Review: Canyon Sender vs Specialized Demo vs Cube Two15 vs Commencal Supreme - DH Bike Week

Rumours and forums are rife with comments on the decline of downhill bikes. And to these people I put my hands over my ears and say 'la la la.'

Seriously though, while the sales numbers of DH bikes have never been anything to compare to the bread and butter models of the brands, nothing comes close to the feeling of taking a downhill bike straight past the limits of even the most capable enduro bikes and throwing it down a hill with more back-having capabilities to really commit to moves and sections of trail. The ensuing grin plastered on your face, without a doubt, lasting longer than any down country offering could provide from the constant sketchy moments at walking pace.

While 2020 was an extraordinary one for events and racing, it was a pleasure to see World Cup racing return and even in the depths of Autumn and mud-covered hills, along with the bikes, tech equipment and race focussed attitudes that push the DH bike development onwards.

We’ve individually reviewed each of the four bikes but now it’s time to compare them and see which one comes out on top.

There’s a link to each of those reviews just below and in the very close future we’ll also have a new series of Behind the Numbers on these bikes, along with a little cherry on the cake to show how these modern DH bikes compare to a bike of old.

But let’s get into the nitty-gritty of comparing these four bikes - the Specialized Demo Race, Commencal Supreme DH 29 - 27, Canyon Sender CFR and Cube TWO15 HPC SLT.

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The Four Bikes



Specialized Demo Race

The Specialized Demo was given quite the revamp a couple of years ago, with a drastic move away from the company’s old ideals of low progression and activeness being swept away with the onset of increased progression and combating of load transfer. It actually took me quite by surprise as it was such a drastic change compared to their previous bikes and it’s something that’s carried through with the Enduro and now their current generations of bikes. Thumbs up Specialized.

For 2021 Specialized put their all-aluminum mullet bike on sale after spy shots and race wins under the Specialized Gravity riders. But they didn’t leave it fixed as only a mullet bike and included adjustability in the form of chips on the Horst pivot to have a bike capable of either a full 29” or mullet setups, each with a high and low BB position, which does make for a crowded geometry table but is always a welcome addition on a downhill bike to make adjustments to rider preferences and terrain changes.


Also surprising was the lack of Swedish gold on the new mullet bike. As the exclusivity contract came to an end more brands have now specced Öhlins on their bikes and it’s a full RockShox affair on the Demo Race we tested.

The Demo keeps the four bar suspension layout of old, albeit with revised pivot positions, but adds two extra links that then go on to actuate the shock. With the potential for more mechanical pivots from the added links, Specialized chose to make many of the pivots concentric, although this does reduce the amount of kinematic adjustability that the development team could exploit.

A lot of the marketing blurb from Specialized revolves around axle path, and while they might be right in saying that it is more rearward in comparison to the old bike, with its concentric BB pivot, we have a bike in this test that has a true rearward axle path and shows that the Demo is closer to a vertical path than anything.

Our Specialized Demo Race in size S4 weighs 16.8kg or 37.04lbs and costs €7499 or $6800 USD

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Commencal Supreme DH 29 - 27

Now for perhaps one of the most winning bikes of the past few years. Something that can easily be seen when watching practice at a World Cup with many a privateer or supported rider on a Supreme DH following the success under the Commencal team.

All that success was aboard a full 29” version and for 2021 Commencal released their all aluminum mullet version to live alongside its full wagon wheeled brother, with the bike being fixed in wheel size, geometry and travel. Although, we’ve seen some of the team bikes with adjustable idlers and shock mounts, giving the option to tune for rider and course.

Commencal now have 3 separate bikes on offer to work with each of the wheel size setups.


What only a few years ago used to be one of the shorter reach measurement brands out there has in recent times become one of the longest, with the reach numbers up there matching the lengths of the enduro bikes that have maybe had more limelight in the longer, lower, slacker treatment.

The high pivot design remains, with the idea being that by shoving the main pivot right up there the rear wheel moves on a path that follows the oncoming impacts. It does however almost grey out a lot of boxes in bike development and explain why a lot of the true high pivot bikes out there follow a similar design DNA.

