Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV review

The Pathlite:ON 7’s combination of rugged mountain bike-like build quality and powerful motor, along with its great price, made for a brilliant commuter bike or weekend trekker and touring bike.

The new Pathlite:ON 9 gets an all-new frameset, the latest Bosch CX electric bike motor and updated control system, along with Bosch’s new ABS braking system.

Add in premium wireless gear shifting from SRAM and Bosch’s latest app-supported motor system and the ON LTD is about as well-specced as urban electric bikes get.

Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV frame details

The new Pathlite frame uses hydroformed aluminium to create a ground-up ebike design, rather than an ebike system bolted to the frame of an existing mountain bike.

This brings smart integration of the large 750Wh battery and Bosch motor, plus full internal routing of all the brake lines and wiring, which contributes to a sleeker, more sophisticated design.

The head tube uses the frankly massive 1.8in headset standard, giving the front end a purposeful and very burly look. However, I can’t help but feel it's somewhat overkill engineering-wise for what’s essentially a trekking bike.

The frame has a very dropped top tube, which makes getting on and off the ON easy, even when laden with panniers. You can opt for a step-thru version for even easier mounting and demounting.

Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV build

This range-topping 9 LTD model gets a full suite of features.

The 750Wh battery locks into place inside the broad down tube. It can be charged in situ via the head tube port, or you can take the battery out via a hinged gate underneath the bottom bracket.

The Bosch system comes with a Bluetooth-enabled Kiox full-colour screen head unit, along with a bar-mounted remote control that enables you to switch between screens and power modes, and activate the built-in lights.

The front end combines a slick-looking one-piece bar and stem, and a Suntour MOBIE35 100mm-travel fork.

This uses the widely spaced Boost standard and is designed for the extra weight and rigours of ebike use. It’s air-sprung with oil damping and comes with a control to adjust the firmness of the suspension.

It’s not quite the same as having a pre-load and lock-out, as you’ll find on the best mountain bike suspension forks, but it works well, and I took advantage of adjusting the forks when needed.

The tyres are Maxxis Crossmark II models in a huge 57mm width. Given these tyres were originally designed for Olympic champion mountain biker Christoph Sauser, they seem a strange choice, but produce low rolling resistance, which will help with efficiency.

As good as they feel on hard-packed bridleways and towpaths, they still feel their mass on tarmac.

I can’t help thinking the Pathlite would be better off with something such as the Schwalbe G-One or even a semi-slick tread such as the Big Ben because it’s more likely to be used on harder surfaces.

The tyres are wrapped around Alex MXD7 wheels, which are broad and beefy, and just the ticket to stand up to the extra mass of an ebike built to go almost everywhere.

The full-length alloy mudguards are sturdy and rattle-free, as is the low-profile rear rack, which is designed to work with Canyon’s own pannier locking system.

Ortlieb makes panniers to fit, which are available online from Canyon.

That said, the rack worked fine with my standard Rixen-Kaul KLICKfix-backed panniers.

The Selle Royal Essenza saddle is comfortable and well-shaped, suiting both wearers of padded shorts and casual bottoms.

It sits atop an Iridium post, which combines both a suspended seatpost and an MTB-style dropper post.

There is a remote lever by the left-hand grip on the bars – when you push the lever, the saddle drops more than 100mm down, out of the way, to help make mounting and dismounting a little easier.

Mountain bikers use this to get more manoeuvrability when descending on technical terrain.

This is especially great if you’ve got fully loaded panniers, which make swinging your leg over more difficult.

It's also useful when you pull up to a junction or traffic lights to be able to drop the saddle down and stand flat-footed on the ground rather than on your toes. This can be unstable, especially when your ebike is loaded down with full panniers, or a child in their child seat.

The drivetrain combines a SRAM X01 rear derailleur that’s wirelessly controlled by the SRAM GX shifter pod on the bars.

This gear system was originally developed for mountain bike racing, but it’s at home here and moves the chain across the wide-ranging 12-speed, 10-52 tooth cassette very quickly.

Attached to the motor is an FSA crankset with a 42-tooth chainring on it, giving the Pathlite a great range for urban and suburban riding. It won’t leave you wanting if you venture off-road, either.

