An Epic Trail Riding Weekend In The Tweed Valley | Canyon Spectral:ONfly First Look

[Music] when it comes to talking about e bikes it's usually about more more power more range more watts more torque more everything including weight which means that some ebikes can feel more freight train than featherweight so what if you want more laps with more of a conventional Mount might look and feel with a more natural pedal assist say hello to the brand new Canyon spectral on fly Canyon's latest lightweight e mountain bike and more which they claim it's the most natural feeling E tril Bike on the market thanks to Canyon then we're here in the Tweed Valley to see what it's all about [Music] even before it achieved worldwide Fame by becoming a stop on the ews calendar the Tweed Valley was known for its incredible network of trails spread across the valley sides are a wide array of prime single track lines so many in fact that it's easy to come away from a trip there feeling like you've barely scratch the surface here we are then Neil some of the Tweed Valley's finest behind us we're going for a bit of a weekend Jolly to have a a good time and we're aboard this weapon the brand new Canyon spectral on fly yeah I've spent a lot of time here over the years racing down and inur actually but I've never been here for a LLY rise I'm excited so let's get out the valley and into the hills and see what we can find all right let's do it at first glance in lethan looks like most other towns dotted around the Scottish borders a mix of local and independent shops along the High Street with pubs restaurants and hotels to cater for those stopping by look a little closer though and you'll start to notice some differences sitting here outside a cafe you don't have to wait long before you notice a steady stream of mountain bikers passing by follow those bikes as they wind through the streets of in lean and you'll find them heading out the town's winding streets onto lethan Road after an easy spin they end up at inner lean's Golf Club looming large above the golf club is ciston Forest or the golfy as it's known to most [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pretty chunky that wasn't it righty good good climb to start the day that what's up good 400 odd meters 417 it's quite you could say is a fairway up the hill come more was any hole in ones holes in these Trails hole in one any more jokes no please no bunkers I not but look we got some uh pretty iconic Trails kicking off from up here white rich Dances with Wolves that's Kevin C film is it it's a trail as well pretty iconic Trails up here apparently yeah it is it's dreamy is it it's fair it's nice to be up in not racing yeah that's true I've never been yeah it's Nic just to come up a bit of a blast we've heard from some locals that New York New York is the is running well today so the trail so nice they named it twice Big Apple here we come [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] let's take a closer look at the bikes we're riding here this weekend uh so from the silhouette of this bike it's almost identical to the canyon spectral that came out last year and that has in part down to the really small TQ hp50 motor that's in this bike but also the really Slimline 360w battery that's in that D tube couple that with the TQ HMI display that's mounted completely flush in the top tube and you find it really hard to know that this bike has got 50 newm of torque on tap to get us back up these not unsubstantial Hills here in the borders obviously we're on a bigger Mission today well this weekend so we've got the range extenders which is 160 W hours there which goes in place of a 600 or 850ml water bottle which Canon offer but obviously we've got the camel backs on for the hydration this weekend CU we need the bigger battery it's got 150 mil of rear travel 160 up front front which makes it super capable as does the mix wheel size as well the GE numbers all tie into this too to really get that trail bike feel the canyon designed into this bike the bike is speced to keep it firmly in that category too so this bike is just over 18 kg which is only just a couple more kilog than the unpowered spectral CF also interesting to note this bike features the canyon kis short foot keep it stable it's this adjustable steering stabilizer on the top tube that actually Canyon say is supposed to help with front wheel deflections give more predictable handling and make this bik more stable at speed we're talking ebikes here as well so actually interestingly it can help a bit on the uphills as well because on trail bikes or any bikes with slightly slacker hand angles you can't even get this wheel flop from side to side so you can keep it in the center as well really easy to adjust from minimum to maximum with a couple turns the Allen key you can also remove it as well put a blanking plate on there if you don't fancy it [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the quick stop for lunch in the town of in lethan we headed to the south side of the valley where some legendary downhill tracks are located [Music] hell of a climb that one now I after lunch yeah my legs felt in fact I was in Turbo then to be fair the last bit 100% that last bit got pretty steep y we're happy I've been here I raced here almost 30 years you believe it or not don't look old enough do I uh Neil I reckon there are trees younger than you up here I'm sure there are I don't remember these trees being so we got a choice of as quite a few um Matador I believe is one rings a bell I cannot remember what it's like but they're all fun there's a lot of good tracks up here they do and I remember the ropey start Hut yeah some dark memories from I reckon between us we got God knows how many he runs here but yeah ex Ally 4 400 p.m. now so it's about time we got down this hill I reckon we Ram now or later preferably at the bottom but you never know right talo [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] thank