For the new bike Commencal focussed on altering the idler position for a different anti-squat and chain influence while addressing stiffness concerns from the rear of the old bike.

Our Commencal Supreme DH 29 - 27 Team in size L weighs 17.1kg or 37.7lbs and costs €5399 or $4999 USD

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Canyon Sender CFR

Also a direct to consumer brand, Canyon have had their Sender DH bike out there for a few years now with good results to boot. And with their new version they sought to refine rather than redesign.

Lightness was a big point for them, and the full carbon fiber construction does achieve that. One of the bigger talking points was the relocation of the shock to the down tube and to a tube that already needs to be strong with its importance in the backbone of the bike and so needed less reinforcement and less added weight compared to mounting on the top tube.

Aesthetic design was also a priority for Canyon, which does go a bit against some of the marketing about the bike. The statement of creating a bike for their race mechanics, as well as their racers, is a hard one to swallow as I’ve never met a race mechanic who asked for things like internal cable routing.


Canyon also adopted the mullet concept, but applied it to rider height, with sizes S and M using the mixed wheel size to take advantage of the increased trouser clearance that a smaller wheel gives. L and XL bikes run with 29” front and back and even have adjusted kinematics to account for the differences in wheel size and geometry.

There’s more adjustability at either end too with adjustable reach and chainstays that not only help with rider fit, bike feel and course adaption but also bring the gap between frame sizes down to potentially within reach of riders wanting to size up or down or choose the size based on wheel size if possible.

The suspension layout remains the same as the old bike, although like the Specialized that has the same layout, they too have made some of the pivots of the many links concentric. Pedal kickback was also a hot topic when the bike was introduced, with Canyon focussing on reducing it while accepting the drop in anti-squat too but without much issue due to the old bike having a fair bit of the squats to play with. Our bike also came specced with a 24T ratchet in the rear hub and while these all might be factors that play a part in feeling something through the pedals when you hit bumps, they’re only a small drop in the bigger ocean picture.

Our Canyon Sender CFR in size L weighs 15.77kg or 34.77lbs and costs €5799 or $5799 USD

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Cube TWO15 HPC SLT

Also coming out of Germany is Cube, and with team changes for 2021 we’ll now see the likes of Danny Hart aboard this new TWO15 come race season.

The TWO15 DH bike had also seen some modifications of late before this new generation with the general switch from full 27.5” to 29” setups. Something that the aluminum construction of the old bike allowed quite easily. For the new bike however, Cube went with a carbon fiber front triangle and rocker, a first for them in their DH segment.

The overall bike shape remains similar with the same four bar suspension layout, with a Horst pivot and rocker link, but they made some interesting decisions with the new bike in the shock and geometry department. Namely, choosing to go with an imperial shock size to achieve their goals despite narrowing shock choice for people not set on riding with a Fox damper.


There’s also an extremely high amount of progression in the leverage ratio, something that now could be a little against the trend to reduce progressivity after a period of high percentage values.

Cube split the TWO15 line in two, allowing them to focus the HPC composite versions to a racing application and the HPA aluminum versions with the bike parks in their sights. The HPC version is a featherweight, even in the XL size we tested. That XL aligning more with the L size of the Commencal and Canyon that we have.

It’s also the only Fox bike in our test, which saw me getting really fast at setting up RockShox suspension and SRAM brakes. It also sees some adjustability in the form of drop-in headset cups, that while making me wince a little from their plastic construction, do allow a 0.5 degree of head angle adjustment to be done incredibly quickly without completely dismantling the front end of the bike.

Our Cube TWO15 HPC SLT in size XL weighs 15.9kg or 35.05lbs and costs €5999 with currently no RRP in USD

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Where Did We Test?

Throughout the entire summer, autumn and even into the einter seasons each bike was given a long and demanding test period in Switzerland, just over the border in French and even a couple of hidden gems thrown in too.

We also had multiple testers on the bikes ranging from 100kg-of-lust huckers to lightweight and finessing senders, to see if the same loveable traits or problems were apparent across the board or even if they experienced their own issues.

