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Canyon Heads Down Under with New Distribution to Australia & New Zealand

Written by Cory Benson Jul 29, 2015 7:48 a.m. ET

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News out of Canyon’s headquarters today that they have put together a new team based in Melborne to deliver their consumer-direct bikes to cyclist throughout Australia and New Zealand. Bikes will be assembled in German before being shipped direct. The new Canyon Australia & New Zealand market group joins recently added South Korea and Japan, as Canyon continues to expand its global reach out of its Europe base, and will be open by the end of this year to make their complete new 2016 range of bikes available on a new continent. No other new markets as of yet, but they did suggest that we stay tuned for more..

Click past the break for some excerpts from their press release…

KOBLENZ, 29.07.2015 — Canyon is about to enter a new era – and a new continent. The launch of Canyon Australia & New Zealand is coming.

Following years of success throughout Europe and beyond, riders Down Under are next in line to benefit from direct access to Canyon bikes alongside full local service and sales support for the first time ever. As a pioneer of direct sales within the industry, orders placed online at Canyon.com will be assembled at the Canyon Factory in Koblenz, Germany, and sent straight to the doorsteps of riders Down Under. The new team at Canyon Australia & New Zealand will operate out of Melbourne and provide full support to customers in the region, from service queries to buying advice, in addition to representing Canyon at events from 2016 onwards.

For Canyon’s Head of Business Development, Ward Grootjans, the move represents a new challenge: “We have been eyeing up Australia and New Zealand for a number of years and are now prepared for market entry. These two markets have great potential but require a different approach due to the physical distance away from our base in Germany. When visiting Australia a few months ago I was taken aback by how large and engaged the cycling community is. Talking to riders over there it was clear that Canyon will be most welcome! We are excited to get started and be able to offer the full Canyon experience to our customers from day one.”

Establishing a presence for Australia and New Zealand continues Canyon’s international expansion beyond its European core. Alongside recent arrivals, South Korea and Japan, Canyon Australia & New Zealand becomes the 16th representative worldwide to provide a direct point of contact for local riders.

Cory Benson

4,157 articles

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry created some of these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components, and worked as a bike shop mechanic.

Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, and short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.

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Frank

8 years ago

Please come to the USA!

Birdman

8 years ago

… Sigh … I don’t live there 🙁

Joe

8 years ago

I am happy for them but I really want them to come to the USA. I have half a mind to buy a bike from them when I go on vacation to Europe this summer.

Dave

8 years ago

So let me play like I know nothing about bikes and the bike industry. Why are so many people interested in Canyon in the USA?

My guess is most people have never ridden a Canyon. So is it based purely on price because the bikes are consumer direct and they sponsor a few pro tour teams?

Joe

8 years ago

@Dave – I rode a friend’s bike when I was last in Portugal and I have to say I was really impressed by his Canyon. The price also really helps but it was the best bike I rode in a long time.

Thomas

8 years ago

@Dave. The biggest allure of Canyon bikes in USA is simply that we can not get them. Americans don’t like to be told no. There are more than enough excellent bicycles available to satisfy the pickiest of buyers. But it’s the one we can’t have we really want.

Dave

8 years ago

One of the biggest concerns is that with so many bike brands going consumer direct the smaller shops are going to have a more and more difficult time surviving. The big shops that do Trek, Specialized, Giant will be ok. But the smaller shops that I know that do a lot of things that the standardized / homogenized bigger shops cannot do because in many cases they do not have the expertise will be the most effected.

The smaller shops cannot survive on just great service alone. They need the sale of some bigger ticket items to survive.

Birdman

8 years ago

That’s the same problem with everything though, electronics, book stores…

brattercakes

8 years ago

Why does this bike have Cadel Evans on it? Is he an ambassador for Canyon now?

Birdman

8 years ago

I have to admit, the reason I want it is because I can’t get it, once Canyon is actually at the US, it probably lose some of its appeal to me.

But they do make great bikes (at least from what I’ve heard) and is always nice to have more bikes to drool over.

binny bin

8 years ago

seems like the USA is the next place to go consumer direct. what other current USA brands will follow suit in the appeal of higher margins and cutting out the middle man, aka, your local bike shop? seems like only a matter of time right now. how can bike shops survive in the 20th century with these new consumer direct models?

Ernie

8 years ago

“how can bike shops survive in the 20th century with these new consumer direct models?”

EASY. They sell Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, etc. brands that do not sell direct.

More and more companies are selling to Internet shops because the big brands suck up all the floor space of the IBD.

Champs

8 years ago

It’s natural for people to want something unique. I remember how much I used to want a Ridley bike or a Catlike helmet before they got distribution in the US.

Cadel Evans makes sense because they’re marketing to marketing to the Antipodes and there’s a long history of him riding Canyon with Lotto and when he won the rainbow jersey.

Champs

8 years ago

Of course Evans’ career didn’t hit the next level until he finally quit Lotto for BMC.

