The Canyon bike battle! Grail vs Endurace! Which bike is best? We are going to compare these two bikes side by side and see what the difference is between each.
Right off the bat, these bikes differ with the Canyon Grail being labeled a good all-rounder gravel bike while the Canyon Endurace is an endurance road bike built for whatever the ride throws your way.
The Grail is the superior bike for going that extra mile off the roads and exploring unknown lands!
But let’s still introduce these bikes in more detail and compare them when it comes to geometry, specs, and other characteristics, giving you a grand view of these bikes’ differences.
Introducing the Canyon Grail
Cover huge distances at speed and in comfort (as stated by Canyon.)
It is the ultimate all-rounder, offering road bike speed, all-terrain control, and grip with stable but also agile handling.
The CF SLX model is designed to win races, while they also offer other more accessible models if you just want to ride fast and save some coin.
The Grail is more focused on speed and performance on gravel terrain compared to the Endurace which is only really suited for road riding.
The Grail has been used in some long-distance endurance events.
Featuring a spot amongst some of the fastest gravel bikes. The Grail comes in 12 different build options including women’s gravel bikes.
Introducing the Canyon Endurace
The Canyon Endurace is a road bike
Which comes with around 22 different build models to choose from
If you want to ride fast and nothing else. Then this is the bike for you.
Or is it? (the Grail is also fast, but is better suited for gravel as well as road!)
Canyon has made updates to its Endurace CF and AL frames in order to enhance the bike’s capabilities.
The tire clearance has been increased from 30mm to 35mm, and top tube mounts have been added.
Additionally, a new fork and bottom bracket have been introduced.
This year’s models have been prioritized for performance.
The updated framesets borrow a new carbon fork and the BB86 bottom bracket standard from the higher-end Endurace CF SL and CF SLX frames, resulting in improved stiffness.
The Endurace CF SL and CF SLX frames themselves remain unchanged.
It seems the Grail is better suited if you want a bike that can perform well on the road as well as on gravel. And would be your best bet if you just want one bike to do it all fast!
But if you plan to go on bikepacking adventures with all your gear
I would suggest checking out the Canyon Grizl (Canyons Bikepacking Gravel Bike)
Here is a comparison guide for the Grail vs Grizl
And you can see why we recommend the Grizl over the Grail for adventure cycling!
Price – Endurace vs Grail
When it comes to price the Grail ranges from $1,699 to $6,999 while the Endurace has a plethora of options ranging from $1,499 to $8,999. (not including their more affordable rim brake models starting at $1,082) But what really is the difference and which one is best for you and your riding goals?
There are so many different models to choose from for each bike. For this article, we have taken their mid-range (best bang for buck option as a main comparison. Instead of comparing all models together.)
The Canyon Grail was built to be a bike that maintains similar performance and speed to a road bike on asphalt while also offering the comfort and control, a road bike may lack, on gravel.
While the Endurace is a road bike at heart, which means it’s even more optimized for performance. Lacking in comfort for the l; long haul and adventure riding.
However, there is an all-new Endurace CF 7 All-Road model which seems to promise a mix between road and gravel riding. We will dive into this bike to see how it varies from the original Endurace models and how it compares to the Grail when it comes to gravel grinding.
Weight – Endurace vs Grail
All different build options and models weigh differently. But from the numbers above we can see the Endurace is more suited to riding fast and performance-based riding, thanks to its lightweight construction.
You can see around a half-a-kilogram difference in the entry and mid models, while the Endurace’s higher-end model is 1.3 kg lighter than the Grail’s higher-end bike. This is where we saw a big difference in the bikes.
Tire Clearance – Endurace vs Grail
When it comes to tire clearance the Grail can fit up to 42 mm x 700c while the Endurace fits 35mm x 700c. As the Grail has wider clearance, it lends itself to be the superior bike when it comes to all-around adventure and riding gravel more so than the Endurace
Gearing – Endurace vs Grail
On first look we can already tell that the Grail has the superior climbing gear or granny gear across the board for bikes we compared.
However, the Endurace takes the cake across the board for the bike with the best downhill riding gear.
Which positions itself for the bike best for riding fast when pushing on the flats and especially downhill.
But let’s take a look at each bike and see their respective gear range and inches.
Comparing both bike’s entry-level models
| Bike | Endurace 6 | Grail 6 |
| Climbing Gear | 27.01″ | 24.32″ |
| Largest Gear | 122.89″ | 115.53″ |
| Gear ratio | 1.0/4.55 | 0.88/4.18 |
| Groupset | Tiagra | GRX 400, GRX 600 |
| Drivetrain | 2 × 10 | 2 × 10 |
We can see that the Grail 6 has better climbing gear by almost 3″ maintaining a rather good gear ratio and range overall.