Champéry generally needs little introduction, with it already hosting World Cups and a World Championship. But the infamously steep track adds in wild g-forces from the near vertical banked turns, steps galore to try and throw the bike out of sync and a healthy smattering of roots and rocks to make the already fine line down that bit more difficult to hit time and time again.

Round the corner lies Morgins, which has been gaining exposure as one of the best bike parks in the world due to its addictively vert turns and an inherent beckoning nature to each track that not only gets you lapping util your arms are jelly but invites you to go faster each time and pull up off every crest in sight. Morgins really is a test track that can extract the best out of a bike or show its deepest flaws from the mix of forces exerted on the bike from the rider and terrain. It really has a mix of everything to test geometry, suspension, setup, durability and just how comfy you’re feeling on your bike.


The forests around Bex are like a British woodland on steroids. The soft soiled tracks are turned to what almost feels like vertical and add in gulleys strewn with corners that have you drifting for what seems like an age before you hit the catch in the corner and fire out the other side. It’s foremost a fantastic test of brakes but also demands a change in setup to the more hard hitting tracks in Champéry and Morgins. A bike that can handle the constant gradient and speed while most of the time sliding sideways with two wheels gives you the confidence to let off the brakes in these riding spots.

Dorenaz sits a little further down the valley and looking up from the highway it’s hard to imagine a track meandering down the hillside. But the one that does has been used as a test track by suspension manufacturers for many years and still maintains to be one of the roughest tracks around. With rocks of all shapes and sizes and most of the time with a distinct lack of traction on them, a bike that can offer some form of composure and confidence in it allows you to not only go fast in Dorenaz, but almost enjoy it more. The faster you go here the better it gets, but the simple fact is that it will scare you more!

Châtel sits over the border in France and is one of the bigger bike parks in the Portes du Soleil. And it does have that stereotypical bike park style to it. The ground is pretty hard pack and dry. The main tracks are pretty wide. The turns are huge and so are the jumps. But there’s also a load of narrower and more technical runs in the park that can also offer up roots, rocks, steep and tricky.


Morzine, also in France, might be a bike park to many, and it is. Like Chatel, there’s a bunch of more man-made trails that fit the known bike park bill. But to many others, it’s a heaven for steep like hell and often off-camber and root infested forests that are littered with secret trails left right and centre. With some of the most extreme ones being tucked out of sight from the passing masses and only the slightest hint of an astray branch shows you where they start. Another ridiculously good test for brakes and having a setup that can feel as comfy in the terrifying steeps as well as smashing turns and holes at high speed.

Bernex is very close to the Portes du Soleil region in France, but is an independent bike park that is less known than the bigger more marketed resorts round the corner, but is one hell of a place. There's a glorious mix of man-made tracks filled with interesting features, some of them pretty big, and more natural sections of trail thrown in for good measure too. It's also home to an absolute mass of little hidden singletracks all over the hillside that are generally steep, rooty and off-camber and often require a bike to cling to a line like a spider to the wall, all while you're dealing with the onslaught of roots coming at you from all angles. It's a fantastic little resort that can offer you quite the variety of trails and challenges all in the same day.

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Performance



Specialized Demo Race

The Demo was the easiest to get on and ride out of the four bikes once set up. Despite being pretty far off with its recommended settings when compared to what I actually found best with the bike. Recommended was a 450lbs spring and I ended at 525lbs. It’s a bike, though, that everyone who tested said was a doddle to jump on and feel comfy enough to crack on with cranking up the speed. That was once we spent a bit of time going back and forth with shock setup to try and find a happy balance of suppleness and support without exhibiting too much chassis movement underneath you.

The Demo Race uses 148mm wide, or Boost, rear wheel with an 83mm BB, which is worth being aware of for the inevitable day that you need new wheels. If you already have a trail or enduro bike then chances are you’ll also have a 148 wide back wheel and so can make part swaps and keeping spare parts easier for your fleet.

But as we’ll go deeper into the characters of the other bikes, it doesn’t have a single track mind for speed. It doesn’t wake up in the morning with only one thing on its mind. While it can go fast, and be up there with the speeds of the other bikes, it certainly needed a bit more attention to keep it there with its window for error feeling just a tiny bit narrower than the likes of the more race focussed bikes.


