Unboxing: YT, Canyon and Commencal

Every YT bike bound for North America first arrives in San Clemente, California, the home of YT's U.S.warehouse and consumer-facing showroom. If I were in charge of props for a near-future utopian science fiction movie, and the main character was buying a bike, I’d just order a 2019 Jeffsy and drop it on the studio lot. There’s something clean and polished about the way YT bikes are packaged that makes them feel like little cardboard spaceships.

The pieces that divide and position the frame, wheels, handlebars and small parts are shaped and labeled deliberately and clearly. Though re-boxing a bike is usually a bit of a mess, even for experienced mechanics, YT’s system makes it easy to understand how things should sit if you were to ever need to box it up to ship it yourself.

During shipping, the axles sit in beefy cardboard perches to keep the frame and components from resting on or punching through the floor of the box during transport. They’re also intended to stand the bike up during unpacking and handlebar and derailleur installation. But I’ve never seen them survive in good enough shape to hold a bike upright. A repair stand or a helping hand might be necessary.

The included tool kit features a simple torque wrench, like you’ll see from Canyon and other consumer-direct brands. But it’s more self-contained than most, and you’re more likely to use and travel with it. In the box with the tool kit is a pair of tubeless valves, something not all brands include. There’s no sealant, but so far I haven’t seen any brand include sealant other than Fezzari, which charges extra for it. Most YTs running RockShox will include fork volume spacers, but I’ve never seen any manufacturer, YT included, package rear shock spacers.

Once you’re ready to start building, the instructions feel current and use images and words that were written specifically for YT bikes. Bike instruction manuals are usually generic and outdated, but in YT's case, you can be sure what you’re looking at in the assembly steps will resemble what you’ve got on your garage floor. There are two manuals, though, and the one that is not as focused on assembly is a little more generic. Be sure you’re reading the one that says “Read First - Then Unpack,” even though each have the rather forceful “RTFM” letters on their cover.

YT bikes are shipped without the rear wheel or derailleur installed. The instructions walk you through it, but it’s kinda jumping in at the deep end for some new riders. If you’ve never installed a derailleur before, there is a spring catch that needs to rest on the correct side of a little fin on the derailleur hanger, and chain force, spring tension and gravity are all pulling it to the wrong side. The best way to prevent improper installation is a video, which none of the brands we outline here provide.We had to look pretty hard to find any shortcomings in YT’s pre-build, and the ones we did are easy to check. We’ve found that most lock-on grip bolts could use an extra NM or two, so be sure to check those. Similarly, we’ve seen more than a couple YTs come through needing a little extra pre-stretch on the dropper cables. If you’re not familiar, one important step whenever installing a new cable or building a new bike is yanking hard on every cable to both stretch its material and bed in its housing. It’s splitting hairs to focus on this one issue, especially because every time we've checked, it's been clear YT pre-stretches their derailleur cables. But build qualities have gotten that good on consumer-direct bikes that we’re zeroing in on instruction manuals and packaging which, on YT, are by far the best of the three.

The first time I built a Commencal since the brand’s return to U.S. sales, I wasn't sure at first if the bike we received was in the the same condition as one that would be shipped to the end consumer. The packaging, instructions and level of pre-assembly aren't nearly on the level of YT or Canyon. Unlike those brands, Commencal bikes are not given a final pre-build in their destination country. They arrive to you in the same condition they left Taiwan. But to be clear, Commencal doesn’t claim otherwise. You don’t see the same buzzwords as you do from other brands like “Ready to Ride,” or “95 Percent Assembled.” Commencal assumes that, if you’re buying one of their bikes, you know what’s involved in assembling one or you’re ready to take it to a bike shop.

That’s not to say there’s anything lacking or shoddy about the Commencal pre-build. Parts were greased, properly installed and free of damage. In fact, I’d call it above average when compared to traditional bike-shop-bike builds like Trek, Giant or Specialized. It’s reflective of its Taiwan country of origin, which has a better reputation than China for pre-builds. But you would need to have experience assembling bikes built overseas to know where to start after unboxing a Commencal. For instance, the stem was installed, but the pinch bolts were only finger-tight. The headset was adjusted, and the stem was straight, but unless you knew that bikes from Asia needed a stern-to-bow nut-and-bolt check, you might end up going down before you leave your driveway. Again, this is standard practice in the world of bikes built overseas. You wouldn’t want assembly-line bike-boxers doing the final tune on your new ride. 

