHX at the 2015 Red Bull Rampage, where he will make his official Canyon debut.

Canyon was founded in 1985 as Radsport Arnold and was officially renamed Canyon Bicycles GmbH in 2001. Bikes have been sold under the Canyon name since 1996. Everything from product development, assembly and direct sales of their mountain bikes, road bikes and triathlon bikes in addition to accessories and clothing takes place in Koblenz, Germany. In 2015 will introduce a range of Fitness and Urban bikes for the first time. Canyon employs its own engineers, composites experts, designers and quality controllers to ensure in-house quality management of the highest level. In recent years Canyon has been named several times as the most sought-after mountain bike and road bike brand throughout German-speaking countries. Canyon has numerous awards to its name, including the German Design Award.

CANYON FACTORY FREERIDE TEAM LAYS IT DOWN IN BIG FIRST YEAR

KOBLENZ, 25th November 2014 — The Canyon Factory Freeride Team definitely did not fly under the radar in its debut season. Packed full of huge tricks, buckets of style and a couple of crashes along the way, the team competed in the world’s biggest contests, filmed a new edit and shot in epic locations to make their first year together one to remember.

Thomas Genon (BEL), Anton Thelander (SWE) and Peter Henke (GER) kicked the season off back in February with a roadtrip to ride and shoot together on the iconic red dirt at Terre Rouge, France. Later in spring, Pete hosted Thomas and Anton at his local spot in Germany to produce the team’s first ever edit, “Hashtag Goodtimes”. The film is just a taste of what’s to come and showcases the riders’ huge talent and unique styles. To coincide with the release Canyon launched the long-awaited “Stitched”. The guys were heavily involved in the development of the bike and spent hours with the engineers at Canyon testing out new ideas until they finally came up with the ultimate dirt jump setup.

When the 2014 FMB World Tour kicked off, Canyon Factory Freeride Team shot straight to the top of the rankings with impressive results in the early season contests. The guys held their lead for weeks until injury took Anton (broken collarbone) and Pete (cracked rib) out of the game. That left Thomas to go at it alone in a way that only he could, racking up four wins and four further podium spots across the season to finish fourth overall in the FMB Diamond Series. The guys also took a solid third spot in the FMB Factory Team rankings. When back at full strength next year, they’ll be gunning right for the top.

We caught up with the riders and Team Supervisor, Flo Goral, to find out what they had to say about 2014: 

How was your first season as part of the Canyon Factory Freeride Team?

Flo: The season was full of ups and downs in every sense. With Pete now on board, we probably have the strongest slopestyle line up out there. What’s even better is to see that the boys don’t just work together well on paper but also hang out all the time and always push each other on. After a solid start bad luck struck and took out two of our riders. That was a real downer but the guys are recovering well. It’s just cool that we were able to create the Canyon Factory Freeride Team and we are now mixing it up with the world’s best.

Thomas: It was good but unfortunately my teammates were injured in the contest season. We still managed to shoot a video and that was pretty cool!

Anton: It was awesome. I mean, it's really cool to be a part of such a huge brand like Canyon and it feels great that they believe in us and in everything we do.

Pete: I think we make a great team and we get on really well. We always have a great time training and going to contests together. In past years I was basically always riding alone.

What do you think about your own performance?

Thomas: I rode a lot in the winter and felt good on my bike during the year. I am happy with the progression I accomplished compared to last year. The first half of the season went so well for me. I had some trouble in between when I left Europe but I am going to work on that for 2015.

Anton: I'm happy with my performances at the beginning of the year but then unfortunately I got injured and missed a lot of the season.

Pete: From a rider’s point of view this season did not work out quite the way I imagined it. I was injured quite often and could not show my best at the contests. In terms of media and other stuff it was a really exciting year. I participated in the series “Wild Ones” for German TV. That was fun and I’d like to do more things like it in the future.

How did you deal with your injuries and what did you learn from them?

Anton: Injuries can come at any time but they happen most often when you ride tired or after a lot of riding. It was definitely hard for me to sit on the sidelines at events but I still enjoyed supporting my friends and teammates. I focused on taking it easy to let my body heal up and regain strength for rehab training. We were really lucky with the weather this summer in Sweden, so I spent a lot of time with my family and hung out at the beach.

Pete: We all know that injuries are a part of our sport, but it's still not cool if you miss important contests. I distracted myself with other things, but after two weeks I just wanted to get back on my bike. In my case, I was too eager and began riding too soon which then delayed my recovery even more. Our sport is demanding, you have to be patient and recover from your injuries completely before riding again. It certainly helps to draw motivation from your break. It is a good opportunity to pay attention to your body and recognize your weaknesses so you can develop them and come back stronger than before.

What’s the plan for 2015? What are you going to target next year?

Flo: Third in the FMB Factory Team Ranking was definitely not too bad, but with full manpower we can do even better. First of all I hope that Thomas, Anton and Pete stay fit and healthy. Of course injuries are a part of this sport, but I am sure the boys learnt some stuff this year. Now in the off-season we will be focusing on physical training and overall fitness so that when next season comes we are ready. I can’t wait to see them ride the first contests in 2015.

Thomas: Hopefully I can develop my weaker areas and strengthen the things I’m good at. I want to stay injury-free and have as much fun as possible.

Anton: I'm really excited for next season since I missed a big part of it this year. I think 2015 is going to be great. I can't wait!

Pete: I’m not going to do as many contests early on in the year. I’ve got a couple of big film projects lined up which are going to take up a lot of time so I want to commit to those, but I don’t want to give too much away just yet. We’ve got loads of backing from the sponsors so they’re going to be pretty awesome… I’ll be back doing contests again in May, but I’ve done so many over the last couple of years so it will be cool to have the chance to do some other projects, just not right in the middle of the season though. Going on roadtrips, travelling with my team and getting some filming done, that’s what I look forward to the most, being able to see the world a little beyond the same contests each year. Now I have the chance to do that so I really want to make the most of it.

Anyone who can’t wait for the 2015 season to start should (re-)watch their edit “Hashtag Goodtimes”: http://youtu.be/cw9bGdrkzwk         

More information about the Canyon Factory Freeride Team can be found on the CFFT Website and on Facebook.