The Demo Race is the only bike in the test that boasts the ability to run multiple wheel sizes. Everything from a complete 27, through mullet to full 29 setup can be achieved. But in doing so Specialized might have had to compromise the extremes of the full 29 and 27 setups to allow them to fit them in. You see there’s a big difference between the outside diameter of a 27.5” and a 29” wheel, and trying to accommodate the two into a bike and have decent geometry for each is tricky at best, even with the added adjustability that dual crown forks offer.

In the full 29” mode the Demo does gain a bit more composure at speed and if you like the feel of 29” wheels then it will start to feel a bit more similar mannered front to back. It does lengthen the rear and front of the bike though, which for the Demo puts us onto one of its bigger problems.

Our S4 test bike is the biggest that the Demo comes in and was the shortest of the four bikes tested. While its length will play a little to its easy to get on and ride character, it's a limiting factor for tall people who will likely feel too cramped on it. I’m 188cm, or 6ft 2, and I wouldn't want it any shorter.

The Demo’s easy to get on with character trait made it great fun for a variety of trails from the steep and loamy trails to the fast and manmade bike park tracks. It can turn its hand to anything and is a good companion to throw in the back of the van and take anywhere knowing that you’ll be able to ride it down anything that comes its way while having good fun.

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Commencal Supreme DH 29 - 27

Like we’ve already touched on, the Commencal Supreme is one of the bikes with a single track mind. All it wants to do is go as fast as possible. Channel your inner Amaury Pierron and it does just that. Once you ride it with aggression and strength then it really rewards you with immense speed and the ability to pull up off everything in sight. It really is the butter machine for the ensuing hard flat landings.

Commencal do a great job of providing setup help for the suspension, but as we found out those settings are very much informed by the elite level racers aboard the bike. The first rides on the Supreme were difficult with the incredibly stiff springs and in particular the very fast rebound meaning that inputs to the bike were out of sync with the rider. Pushing into the bike to start to get it off the ground, or into the face of a jump had the bike springing back much sooner than desired. Slower rebound helped, but the shock's light rebound tune limited how far I could slow it down, eventually requiring a different shock to slow the rebound enough.

While this might work well for the world's best, it might not work well for many of the day-to-day average riders out there. So it’s worth experimenting with the setup if you find the suggested one a little stiff and springy.

While the high pivot philosophy is one of allowing the rear wheel to move out of the way of hits easier, it doesn’t stick its head out above the others for sole impact absorption. Single big hits, as mentioned, are dealt with really well, but repeated hits in fast succession are dealt with just as well by the other suspension systems on test.

It also has a very profound effect on the dynamic geometry of the bike and therefore the tire loading. Static our test bike had a 455mm chainstay. At sag it extended out to 475mm and by bottom out it grows to 525mm.


The bike weight is more noticeable on trail, especially going back to back with the likes of the featherweight Canyon and Cube. But it does add to the bike’s solid feel.

You can take advantage of the massive 220 rotors front and rear with the Ultra Soft compound tires. Once you ride Ultra Soft compounds you don’t really want to ride anything else, but be warned they do wear out a whole lot faster than even the next hardest compound up. But it’s nice to see Commencal spec thick DH casings and soft rubber on a bike that is meant to and wants to go fast.

As with the Specialized Demo, the mullet setup does have its advantages like trouser clearance and the potential for increased bike maneuverability. If that is what you’re after then the advantages play in your favour. But if you’ve a preference for 29” wheels then the difference in character is noticeable from front to back. While it’s not a case of night and day and something that will make a bike either rideable or not, it’s a trait in the character of the bike that should be made clear.

But even with its quirks in character, as a package the Supreme is ferociously fast and its addiction to speed is something that contagiously passes to the rider.

While the consensus is that idlers are terrible for efficiency, the reality was that on the Commencal the added drag is hardly noticeable. I know it’s a DH bike and it isn’t pedalled as much as trail or enduro bikes. But lots of riding spots need some pedalling to move around the mountain or to get to the trailhead and on the Commencal it was no more effort than on the other bikes.

