Which is just as well, because last week, the folks at German online-only direct-to-consumer bike manufacturer Canyon, sent me a brand-spanking new race bike to put through its paces. .

This bike is built on Canyon’s Ultimate CF SLX frame, which it positions as its top-flight, pro-level platform.

From riding the bike, it’s evidently clear that it’s a very stiff and light bike.

The later part of the bike’s name — the Disc eTap 8.0 bit — tells us this bike has disc brakes, SRAM’s wireless electronic gear shifting, eTap, and where it sits in Canyon’s lineup in terms of spec level.

As you’d expect for a €5,499 bike (around $6,000), the Canyon is almost exclusively made from carbon fiber.

At the top end of the road bike world, electronic shifting is all the rage right now.

After riding the Canyon, it’s easy to understand why. .

Many others claim a similarly noisy drivetrain on this particular groupset, it’s not exclusive to Canyon.

And if I compare my first to last ride on the Canyon, I’d say it looks like it’s going that way.

It might just need to “bed in.” But for what it’s worth, I’ve never experienced this kind of immediate noise with other groupset brands, or even other groupsets from SRAM for that matter.

To be totally clear, it didn’t sound worrying, or like the chain was going to jump or skip, it was just usual, average, standard, typical chain noise, just amplified. .

But this is literally the only mildly concerning thing to write about right now, and it’s not even that much of an issue once you get riding and have the wind rushing over your ears.

The paint job — which Canyon calls Blue Tinted — is just gorgeous. .

Don’t get me wrong, you still know that you’re riding a stiff race bike down a crap road, but compared to entry-level bikes, it performs noticeably better. .

And if I had to put my finger one what I love most about this bike, it’s how it handles.

All in all, Canyon has put together a package that just works, without really making the rider know about it.

Think of it this way, the Canyon is like a high-end sports car, that you could use every day.

But for what it’s worth, I quite like their shape.

Something else to bear in mind, with not just this bike, but expensive bikes in general, is running costs.

I say non-standard, it’s somewhat of a standard in the mountain bike world, but it does make choosing spare or replacement wheels a bit more of a headache than it used to be. .

Let me make it clear, this is an aggressive race bike, so when I say it’s smooth, and comfortable, this is in the context of other aggressive race bikes!

If you’re really worried about comfort, it’s not that I’d say this Canyon isn’t for you, it’s that race bikes probably aren’t for you.

Then I’d say this bike is probably a tad aggressive. 

Sure the Canyon is a mightily expensive bike, but it leaves virtually no stone unturned in the pursuit of performance

While it’s not the absolute top-level bike in Canyon’s line up, for the average rider, who is probably carrying a bit of extra timber themselves — let’s be honest — there is no real need to buy more than this. But if you’re a privateer racer, this could give you winning edge for less cash than the competition

As I mentioned at the top, Canyon are online and sell direct-to-consumer, meaning you don’t really get a chance to see your bike before buying it

If I was a successful racer that actually won money by racing my bike I would easily be able to justify owning a bike like the Canyon

The harsh reality though, is that it’s a far better bike than most of us will ever be cyclists