The most interesting element of the equipment is the brakes – a collaborative effort by Bosch and brake specialists Magura, bringing an ABS (anti-lock braking system) to the front wheel.

This automatically activates electronically above 6km/h. If the system senses poor traction from either the surface or rain/frost it regulates the braking, so the front wheel won’t lock up.

If, like me, you still have the occasional childish impulse to skid the rear tyre, you can in dry dusty conditions. I tried hard front braking too, and the braking system regulated the power each time to slow me safely.

It’s a very clever system that all but ensures you won’t go over the bars, even in the most drastic emergency stop manoeuvre.

All this comes at a hefty £5,249 asking price. Instead, you could opt for the Pathlite:ON 7 SUV and get the same full suite of accessories, motor, battery, control system and frame and fork, just with a mechanical Shimano XT drivetrain and standard brakes for £3,999.

The Pathlite:ON range starts at £2,599, so you needn’t pay top dollar if you don’t need all the bells and whistles.

Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV motor system

The latest Bosch Performance CX motor is a benchmark for mid-motor power, and combined with the remote controls on the bar and the full-colour Kiox display, it’s one of the best-controlled power systems around too.

The Kiox head unit allows full customisation of the display (using the Bosch app, connected by Bluetooth) and you can even upload routes from Komoot through the app to the head unit.

The head unit clicks into place, and removing it effectively immobilises the bike (using ‘lock’ mode, the motor system can’t turn on, or the motor turn without it).

You can also initiate a tracker (with full GPS tracking) for your bike and equip an alarm.

This is all great stuff, though I’d still recommend the use of one of the best bike locks for maximum security.

The Bosch system provides four assist modes. The Eco setting provides the lowest assistance level, but the highest potential range (around 88 miles is claimed).

At the other end of the scale, Turbo gives the full power available, but shortens the range significantly (to around 30 miles).

The Auto mode is by far the most interesting, where the system monitors your own pedalling power, speed and cadence, and subtly alters the motor to maintain your average speed.

This fit-and-forget mode is what I more often chose to use for commuting duties when getting to the office on time was the priority.

Overall, the Bosch system is a joy to use and compared to more budget offerings (Rad Power and Engwe spring to mind), I can understand why Bosch-equipped bikes attract such a premium when it comes to price.

The 750Wh battery takes a quite lengthy six hours and 38 minutes to fully recharge from empty. That said, it takes just two hours to get to 50 per cent charge.

Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV ride impressions

The Pathlite:ON meets all the needs for a great commuter bike and weekend trekker.

The upright ride position is brilliant for (sensibly) weaving through traffic on congested rush-hour mornings, while the robust frame, suspension fork and tyres are up to dealing with any surface.

I took trails, towpaths, byways, bridleways and even singletrack in my stride.

The way the bike handles is stable and confidence-inspiring, and when you’ve got the full Bosch power to unleash, no hill, ramp or steep dirt track will stand in your way.

This latest-generation Pathlite:ON feels less like a mountain bike and more like a two-wheeled equivalent of an SUV, as the name suggests. It's smooth, powerful and able.

It doesn’t deliver quite as exciting a ride, but that’s not the priority here.

On one test ride, the bike achieved an impressive 52.71 miles (84.82km) with 3,227.53ft (983.75m) of climbing. That doesn’t quite match Canyon’s 100km-plus claims, though if my test rides were on flat urban roads, I’m confident 100km would have been within the Pathlite:ON’s scope.

Exclusively using the clever Auto mode, I saw the range drop down to 47.73 miles (76.81km), with 2,959.32ft (902m) of climbing.

The Auto mode made suggestions of when to change gear and it constantly monitors your averages, so I suspect I tended to relax and rely on the motor system more than usual when running this mode.

You can adjust the auto parameters through Bosch’s app, though the standard settings make the Pathlite:ON an easy-riding bike

Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV bottom line

The new Pathlite:ON is a very user-friendly bike; it's equipped superbly and a joy to ride where it’s primarily designed to be.

It lacks the thrill factor Specialized has brought to the latest Tero X, for example, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

While this specification arguably packs in more features than are strictly necessary to do the same job as cheaper models, the Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV is an impressive utility ebike.