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Canyon Sender CFR

With little information on recommended setup, it was quite the squint eyed and speedy setup on the Canyon, which then added to the surprise come the speed on the first run down the World Cup track in Champery. I even caught myself thinking that I have no business going this speed first run on a new bike. It’s quite the addictive feeling having that much available risk taking first run and something that continued when the bike was ridden more. A lot of confidence can be placed in the Sender and makes riding challenging situations at speed just that little bit easier.

The Sender is a very easy to ride bike from the get-go and that speed in initial setup to comfortable send was something that all testers reported. In fact, personally I didn’t deviate much from the 25% sag shock setup and car park bounce to get the rebound in the right ballpark. And spent much less time going back and forth in setup to have the bike in a really good window of operation.

Like the Commencal, the character of the Sender is immediately recognisable as one that just wants to go damn fast. But differing from the Commencal is the Sender’s utmost composure in even the most challenging terrain. It seems to just deal with impacts once and be ready for the next so efficiently that it really lifts your internal thoughts from that of the bike to that of the trail in front of you. It never once got flustered despite throwing all manner of trails at it.

The sizing and geometry of the Sender feels really spot on. If asked to close my eyes and get in a position imagining I’m riding, it would likely be exactly where the Senders contact points are. For my height and intentions the size L felt comfy and a familiar space every time I jumped on it and on every trail. Yes, it’s a big race focussed bike, but it didn’t demand gritted teeth and a white knuckle grip to extract its best. A bit of that is attributable to the bike’s low weight too, making the long and slack geometry a little easier to handle.


While not the absolute supplest of suspension feels of the four bikes, that aforementioned composure is something I would much rather have than complete traction all the time. With the bikes built to do the speeds these can, traction is certainly not there at every second and so chassis control and composure come more into importance up at the ragged edge. It certainly isn’t a harsh ride, though, and does a great job of absorbing impacts of all sizes and frequencies with just a bit more feedback coming through to you.

It is however a bit confusing to have so many specific frame parts made for the different frame and wheel sizes only to use the same small links for 29” and 27.5” bikes with just two holes labeled according to the rear wheel size. Secretly they’re a progression adjuster and statically don’t alter the geometry. But it’s likely going to be a point of confusion for some owners and there will likely be some bikes run in the non-recommended setup.

The character change from the previous mullet bikes from Commencal and Specialized to this full 29er are apparent. It does demand a little more rider input to swing it over from corner to corner in quick succession. Not like trying to maneuver a barge, just a smidge more action in the piloting, but something that is rewarded in all out speed and if you like your big wheels then you’ll love the feeling on the Sender. It’s also nice to see Canyon adapt the Sender rage to accommodate the mullet configuration for smaller riders, although we have already seen Troy Brosnan on an M sized full 29” setup.

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Cube TWO15 HPC SLT

And finally the Cube TWO15. A bike that still has me chin scratching a little.

It is a very fast bike, but a large slice of that is down to the geometry of the bike, with the longest on paper reach, lowest BB and slackest head angle on test. I say on paper, as when we measured the bike, the reach was actually 2mm shorter than the Canyon, at 483mm, and the head angle dipped under 63 degrees.

At the top of a run you can almost feel its urgency to go. And let it go and by God it will, but be warned that once you’ve made your bed you have to lay in it and if you change your mind on how much send you’re up for half way down, it’s too late. If you muscle it around enough then you will be an active part of the ride all the way down, but it was noticeably more tiring to ride the Cube than the other bikes, especially for some of the longer top to bottom runs.

On longer smoother more open turns it’s an easier bike to handle with a large turn in and a steady position in cornering. But not all corners are like this, and once they tighten up it needs much more body language.


Perhaps then we need to address the elephant in the room here, applicable to all these bikes - commitment levels. You probably wouldn't want to ride with the needed level of commitment that the Cube needs every run of every day. I do like to ride fast, I really do. But on the Cube, the commitment and piloting levels needed are something that I wouldn’t be in for every run of every day and do come down to some of the development choices made in the bike.

While you could say to take a size L, I do agree. The shorter reach would yield a slightly easier bike to handle. But that jump from XL to L would take it from the second biggest bike on test to the smallest, highlighting the odd size gaps that Cube went for and doesn’t get away from some of the suspension traits that the TWO15 has.

