Canyon’s Torque first grabbed my attention as a 27.5in wheeled freeride pedal bike a few years back. Ready to hit massive jumps and whip down the best bike parks, it felt a bit like a motocross bike without an engine, and I loved it. Well, with a 600w peak power Shimano drive unit, this latest Torque:ON might just be that bike with an actual engine – it's definitely up there with the best electric mountain bikes.
The electric Torque is such a big hitter, I heard on the grapevine that Canyon Collective team manager, Fabien Barel, has been timing runs with it against the German brand’s Sender DH rig with surprisingly close results. On some of the hardest tracks used for off-season team camps, Fabien was apparently consistently clocking within a second per minute off Canyon’s latest factory-tuned DH bike. And that’s on a bike with 175mm rear and 180mm front travel, rather than 200mm at each end on some of the rockiest test tracks in Europe. Blimey!
