Joakim,
You ride really long and low and the best Speedmax SLX for you is the size Medium. You must get the long stem and push the pads forward ~90%. You'll use the low space plus 5mm or the wedge if you like some tilt in your aerobar position. I think the medium aerobar extension will be fine. If there comes a time when you want more tilt and or more length out of the cockpit then get the Rad Sport spacer and you'll have all you need.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

 

Jmcn,
Based ONLY on what you've given me there isnt' a STOCK Speedmax that'll fit you. The Medium won't go long enough to get to a Pad X of 490, and Large won't match your saddle height. Here are the changes that will make it work and some of them might be beneficial - remember, this is just based on what you've given me....

If you got a Speedmax SLX size Medium with the long stem, and acquired the Rad Sport spacer you'd be golden in two ways: 1) it pushes the cockpit out 20mm giving you all the X you need and leaving room for an even longer cockpit avialable if ever needed, and 2) it'll serve your 15 degree tilt.

If... big if in this one... if you're riding cranks that are say 172.5 and you go the size Large SLX, you could (should?) drop down to 160mm cranks and that would move your saddle height to and you'd just barely make the seat height ... you know what? Forget it. I thought I'd be a fan of this option but as I type it out I think it's silly. I'd only recomend it if there was some sort of "size large or die" emergency. The Medium above with the Rad Sport thang is the far better way to go.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

VinceSpeedmax,
Okay... here's what I understand... you've got a Medium SLX and the aerobar extension is too short. The assumption is that a medium extension came on the medium bike. I'd expect that. That makes sence AND the longer aerobar extension will lengthen your aerobar (back of pad to tip of aerobar grip) but not your "cockpit" (tip of saddle to back of aerobar). You also removed a spacer (they come in small, medium, and large, and then a few 5mm to tweak to perfection) and added in the 6 degree tilt spacer. Great!

Here's what I'd like to suggest... Think of where the saddle sits as a position of power and the bars a place of comfort. When the saddle arrives at the optimal position for your morphology (femur length, pelvic rotation, posterior chain flexiblity, etc) THEN you want to place the front end (the bars) in such a way to support that position of power. For example, if the saddle is positioned perfectly (fore/aft, up/down) for you but the cockpit is too short you can't move the saddle back to make more room in the cockpit - you have to go longer in the front end to solve that. And it appears that's what's you're doing here - right on!

The best way to solve all this is with an educated, experience fitter who has a dynamic fit bike. They can put your under your race-pace load and move the saddle fore/aft/up/down while you're pedaling and then move the bars fore/aft/up/down while you're pedaling and.. through that process you and the fitter will identify your optimal position. Then you get off the dynamic fit bike and match the Speedmax to that postion. This is best done before purchase, but you'd be fine doing it after too.

If you're not going to see a fitter than my next best advice is this... get the bike level on the trainer, do a warm up and then ride a series of 2min efforts that are SOLID (long course triathlon race pace) and move the saddle fore and aft 5mm (noting each location so you can track your position) to find a place where going hard feels the easiest. One way to guide this process is with a digital level - center of bottom bracket to mid saddle - start at 78deg (read: too shallow) and move forward 5mm at a time between there and 83deg (read: too steep). Once you find a good spot.... then move the cockpit fore/aft/up/down to find the most comfy place to support the saddle position. What I'm describing can take half a day when you're changing aero bar spacers on this bike - hence the dynamic fit bike as a tool.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Hi Ian!

I am looking to purchase a Speedmax CF SLX. I currently ride a Giant Trinity size S. Here are my stats:

Height: 1800
Seat Height: 765
Pad X: 413
Pad Y: 657
Crank Length: 165

I'm comfy in this position but feel like I could go lower just a little bit. Seems like I could fit both S & M. I'm leaning towards the size S, but worried about the massive spacer stack under my pads..... don't quite like the look.

benonlees,
Yeah, it's between a small and a medium. You made a note about going lower... fine, if you want to pursue that because it'll be more comfortable - try it. If you're gonna make that change because you feel like you'll make more power while being lower up front... hmmm, okay, sure, give that a go. If you feel like you want the aesthetic of being lower because you think it looks good - for sure, do it. If you think you shold be lower because you think it'll be more aero.... no. If you're not testing, you're guessing and very often in the wind tunnel, at some point, lower has more drag than higher.