Cube opted to go for an extremely high progression level for the suspension, up at 42%. And like how a high pivot design grey's out a lot of the option boxes in development, a high progression bike does the same. The Cube’s character is that of a big bouncy sofa, with the high leverage ratios making the suspension incredibly supple but at the same time introducing a lot of chassis movement into the riding experience, that then needs to be accounted for with your natural suspension in your arms and legs. And with an already statically very low BB it does make the underside of the bike, bash guard and pedals become good friends with the ground quite often.

Upping the spring rate helps a bit to calm the chassis movement, but the character trait is still there, the simple fact is that the spring to damping balance is off due to the high leverage ratios and slow movement of the shock. That big spring needed to calm the suspension in combination with the high progression probably resulting in you using less travel than the on paper amount would suggest and me never finding the end of travel like you could on the other bikes. For example, with only considering the spring forces it needs over 600N more force to bottom it out than something like the Canyon.

The TWO15 needs some pretty solid focus to be on top of its traits. It will go fast, but the concentration and effort needed to do so are far more than the likes of the other bikes. And those traits do push the bike setup into somewhat a corner, with a slightly softer fork setup helping balance out the front to rear suspension feel and not dynamically push the rider slightly more rearwards.

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Timed Runs

Of all the places we tested in perhaps Champéry is the most infamous, which alongside its history in racing and the fact that it’s one of the most demanding tracks around, made it a fitting place to pit each bike against the clock and add in some objective testing to aid in comparing the bikes. We also used control tires in the form of Schwalbe's Magic Mary in Super Downhill casing and Ultra Soft compound.

The World Cup track is just over 1.1km in length and drops 395m with an average grade of -35%.

The Canyon Sender CFR had the fastest time at 2:38.5.

A gnat's whisker behind was the Commencal Supreme DH, only 0.6 seconds slower at 2:39.1.

The Specialized Demo came in third fastest at 2:41.3, a bit further behind the leading pair, 2.8 seconds slower.

And the Cube had the fourth fastest time, 5.3 seconds behind the Sender with a time of 2:43.8.

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What Are They Like to Live With?

Specialized Demo Race

You can tell that Specialized have been doing bikes for a long time with a lot of the details in construction being pretty dialled. The overall build quality is top notch and the attention to the small areas of the frame like the protection and sealed pivot hardware are nice touches.

The option to run external cable routing for the brake is there, and with how much the cables rattle inside the main frame it might be a wise option to change to external. And I’d somewhat forgotten the woes of fork bumpers on the stanchions, as the Demo has no integrated bumpers on the frame.


With the Demo’s suspension layout, the links open up when the suspension is compressed and offer up the space for all manner of debris for when the jaws close. On more than one occasion I had to remove pretty sizable rocks that were jammed in the suspension. Shock clearance is pretty tight too and needs attention when washing to get in all the nooks and crannies, but it does drain well with the large opening under the BB. Getting hold of the rebound adjuster on the shock also requires skinny fingers and the patience of a lover.

The adjustment options on the Demo Race are simple to use and offer some nice changes to the geometry that allow people to experiment and feel the difference. But just be aware that like advised from Specialized, some of the settings won’t work the best with certain wheel sizes, like the long setting with a 27.5” back wheel.

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Commencal Supreme DH 29 - 27

The Supreme is a fairly easy bike to live with. There’s no crazy hidden hardware or overlapping frame parts. There’s buckets of tire clearance in the rear triangle, it’s easy to clean and maintain but positioning the linkage right over the lower shock bolt is the main bugbear for this bike and something that I’ve seen as a problem on the other Supreme models with the marked linkage from tool access.

While never completely noticeable on the trail, the turning circle of the Supreme is considerably less than the other bikes with the fork bumper design and Boxxer combination limiting how far round the forks can turn.


Sag setup levels on the rear of the bike are incredibly low compared to the other bikes, between as little as 13% and 17%. While it does feel a bit odd in the car park test, it certainly works while out on the trail.