I’m not saying it’s about the bike or drugs, it’s that he raced on Lotto for too many seasons. So many times I can recall him as the lone Lotto kit hitched to a swarm of Discovery/Astana/CSC domestiques in the mountains.

Vengista

8 years ago

I love my Spectral 29..

Robbo

8 years ago

@brattercakes, it’s just an old – like, 2009 old – shot of Cadel’s bike. He’s still a BMC man. I tried to pick up a Canyon frame on a work trip to Europe to bring down under a couple of years back, but flexible (ie deliver a frame to a hotel, not to the cardholder’s address) they were not. Nice to see them here, but they won’t flood the market.

Pillz

8 years ago

I love how people pretend to know why Americans want Canyons, and that it’s for no good reason.

What they really mean but don’t say is “I own or work at a bike shop and we don’t sell Canyon”.

Thar

8 years ago

not sure why all the comments are beating around the bush. I would like to see canyon in north America because they offer great value for an (apparently) good product. There is no shame in saying that, given the choice between two similar products (mass produced, foreign made bikes), I will choose the one that is better value (usually the cheaper one).
Only issue I see is in Canada we have a huge tariff on importing complete bikes so I’m sure much of that value will be eroded.

Antipodean_g

8 years ago

I have a feeling they will do very well in the market here, which already has little, if any, issues ordering online. In fact, it’s estimated that around 50% of bike related sales are online (via places such as CRC and Wiggle).

maddogeco

8 years ago

Thats and old bike Cadel once road on a team sponsored by Cayon before BMC. I think he was the Australian champion at the time hence the custom paint job

Durianrider

8 years ago

It was the bike Cadel rode in the 2009 TDF

Durianrider

8 years ago

Same paint job he also won the 2009 mens road worlds.
He has never won the aussie road champs before. Only mountain bike.

Veganpotter

8 years ago

I don’t get the love either. They do look cool but tons of bikes do. At the top level, mostly all brands make really spectacular bikes now. Some will fit you better than others but is that a Canyon? Could be…but maybe not and we’re talking a CM stem adjustment for most people if not but that’s not a biggie either. Unless their TT bike and aero road bikes are much more aero than everything else and their cobble bike is that much smoother than everything else, and their weight weenie bike is that much lighter than every other available bike, it really makes no sense. If they were all made in-house by a few craftsman, I’d change my tune but otherwise, there’s plenty available to us here in the US.

Ripnshread

8 years ago

How are traditional bike shops going to survive…many won’t. We all have the dealer we bought our car from. And we have a “mechanic”…. and who hasn’t been to Auto zone? The dynamics will change. Hopefully we can retain the passion and do not become a pure commodity.

Canyon designs as good a bike, as any of our “big 3″…and their retail is much less in any competitive analysis. Canyon, and many others, are going to take part in a new race for the cycling customer.

Should be fun…

JoeMamma

8 years ago

Wow, people freak out about buying a bike direct online. I can buy any car direct online, why not a simple bicycle. The model is clear, all manufacturers will head this way but when….

Canyon doesn’t have an IBD presence in the USA, only makes sense to go consumer direct, then if IBDs want to carry them, BONUS!

Brands like Giant, Specialized, Cannondale etc, would be burned at the stake in the social platform for doing so, but fiscally and technically it makes perfect sense.

The IBD has to change or it will be destroyed by direct to consumer and mobile service. End of Story, thanks for stopping by.

Kevin K

8 years ago

Pointless media release. No date when this going to happen. Australia and NZ are not even country options on the web site.

Euan Henry

8 years ago

If the are not here in the US by 2017, my vacation to Europe will have a big box to declare on my flight home.

imnotspecialized

8 years ago

I heard that Trek/Bontrager is going direct to consumer this year. I got this info from a couple of people that worked there. If your an IBD get ready it’s happening.

Tim

8 years ago

@imnotspecialized

False.

MartinR

8 years ago

Like the design of the Canyon bikes as well as the fact that the consumer-direct strategy makes lower prices possible. What I don’t like , however, is that I can’t test a Canyon bike and/or have bike-fit done like for instance Specialized BG Fit . When I am buying a bike I always consider services, fitting, warranty, etc. as a whole package.

Matt

8 years ago

Canyon routinely beats other top tier brands in the German bicycle magazine Tour’s tests. Being German, you can imagine they’re highly quantifiable and data-driven exams of each bike’s attributes. I know this doesn’t always equate exactly to on-the-road performance but it’s fair to say that Canyon produces top tier bikes that crush the other brands on price. As noted above, there are many trade offs for that price advantage. But price for performance/spec is one of the big reasons people are looking for Canyon to enter the U.S. And when they do, it will turn the entire industry on its head – for better or worse. That’s why they are taking their time in doing so. The U.S. market is the big enchilada and they have learned from past mistakes with qc issues and supply problems. My guess is NZ and OZ will make a great dry run for the U.S. Market. The other brands will have to “innovate or die.”