Now, let's talk about something real... Your Pad Y of 657 - love it. If you had just come in and said "I'm 1800mm tall what's my Pad Y?". I would have said 640-660. BUT.... I would have said your Pad X was 460-480. I'm curious as to why your Pad Y is 413. This that a typo?

Let's stay it's not and your holding with your Pad Y...
Speedmax SLX size small - short stem, high spacer, medium extension... great. You mentioned you didn't like the look of big pedestal. Okay.. the....
Speedmax SLX size medium, short stem, mid spacer, medium extension... here's the rub: pads back 99.9% the shortest this bike goes is 410, you're at 413. If it's a typo and should be 443 or 463 or some such then medium for sure. If it's 413 and you know you're never going shorter - okay, medium's the bike.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Thanks so much Ian! Your input means everything. Your postulation of the reasons why people do things is pretty spot on. I guess it’s a testament to your experience.

For Pad Y, I am indeed tempted to go lower for aero gains. I will not be pursuing this after hearing your thoughts.

For pad X, 413 is to the back of the pads. Sometimes, I find the bony part of my elbows sliding towards the middle and front of the pads. My extension bars are not long enough, so while I naturally want to move my elbows forward a little more, my hands start to exceed the ends of the aero bars so I bring myself back.

I guess medium would be more suitable, giving me room to experiment with having the pads more forward.

Hi Ian,

I'm a very tall athlete focused on ironman distance, and have been riding an XL Speedmax CF 8.0 since 2020. I've made numerous changes over the years trying to get the fit to work with multiple bike fitters, focus on decreasing saddle pain/discomfort, and yet again I'm going through what feels like a yearly experiment with saddles of different makes/models. I think I've likely found the best option at least for now in the Dash Stages G2, but with the horizontal/flat rail design I'm not able to get nearly as much seat angle (nose down) as I want, especially when compared to ISM saddle I was on in my last races. I know from some pros like Magnus Ditlev and Braden Curry (non-Canyon athletes) that their solution has been a part that sits between the top of the seat post and clamps the saddle rails that allows the rider to change the angle of the carriage with a tool and lock it, but Canyon doesn't seem to make anything like that. I've included a zoomed out picture for context and then a zoomed in one on the part I'm talking about. Do you know if there's any way to address this on a Canyon stock seatpost?

Thanks,
Scott

Random Question

On my old Felt DA4 I had adapters that let me widen the placement of the elbow pads. Is there anything like that available for the CFR? I’m working on my flexibility in the meantime.

TriRig Wingspan extenders work. I know lots of people use those in conjunction with some Scoops or other armcups.

---

Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Scott,

It's tough to load pics here but try again. I'd like to see what you're looking at.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Thanks much. Let me try attaching them instead. The attached picture is Ditlev's Scott Plasma, those bikes use a Syncros seatpost (Syncros Plasma 6 HMX) that comes stock with a Ritchey adjustable clamp. From the LBS mechanics I've talked to, and after sending a message to Ritchey, obviously that part won't work with the Canyon proprietary seatpost. There isn't anything even close that I can find from Canyon in what I can search for online, but I can't find anything similar from a third party that would work.

The second picture is my bike and the carriage in question. I've seen some other Canyons resort to entirely custom seatposts it seems, but those are seemingly far outside my budget.

Here is the sheet my fitter gave me. Can you help me pick out the right size?

bluedinosaur,

I can't open that. Can you try again in another format or... if you can find these three items on your sheet....

1. Seat height
2. Pad Y - might be called Pad Stack... or Bottom Bracket to Pad Height or.. god knows what other terms we fitters can drum up.
3. Pad X... Might be called Pad Reach... or Bottom Bracket to Back of Pad or Bottom Bracket to Pad Center - help us all.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Thanks for the help, Ian. I reuploaded the document and a reduced size JPG.

These are the most likely relevant values to what you are looking for.