Again we had more internal cable routing rattles. Something that only lining the cables with foam would fix. And a lot of the linkage bearings are on show for all the world, and mud, to see, which might result in them having a shorter life span compared to some of the nicely sealed pivot solutions from the likes of Specialized and Canyon.

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Canyon Sender CFR

Canyon does put a lot of emphasis on the Sender being a race bike. And while some decisions have been made to aid that race focus, like the threaded pivot inserts, some of the other development decisions do give it a feeling of fragility.

The cable routing between the front and rear of the bike scissors around, mostly surrounded by the grinding paste like mix of mud, water and debris, eating into the composite frame. So too does the lower link that is so tightly packaged deep in the mainframe. It actually needs a full strip down to clean some areas of the frame like that lower link, something that the weekend warriors out there won't be doing after every ride, like a race mechanic. And while the frame does have some clear film in some key areas, it flies off with a bit of pressure from the hose.


The suspension layout again being a culprit for rock eating, with it opening up under compression, allowing sizable rocks to sit between the links and chain stay and cause damage when the two come back together.

There’s also an alarming amount of flex along the upper links and their connection to the mainframe. While Canyon mechanics reported no failures yet, it’s a bit worrying to know that the bike will be given a really hard time by the buying public week in week out, with definitely not the regimented maintenance schedules of a world cup mechanic. Take care of your Sender.

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Cube TWO15 HPC SLT

The common theme of the test has been internal cable rattle, and the Cube joins the gang. Yes it might look nice, but it’s the most frustrating of things to have a loud bike, let alone one right out of the box.

Plastic headset cups still make me wince. While I’ve had no problems with them so far, I’ve had terrible experiences with them in the past. The same is true of non-press in headset cups, with the availability to develop creaks over time being huge.


The imperial shock length is something I can understand from simply a packaging standpoint, but definitely does limit the availability of shocks and it’s not a certainty as to how long it will be around for with every bike now being on metric.

Super Gravity tires might work for some of the lighter and more gentle riders, but aren’t the best choice for heavier and harder riders. The tire flex is noticeable and the added puncture and burping problems are easy to remedy with just DH casing tires.

The Cube is another bike, like the Commencal, to be pretty easy to work on and keep clean. There are a few oddly small Allen keys needed for important things like shock bolts, but generally it was an easy bike to keep in good shape even if a lot of the stick on protection peels off after only a few uses.

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Spec Highs & Lows

Tires

Not just a problem with DH bikes, but it’s still a crying shame that manufacturers don’t spec tires fit for the job in hand. Only to use lightweight casings to try and make the weight look more appealing on paper. Tires really aren't cheap, especially if you need to buy a new pair to make up for the sub par ones that you’ve already bought on the bike.

For DH bikes it’s even more simple, they need DH casing tires. Anything less and you run the risk of problems with holding air in the tires, burping, squirming under load and punctures.

Canyon and Commencal get top marks for speccing DH casing and soft compound rubber. Leaving you to just pump them up to your desired pressure and ride.


Cube were almost there with the Super Gravity casing Schwalbes. And while some lighter and smoother riders might get away with these casings tires, a lot of people certainly can't. Especially on a bike with that much speed in it.

The Demo was the worst though. While the tread pattern and compound were grippy on the Specialized tires, the flimsy casing left a lot to be desired and it was possible to bottom out the tire on the rim going up jump faces. It does make for interesting jumping, not knowing which way you’re going to get fired, but not something that I’d choose to have. And if you wanted to drop about 10psi in one turn then all you had to do was lean the bike over, kick your heels hard and bingo.


Brakes

3 out of the 4 bikes came with SRAM Code RSCs, and while bite and consistency was initially good it sometimes didn’t last that way. In the absolute steepest terrain, especially when that gradient is sustained for a while, they did begin to get a bit hot and bothered. The bikes came with a mix of rotors ranging from 200 up to 220, and while the larger rotors fared better there was occasionally some change in lever feel and some fading bite when really tested to the limit. Short pauses in the trail, and for your arms, did result in some pretty noticeable squeals when getting back into it.

While incredibly powerful and offering some good feeling, the Code RSCs did exhibit these problems when we really pushed on long and steep trails.