The rest of the bike was similar. The derailleur needs tuning and the cable needs pre-stretching. The brakes need adjusting and the rotor bolts need to be topped off. The parts box does not include tubeless valve stems, and the instruction manual was not rewritten to cater to the inexperienced mechanic. But because it’s not pretending to be anything else, I say more power to ‘em. That more bare-bones experience is reflected in Commencal’s prices. The most that a shop would reasonably charge you to build a brand new, clean bike out of the box would be about $100, and in a very general sense, Commencal bikes save you at least that much compared to other consumer-direct brands. You don’t get that concierge feel that you get from YT or Canyon, but if you don’t want or don't need to pay for it, you’ll find nothing lacking in your next Commencal.

Canyon is the only brand on this short list that makes road, triathlon, urban, cyclocross and gravel bikes in addition to a full-range mountain lineup. Commencal and YT are limited almost exclusively to mountain bikes, and lean hard into the younger, more aggressive crowd. So, it’s no wonder Canyon was the last to set up operations in North America. It was a huge endeavor to commit to bringing such a broad range of bikes to such a huge market, and to deliver those bikes with that promise of being “95 Percent Assembled.”

Canyon bikes sold in North America are assembled, tuned, test ridden and repackaged in Chino, California. Though the packaging is not quite as high-tech as YT’s, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t thought put into making it a cut above the bikes that come straight from Asia. Instead of twine and zip ties, the parts are held together with reusable Velcro straps. Not only does that make assembly a little quicker, those straps are also useful for re-boxing the bike if you need to ship it back or if you ever want to use the box to travel with the bike. And the box is roomier than YT’s, mainly because most Canyons are shipped with the rear wheel already installed.

This seems like a small thing, but there are several little benefits to it. First, there’s one fewer large heavy object in the box that needs to be secured. It’s just easier to box bikes when you don’t have to contend with a separate rear wheel. Also, you don’t need to install the rear derailleur which, without the rear wheel there to prop it up, needs to be unbolted and packaged to keep from being destroyed in shipping. On that note, you also don’t need to install the rear wheel, but you should be comfortable doing that anyway. Finally, it’s just nicer to set a bike on the ground after pulling it out of the box if it has a rear wheel. It really feels like you’ve only got 5 percent of building to do when you just need to bolt on a front wheel to be able to lean it against a wall like a complete bike.

Bikes that use Canyon’s G5 two-piece stem put a small snag in that process. You need to understand the basic concept of headset adjustment to install your handlebars, though everything can remain tight and straight if you follow the instructions. Otherwise, the instructions aren’t quite as user-friendly as YT’s. The images aren’t as up-to-date, and the wording is a little … wordy. Some of the imagery includes parts that won’t look exactly like what your bike will have, which might be confusing for the more literal instruction readers out there. But the included tools are adequate, and it’s nice to see tubeless valve stems included.

Overall, the simple experience of unpackaging a Canyon is not too different from the YT above, or Fezzari or Diamondback for that matter. But what does stand out is the overall build quality and attention to detail. Consistently when doing final assembly on Canyons, I am surprised by small things that show that, whoever is training their assemblers, clearly knows what to look out for. Both cables were adequately pre-stretched, lock-on grips are properly tightened, and probably the best example of Canyon’s attention to detail, the saddle-clamping bolts weren’t just tightened, they were over-tightened. During the first climb on any new bike, the force on the saddle clamping mechanism will cause it to settle in and deform slightly, and the bolts will usually loosen before the ride is over. It’s why anyone who has built bikes for a living knows that, before you put a bike out on the floor, you dutifully tighten the saddle “R.F.T.” or, if a customer is listening, “Really Tight.” 

As I said at the outset, there’s no way to predict every issue that can arise when you're unboxing a bike. If you’re going to buy online, it’s best to educate yourself on the fundamentals of what you’re getting into. And it’s as crucial as ever to have a good relationship with a local bike shop because, no matter how perfectly pre-assembled a bike is, it won't stay perfect for long.