Saddle top to BB - 70
Drop from Saddle to pad top - 2.........would the math make it 70-2=68?
Pad ctr/tip of saddle 61.5 and saddle tip to C. BB - 7.8 and Saddle tip to C. HB- 61......... Would the math make it 61.5-7.8= 53.7


or is the information XY tool HB X-526 Y-592?


I believe he did his math from the tip of the saddle and not the bottom bracket.

bluedinosaur,
Okay, let's work through this.... you're thinking is logical: we have the set back of 78mm and we have this "Pad ctr/tip of saddle 61.5" - If this means the distance from the tip of the saddle to the center?? of pad is 615mm we could subtract the setback of 78 we'd get 537. And then if I assume that the pad is 100mm long (most are) we subtrack 50 and get a Pad X of 487. Oh boy, there's potential for a lot of noise in all these guesses. The Pad Y isn't much better... sure Seat Height is 700 and Drop (or Pad Height) is 20mm... so we're guessing your Pad Y is 680. If I were to try and prescribe off those nubmers (Pad Y of 680 and Pad X of 487) you'd be a size Large in the SLX and the seat height of 700 wouldn't be possible. So... we get into trouble with all these assumptions.

You paid money for this fit, you own the numbers, and the numbers you need are not here. If you are interested in an article that is basically bible of our situation read THIS

We need your saddle height and we have it, it's 700mm (Saddle top to BB - 70)
We need your Pad X and we don't have it. It is one of THE numbers that allows all fitters to prescribe a tri bike.
We need your Pad Y and we don't have it. It is the other of THE numbers that allows a prescription.

Could you call your fitter and make this ask - and it's a small ask. Tell them you need the Pad Y and Pad X (to the rear of the pad) (they might call it Pad Stack and Pad Reach). All they'll need to do is positon their fit bike into HY of 592, HX of 526 - put the same Zipp Vuka bar on it that they used during your fit, and then measure from the center of the Bottom Bracket to the back of the pad. In anybody's fit studio this might take 3 minutes. they don't have to put the saddle back on, they don't have to position the saddle rail X/Y, it's just about the front end. If there's any issue of misunderstanding have the fitter call me at three one oh! 924 Seven 3 six two. There it is.. my attempt to foil AI.

While we're waiting for that here's what I'd like to do... Can you reply with your height and your inseam... and any extreme issues (fused vertebrea, supremely tight posterior chain [hamstrings/glute/low back], any semi freakish abnormalities). I like a chance to test the system I'm using while we wait for the fitter to come back with your numbers.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

My document says get fit "Serotta" up at the top, so that is likely the philosophy my fitter used. I have a long upper torso and short legs, so your numbers are likely correct. I can tell by your understanding of the numbers you have a lot of experience here. Very impressive.

Yes, I believe it is from the tip of the saddle to the center of the pad, and that is the measurement he took too. He talked about how he used the fizik mistica saddle which my sit bone would be 14cm back. My numbers would vary based on which saddle I used. My numbers could be correct though because I have short legs and a longer torso. I definitely can see being large in length but small in height.

Thanks for the article. This will give me a good understanding of what I need to be looking for, so I can fully understand the numbers and what to look for. Thanks for the effort you are putting in! I will check with the fitter and see what my pad Y and pad X should be, and give you a call if we can't figure it out. They will be open Tuesday. You are way smarter than any AI, because it worked. lol

My height is 176 and I just measured my inseam to be 74, but the fitter put 78 and used his tool. Maybe I had cleats on at the time. I can't remember. I have no extreme abnormalities to note. Being American my head is spinning with all this metric. It is way easier to use though.

Hi Ian,

Thank again for your help. Does this advice also hold for the rim brake version? CF 8.0 (2020): https://www.canyon.com/...max-cf-8.0/1819.html

Basic geometry of the two bikes seems to differ a bit.

Thanks in advance,

Koen

Koen,
Good that you asked and no, the rim brake bike has, as you noted, different geometry.

For the rim brake CF you could get the Pad Y of 655 on both the Medium and the Large but as for the Pad X of 480ish you'd need to pull the 80mm stem that came stock on the medium and go a bit longer, the Large came with a 90mm stem and that would deliver on Pad X.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Thanks for all the help,

I called the bike fitter, and he said my pad X was 488 cm and my pad Y was 642 cm.