you good oh lovely Tumbl all that is tidy right let's good for congestion is it air on your chest nice have you [Applause] not all right Rich what you think the Tweed Valley so far yeah mate so far so good it's a new dawn it's a new day I love dinners yesterday we're only about an hour down the road from Edinburgh so uh there's a lot of people can come and ride here but also it's pretty welcoming for visitors as well W welcoming the when Mel Gibson was roaming around love movie reference you yeah it's all right I mean we're down by the river Tweed a and uh do you know what this place is immaculate and it it's lovely we're off to Glenn trest today to do some MPS yeah I mean we only scratched surface of the golfie yesterday I had people on Instagram that found out we were here and telling me trail names I didn't even see on the map yeah it's a huge area but you know Glen trest now host of XC World Champs last year yeah multiple ewss exactly and as you sort of said the flagship of the seven stains Trail centers yes so tell me about that that seven Trail centers and what's the what's the stains bit that's it so stains is Scottish for Stones so each of the seven Trail centers has a stain a stone essentially carved uh which is a local myth or Legend I believe it's pretty cool yeah they're quite spooky if you see them at night I've done them is unknowing but anyway should we crack on for the day let's go grab a cup of tea maybe plan a little route and check out the bikes keep your eyes peeled for King Fishers down here whilst we're going and otters but did you know otter are nocturnal so unlikely to see one and do they use cyclopaths I have seen one in the middle of the road F enough walking along the middle of night but know walking his king fisher fair [Music] [Applause] [Music] enough it definitely feels like is a riding scene here Rich you know how I know that cuz when people move here yeah mountain bikers move to live here cuz they're riding that's when you know the standard of Trail is good enough right when and the commitment to sort of the local scene is when people are willing to live here purely for the riding I mean that's quite cool what you thinking about the bike Rich yeah I like it so mixed wheel size is a pleasant surprise uh TQ motor on it lovely taking the edge off at his climbs yesterday on it some people did not notice you were on an EB they didn't yeah one guy's like oh why is why you on the electric one and why have you drawn the short STW I like no look there's a motor there he's like no way yeah Road and pretty techy stuff yesterday it it just feels pretty light it feels like some of those bits I was kind of having to you know like maneuver up and round like big routs on the side of SCA yeah pretty Tech yeah yeah I think I I would actually really like now to ride my normal spectr on this one back to Tob back I think it quite interesting I was definitely uh I put up full power on some of those last climbs yesterday it was nice to have the extra yeah towards the end of the day yeah it was hard work but yeah like I said the little Motor 50 newm just took the edge off of things so that was that was always a bonus but um still get a workout though always going to love that workout more workout to come I suppose I've not ridden here for a long time so we'll uh there's loads and loads of different options for where we want to ride but should we free a little bit yeah I think so mix it up yesterday was very natural so should we go a bit bit more manicur to start y Cruise our way up see how we go nice [Music] traveling fairly light and fast this weekend so I have got my C back mu Evo but um not that much in it the weather forecast is good believe it or not so I don't actually have a spare coat I do have a layer underneath my jersey but um yeah not supposed to rain today but obviously we're not going too far away from the van anyway but uh obviously I'm running the the battery extender so I've got my water in there packing about a liter and a half for a long day out on the trails got my GoPro chesty as ever jelly babies they are getting cracked open any second now and then just some simple spares really I've got a CO2 canister running tubus got some plugs in there and I got a multi-tool so um enough to get him out of emergency but you know nothing very thorough I say I always carry a chain tool so particular e bikes if you do have a problem if you snap a chain need to be able to fix that if you're right back you don't want to be pushing the bike out in the middle of nowhere so always make sure a chain tool if I'm going a bit Epic on an ebike la la la la [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Neil heck of a couple of days riding eh well it I think you need a Year's worth of weekends to even work out where the trails are in this place so much going on yeah definitely Canyon's kind of set out if you like to make an ebike feel as much like a mountain bike as possible I don't think they're a million miles off does feel like a trail bike isn't it the weights are so comparable to like an Enduro bike or something anyway and it's nice to have the bit of a Tailwind nothing crazy but you know I was bumping up to higher power Motes when I needed it especially on the technical climbs where I really feel like you do need a bit of extra o to get up them too right it takes a sting out the tail of these climbs yeah yeah and like I said they're So Undercover as well but yeah like I said that guy actually thought I was on a on a normal bike so yeah I've loved it I want to come back do it again maybe maybe this time next year we'll come and do some more laps more summary that's not bad it's done all right Scotland is it it's true it's to be expected all right look let us know in the comments down below what do you think of this kind of super lightweight Sleek looking breed of ebikes the new spectral onfly is it for you yeah who knows hope you enjoy watching I think we shall head for a cup of tea see you