When most bike brands tease the release of a new model, they send a press release. Canyon, however, has LeBron James. As a global NBA superstar and an investor in the bike brand, LeBron can generate more hype with a single Instagram post than any media rollout. And that’s precisely what seems to be happening as an intriguing, but very vague, reel popped up on LeBron’s Instagram this week, captioned, “Canyon always keeping my bikes looking and feeling good! They got another one on the way I can’t wait to show y’all.”
While the clip isn’t nearly as clear or informative as one of Jamie Williams’ deep-dive productions on our Cycling Weekly YouTube channel, that certainly won’t stop us from speculating wildly about what Canyon might be teasing.
The video starts with James pedalling along a dark street, pulling up to the steps of a house. The cuts reveal a RockShox Pike fork and the rear end and head tube of what appears to be a Canyon Neuron CF7 or CF9 OnFly e-bike. This, however, is old footage, previously seen at the launch of the "Find Your Freedom" campaign.
Then the teasing really begins. The clip glitches to a darkened, studio-shot silhouette of what appears to be a road or gravel bike. A close-up shot then reveals a white Canyon downtube and some knobby tyres, followed by a rapid cut to a custom, basketball-themed logo and the nomenclature ‘R126’ – the same code found on the seat tube of the current Grizl gravel bike.
Taken together, these clues strongly suggest that an LBJ special edition Grizl could be on the way. But whether it will be a Bosch-powered OnFly e-bike or an Eclips-lit model is still unclear. The silhouette doesn’t show a Bosch drive system, but that could also be legacy footage or, even, a deliberate misdirection.
Alternatively, perhaps if that’s not salacious enough, can we dare dream that a rear-suspended, drop-bar bike is coming – a hybrid of both models?
Who knows. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