The Cube came with Magura MT7, which while very powerful, even with only 203mm rotors, were also not a fan favourite. The plasticy lever has a lot of flex that renders the bit point of the brakes almost useless as you simply can’t feel it and modulate around and the available grip. They’re also another really noisy brake with constant rotor rub that would emit a high pitch squeal at low rolling speeds, no matter how much you fiddled with the caliper position.


Suspension

Another three out of the four bikes came with RockShox Boxxers, and while their performance is good, there is definitely the trait to be divey and using a lot of the travel a lot of the time. Pressures were between 20 - 30psi higher than recommended and always with many more tokens than the forks came stock with.


On the other hand, the new Fox 40 was a standout on the test. It worked like a dream out of the box with final setup not varying far at all from the suggested settings. It was soft when you needed it, hard when you needed that, had good ride height and just seemed to blend away leaving only the small rebound schlurp to let you know it was going about its job.

And on the general topic of recommended settings, of the brands that provided a starting point, not one was close to what the bike eventually ended up on. In most cases the bike needed significantly more spring, rebound damping and compression damping. With only the Commencal actually needing to be softened slightly from the recommended race style setup.


Drivetrain

All bikes were running SRAM XO1 or GX DH and for the entire test these drivetrains were faultless. Every now and again the upper jockey wheel on the mech would jump out of sync from its narrow wide profile but there was never an issue with the systems, even after long periods of use and in pretty adverse conditions.


Each bike did have a range of chainring sizes though from 30 - 34T which made some of the bikes never really get out of 4th gear. While I’m not sure we should be developing DH bikes around the same size rings as enduro and trail bikes, it was interesting to see that the lower gears really are for pedalling at ridiculous speeds.

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Verdict


Starting with the Cube Two15 HPC SLT, it’s a bike that unfortunately isn’t up there with the rest of the pack. While it can go incredibly fast in the right terrain and with the right mindset, it’s a bit harder to ride with some clear traits in its character that need both setup and riding style changes in an attempt to extract the best out of it. And with some slightly odd sizing it just doesn’t tick enough boxes to put it ahead of the other three bikes.



The most well rounded award? That goes to the Specialized Demo Race. While it doesn’t exude that flat out fast race feel of the other bikes, you can swing a leg over it and have fun riding it in a variety of trails and terrains with its easy to get to know character. Just be aware of the sizing if you’re pretty tall and that even with a similar spec to the other bikes it is the most expensive.



The fastest bike out of the four, that was the Canyon Sender CFR. Its absolute composure all the time and at any speed with such a short time between initial setup and throwing caution to the wind was mightily impressive. With geometry adjustability at either end and a secret progression adjuster in the middle it makes a brilliant chassis to adapt to the rider, course or even to just experiment with and learn your own preferences.

However, if I was to buy only one of the bikes, it wouldn’t be the one. The Sender’s speed can be matched by another, albeit with a little more quirk in its character.



The Commencal Supreme DH 27 - 29 is one hell of a fast bike. And with a touch more French inspired aggression in the piloting it can keep right up with the Canyon. But it feels all-around a more solid bike, both in the way it rides and in the way it’s constructed. Out of the two fastest bikes on test, I’d have much more confidence in running the Commencal for a whole season of abuse with it giving me the least amount of problems.

Yes it is heavier than the Canyon, by 1.3kg, but the Sender has some design priorities in there that have sacrificed its durability and really do make it a race bike, in that you need to be on top of your maintenance schedule if you’re going to ride it hard week in week out. The Commencal, on the other hand, feels like you could ride it hard and just put it away dirty. Only to get it out the next weekend and do the exact same thing, all for being the least expensive bike on test too. And for those reasons it gets the title of best in test.

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So there you have it. Do go and check out our individual reviews of each of these bikes for some more in-depth details. And stay tuned to Pinkbike for the upcoming Behind the Numbers series where we’ll put our nerd specs on and take a closer look at the suspension of these DH bikes.

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews DH Bikes Canyon Commencal Cube Specialized Canyon Sender Commencal Supreme Cube Two15 Specialized Demo DH Bike Week