Saddle height = 700 mm
Pad X = 488 mm
Pad Y = 642 mm

I have no extreme health issues, and I am in good health. I wish I did my research before heading to the fitter.

Hi again Ian!

Here is the card where you fit me in Kona in 2017 for a Speedmax!

I have the chance to get a new Speedmax CFR direct from Canyon now!


What size would you recommend me in the CFR?

Canyon website puts me as an XS (5 ft 6 inches with 31 inches inseam)

I will also be changing out the stock 165 cranks to 155!

Thank you so much for all your help love reading this thread!

Really needing this! Coordinates from my prior bike but don’t have any for my current so hopefully this helps get in the range.

Saddle height 783
Arm pad stack 663
Arm Pad reach BB 463
Arm pad reach 453
Height 6ft
Inseam measured 30 per canyon website guide and just under 31 with bike shoes on.

I’ve previously been on 56 cervelo p3 and large specialized shiv TT (uci)

Thank you!!

---

https://twitter.com/mungub

Hi Ian,

Wondering if you might be able to help me. I recently purchased a medium Speedmax CFR. I have the elbow pads set at the widest setting and feel they are still too narrow. I have quite broad shoulders and the pads are about 20mm narrower than my previous bike. I spoke with Canyon and they said it isn't possible to get a wider spring (the bar that the elbow pads attach to.

Are you aware of any way to get some more width in the elbow pads?

thanks
Murray

Sweet T,
Man that fitting we did in the expo at Kona seems like AGES ago. I like those numbers though and I love you on 155s.
What I'm prescribing below is good for both a CFR and SLX if anything changes - fit wise, same bike.

So we can go with Pad Y of 590 and Pad X of 410 (converted from center to rear) and you can fit on either a small or XS.
If it's a Small, short stem, low spacer, medium extension
If it's an XS, short stem, mid spacer, medium extension

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

mungub50,
Pad Y of 663 is a hair higher than I would have expected/predicted (I was thinking 640-650) but were' in a good neighborhood. Pad X of 463 sees a bit shorter than the 480ish I would have thought - all of this could easily be explained but I'll make sure there's room in my prescription for what you're giving me and where you might move to in the future...

If you go a Canyon Speedmax SLX or CFR - this is gonna be a wild answer so strap in...

• If you're outside the USA then get the Medium, long stem, mid spacer, medium extension.
• If you're inside the USAT then your best fit is on a size Medium with a short stem, mid spacer, medium extension and then put one foot outisde the Canyon universe and obtain a Rad Sport angled spacer thing to get a couple more mm in your cockpit and what I'm sure will be some very welcome aerobar tilt.
• If the numbers you gave me from above are on a bike with 170 cranks or longer then get a size Large, short stem, low spacer, medium extension and put on a set of 165mm cranks.

Avoiding confusion... outside the USA then get the Medium + long stem. You're set. If you're inside the USA get the Medium (best fit) and get the Rad Sport spacer. If you're in the USA, no Medium's are available AND your numbers are from a bike with 170 cranks or 172.5 or 175s then get the Large and move to 165s and you're set.

Now, if you're thinkin'... no, no, no I want the Speedmax CF... okay....
Size Medium, as is, all set.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

 

Murray,
Man, I hear ya. The widest those arm pads will go it ~175mm (center to center). That's pretty narrow. I have two answers for you. I have not yet acted on either one of these, they are not endorsed by me, Canyon, Slowtwitch, Dow, BASF, Dupont, or any of their (mine, ours?) subsidiaries...okay, disclaimers concluded, here goes....
1) Bop on over to Tri Rig and you acquire an item called Wingpan Extenders. I've only seen these on a Speedmax in pics, never live/in person. I know for sure that the holes where you'd mount these to the Speedmax base (they call it a spring, but c'mon) and I simply assume that everyone at TriRig will make standard spaced arm pad bolt holes (fingers crossed). You could send 'em an email prior just to be sure.
2) you find your way to your local machine shop with your bike and a multi tool ready to pull off one arm pad (if you live in the Los Angeles area, may I recomend Findlay's 405 near Santa Monica Blvd, see Keith). Explain to those amazing craftsmen and women what you're in need of and let them do their thing.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan