Canyon Strive: ON CFR Underdog Review | Bet on the Underdog?

The battery has 5 bars that change colors to signify when an increment is half-spent. This means you can see the battery dwindle 10% at a time, which is good enough for at-a-glance estimates of your remaining battery life. The color that outlines the display ties into which PAS you’re riding in. Green means Eco, blue means Tour+, purple means eMTB, and red means Turbo.

While I’m not personally one for large displays on eMTBs, you do have the option of turning your phone into a display that will give you more of the nitty-gritty details like your speedometer, odometer, percentage remaining on battery life, and more. This is made possible with the Bosch Flow app.

The app also has some nice customization options. I think the majority of people will appreciate the motor’s out-of-the-box settings, but you can tailor the power level, how much torque you get, pedal sensitivity, and more in the app’s tuning features. I played around with it some but found myself setting everything back to standard as that rode really well.

A great benefit of the app is that it can receive OTA updates so Bosch can make improvements to the ride over time. I love connected systems as they help prolong the usefulness of your bike and stave off feeling like your ride is out of date.

An essential question for any e-bike: How far will it go? We conducted a range test to find out! Now, let me get a large caveat out of the way: we can’t control all the variables that affect range. That list goes a long way, but the chart above was created by controlling as many factors as possible. Our range test is done on the same course, with riders of similar weights and skill levels, and we do the whole thing on the highest PAS level possible to answer the least amount of miles you can expect out of a ride based on a full charge.

The Canyon Strive: ON had one of the best showings we’ve seen all year. It went 25.32 miles until the battery gave out. That’s one of the longer results we’ve seen, which is great from a high-power motor.

Remember, that’s 25 miles when pushing full throttle the whole time. That’s excessive for singletrack, and most riding is done with low to medium power usage or, at the very least, a healthy mix. Your mileage may vary, but it will likely be more miles.

A huge part of the impressive result: the battery size. We’ve tested similar motors with larger batteries that didn’t go that far. Bosch threads the needle of feeling powerful, but not wasting power either.

As I mentioned before, you do have the option to add on Bosch’s range extender, which should add another 40% to the 625Wh option or roughly ten additional miles of riding based on our results.

The graph above shows how the Stive: ON CFR Underdog stacks up against fellow eMTBs on hill climbs. As you can see, it more than holds its own against other bike models and different motors.

On our first test on the paved trail it made it up in a minute and 24 seconds. That’s a little better than the average eMTB comparatively. It beat the average by five seconds. At our second hill test location it once again showcased it’s speed, beating the average by eight seconds.

It really doesn’t matter if you have a sharp climb in front of you, or a long drawn out one. The motor does a great job giving you the boost you need, and the 85 Nm of torque helps you climb whatever obstacle is in your way.

Experienced riders will appreciate some of Bosch’s nuance. The slight overrun of the motor where it powers you for less than a second after you stop pedaling really makes it nice for ensuring you get over any hill.

The suspension is stiff and supportive, which makes it great for climbing and stable on descents, though it’s not as plush as some other setups. Our test bike came with an air spacer in the front fork, and we preferred the ride after removing it.

More than anything, we were pleasantly surprised by the bike’s agility. The 38mm stanchions and longer wheelbase make it appear larger than it feels to ride, offering better-than-expected maneuverability.

This serves as a reminder: the bike’s sizing runs large, and for the first time, I think I would have been better off on a medium rather than the large we tested. Be sure to consult the geometry chart to find the best fit for your preferences.

The brakes worked reliably. SRAM’s DB8 4-piston hydraulics have all the stopping power you need to stop in a hurry, and they have operated just fine over all of our testing. Not having a lot to talk about where the brakes are concerned is a plus when I’m reviewing a bike.

The mixed-wheel setup felt like a good choice on this bike. Since it did feel a little large to us, it was nice to have the more agil feel of a 27.5-inch tire in the rear. Overall though, the bike just felt very stable with the larger-than-most wheelbase and nice tire setup.

On a final note, I have a cool story to share. Some people hesitate to buy a direct-to-consumer (DTC) bike because they’re unsure about service options. Canyon, however, handles this well.

Their website provides a network of mechanics with decent service coverage, and many shops familiar with other Bosch motors should be able to work on this one, too—though I’d recommend calling ahead of purchase just to verify that. If you need assistance with other parts, Canyon’s team is very responsive.

Because this is a pass-along media bike, sometimes we encounter surprises that surface during testing. Fun for us, right?

With this bike, we needed a replacement main pivot nut and screw. We reached out to a helpful representative at Canyon named Jake, who went through a “miscellaneous bin” to find the part and sent it to us via FedEx Express—all at no charge and without us mentioning we were e-bike reviewers. That’s great service and a reassuring sign that Canyon cares about its customers.

To summarize everything above—or for those who skipped to the bottom looking for the key points—here are the main takeaways from the Strive: ON CFR Underdog:

• It uses one of the market’s most celebrated motors from recent years. You don’t have to choose between power and precision—it offers a healthy balance of both, with the ability to tweak the settings to suit your preferences.
• It’s a robust bike designed for downhill performance. The suspension effectively soaks up chatter as you rip descents and provides enough support for efficient climbing while also absorbing the impact of jumps.
• The frame has excellent geometry, and Canyon continues to offer some of the best value deals for carbon frames. The direct-to-consumer (DTC) model makes it an affordable, high-quality option.
• This bike has all the essentials you need for tackling greens, blues, or blacks. It’s an excellent entry point for riders looking for a carbon frame with great geometry, a solid motor, and sufficient battery capacity. Plus, it offers room for upgrades to higher-end components down the line if desired.

Happy Riding! Make sure to let us know if you have any questions or if you think we left anything out in this review of the Canyon Strive: ON CFR Underdog down in our comments section.