This is decent for a gravel bike but if you want a bike that is dedicated to adventure an even lower climbing gear will be ideal. Something in the 18″ to 22″ range is the sweet spot.
When compared to other bikes like the Topstone this is actually pretty good.
But its important to note depending on the bike the gearing is going to vary.
I wanted to try my best to provide you with the most insightful information for this comparison but lacked the data to compare the other bikes.
As it was difficult to find accurate crankset teeth numbers on the Endurace models.
But hopefully, the above graph can give you a reasonable overview of the gearing differences for each bike.
Geometry – Endurace vs Grail
Geometry can play a big part in the difference between how a bike rides and feels. It is definitely something to consider when buying a bike.
Want to learn more about understanding bike geometry? Read this article which goes through all the jargon and what it means for a comfortable ride!
This is where we will see differences in the bikes and make our final conclusions about what bike is best for your chosen type of riding.
| Model | Endurace 6 MD | Endurace CF SL 8 MD | Endurace CF 7 All-Road MD | Endurace CF SLX 9 Di2 MD | Grail 6 MD | Grail CF SL 7 eTap MD | Grail CF SLX 9 eTap MD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheels | 700c | 700c | 700c | 700c | 700c | 700c | 700c |
| Stack | 590 | 578 | 590 | 578 | 579 | 536 | 536 |
| Reach | 378 | 382 | 378 | 382 | 405 | 421 | 421 |
| Stack/Reach Ratio | 1.56 | 1.51 | 1.56 | 1.51 | 1.43 | 1.27 | 1.27 |
| Top Tube Length | 553 | 553 | 543 | 553 | 577 | 569 | 569 |
| Seat Tube Length | 522 | 522 | 522 | 522 | 522 | 522 | 522 |
| Seat Tube Angle | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 72.78 |
| Head Tube Length | 164 | 158 | 164 | 158 | 143 | 97 | 97 |
| Head Tube Angle | 73 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 72.25 | 72.5 | 72.5 |
| BB Drop | 73 | 73 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| BB Height | 263 | 263 | 263 | 263 | 274 | 274 | 274 |
| Front Center | 586 | 586 | 586 | 586 | 616 | 615 | 615 |
| Chainstay Length | 415 | 415 | 415 | 415 | 430 | 425 | 425 |
| Wheelbase | 990 | 990 | 990 | 990 | 1035 | 1029 | 1029 |
| Rake | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 42 | 42 |
| Trail | 59 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 67 | 66 | 66 |
| Standover Height | 800 | 806 | 814 | 806 | 808 | 834 | 834 |
To my surprise when looking at each bike’s geometry I discovered that the Endurace actually has a much more comfortable upright riding position compared to the Grail.
One first impression I would have thought the Endurace would have been more aggressive. However, the Grail is much more aggressive.
The stack/reach ratios of the Endurace ranged from 1.51 to 1.56 while the Grail was 1.27 to 1.43.
This is a considerable difference.
If you want a bike that is considered upright for comfort somewhere around 1.5 stack/reach ratio is ideal. The Endurace is right in that sweet spot.
One thing I did notice was the all-new All-road Endurace model offers a 1.56 stack reach ratio which is 0.5 more upright than the standard Endurace models. Which is super upright, almost touring bike territory.
The chainstay lengths vary also.
The Endurace has a shorter chainstay of 415 mm vs the Grails 425 to 430 mm
This proves the Endurace is a road bike at heart, as this shorter chainstay means more snappy control in the rear while the Grail is still rather short compared to other adventure gravel bikes. It does find a nice balance between snappy control and more relaxed control.
Still rather quick in the rear for the Grail compared to other gravel bikes. But not as jumpy as the Endurace road bike.
The Grail also has a 39 to 44 mm longer wheelbase compared to the Endurace. This also means the Grail is again better suited if you want a bike with a larger ground clearance. Especially for carrying extra gear on the bike for those bike adventures.
Also resulting in an overall more stable ride feel compared to the Endurace.
Then by taking a look at both bike trail lengths.
We can see that the Endurace has a shorter trial of around 7 to 8 mm.
This difference in trial measurement means that the Endurace is more in that mid-range when compared to your average gravel bike making it feel predictable upfront when steering.
While the Grail is verging the higher end of trail lengths when compared to your average gravel bike, making it feel rather stable up front but still not sluggish.
To my surprise it seems we can now come to a final conclusion on these bikes.
With some new insight, we have discovered that the Canyon Endurace is a bike suited for fast road riding, but also offers on-bike comfort, thanks to that upright riding position.
Which the Canyon Grail lacks. Yes, the Grail is better suited for adventure cycling in terms of the better-balanced chainstay and wheelbase and trail measurements.
But if you plan to ride long days with gear, it’s not going to be comfortable as the stack/reach ratio on this bike is too aggressive.
Which lends it better to fast gravel riding and racing!
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