DH Bike Review: Canfield's Jedi Masters Rough Terrain

Canfield has evolved their “Formula 1” dual-link suspension design over decades of experience between the tape and sending sizeable hit, perfecting the pivot and idler placement for unmatched rear wheel tracking.

---

Contents

---

Frame Details

The raw aluminum shows off the welds that piece together quite a few CNC machined sections. Complex shapes are used to position the pivot precisely for the Formula 1 suspension design and put aesthetics lower down the priority list for the Jedi. Two short links ride on 20mm pivot bearings, connecting the front half of the bike to the square-tubed rear triangle. Those provide 19mm of horizontal rearward wheel travel that really helps to eat trail chatter and give that seriously supple suspension break away. Down towards the drivetrain components, the chain passes along a high route to an idler, keeping the chain growth to less than 1mm, and then through a custom MRP chain guide.

You can tell that Canfield has been to a race or two because all of the components are easily accessible and there are no complicated axles, pivots or hardware on this workhorse frame. Changing the spring takes less time than smashing a slice of pizza. A robust gusset at the head tube, and at the BB junction, doubles as a cable guide for the brake and derailleur housings which run externally across the bike. A rider who is critical about silencing their bike will want to add some foam tubing or use additional zip ties to lock down the housing around this area, though.

Suspension


In terms of anti-squat, the Jedi has around 170% which is mega-high and means it pedals very firmly, but the idler drastically reduces the pedal kickback that is associated with a number like that. When you have to hit the brakes, the bike remains quite neutral and doesn’t pitch back and forth wildly, again attributing to the way the Jedi tracks so well on rough sections of trail.

Geometry

On paper, the Jedi has a notably short 427mm chainstay, but that’s because it lengthens considerably, by about 15mm, depending on the 28 or 33% suggested sag.

The DH-race oriented bike is equipped with dual 29” wheels that come in three sizes. Starting out on the medium with a reach of 450mm, that measurement grows 25mm as you go up in size to the large and XL frames.

A head angle of 62.5 degrees is plenty slack and the size large we tested had a stack of 644. Coming in at a touch under 1300mm, the wheelbase lies at 1279, falling in line with the other bikes in the test

Specifications

Canfield might have the largest pool of suspension components to choose from when building a Jedi, whether that’s a complete bike, frame only, or fork and shock combo. Pairings from Fox, RockShox, Ohlins and DVO are on tap, plus the inverted Manitou Dorado fork and coveted EXT Arma rear shock.

Pricing begins at $6,299 USD with the DVO suspension at either end and your choice of three colors; hot rod orange, matte black, or a brushed aluminum finish. Our Ohlins equipped test bike rang in at $6899.99 USD with the standard TRP DH Evo brakes and E-Thirteen alloy wheelset.

Less common, but equally sufficient components round out the build. TRP’s DH7 shifting mechanisms ride on the extra wide E-Thirteen rear hub with, you guessed it, just seven cogs. Canfield also makes a few of the machined bits bolted to the Jedi as well, such as the 45mm-length stem and 165mm crank arms.

---

Test Bike Setup


The Ohlins DH38 fork was a familiar sight for me and knew I’d be bumping up the pressure to around 130 in the air spring and 230 PSI in the ramp chamber. Only minor diversions were made to balance out with the rear suspension.

Descending

Have you ridden the Whistler Bike Park post-Crankworx? Yes? Then you’ll know the trails are blown to pieces with a sprinkling of dust and marbles. Well, add on another month without any rain or trail maintenance. It was rough out there to say the least, that made it perfect for testing downhill race bikes - I actually loved the conditions, in fact, even more so on the Jedi.

I knew the Ohlins DH38 would be the most forgiving amongst the other forks on our test bikes, but was totally shocked by how the kinematics of Canfield’s Formula 1 suspension carried speed through destroyed berms and ate up braking bumps. Riding the Jedi made me question whether or not I had lost the chain. The bike tracked extremely well and was extremely comfortable because there’s a very low amount of pedal kickback built into the design. In a straight line, the Jedi was unmatched at keeping the wheel on the ground, even on the brakes.

Negotiating the Jedi through corners and changing directions isn’t a chore, but it’s not exactly an X-Wing fighter either. On paper, the rear center measures 427mm, yet quickly grows to about 443mm under the rider’s weight, which isn’t long by today's standards. When you load the bike through corners, the level of grip increases as the rear center lengthens, adding confidence in loose, unsupported turns. Through tight chicanes though, that can be a bit laborious to push and pull the bike through. The weight loaded on each wheel of the Jedi is well balanced, but it’s the changing position of the rear axle that exaggerates this feeling, epecially with the larger diameter rear wheel that takes more effort to tip side to side.

At the helm, there’s a few characteristics that could be improved to calm down the steering. A simple change would be to select a shorter fork offset. The 54mm offset crowns can literally get out of hand if the front wheel hits an object while turning. It simply throws too much leverage through the steering unexpectedly, making the handling slightly nervous. I had a small detour off trail when I bounced through a cobbled turn. I couldn’t correct how much “swing” was being loaded through the handlebars. More attention and caution is needed with this offset, but again, that’s an easy fix.

I’d also like to play with slackening the Jedi even further. I know - on paper, 62.5 degrees is aggressive, but the Jedi's head tube angle rides steeper than expected. I’ve noticed that on bikes with strong rearward axle paths can push your center of gravity forward at times.

All of that traction and floating feeling of the axle path does want to keep the Jedi on the ground. Pulling the bike into a manual or off the ground requires quite a bit of effort. Launching high-speed jumps is straightforward, whereas taking off of steep-lipped jumps takes some adjustments that never came naturally to me.

On occasion, some of those landings ended with a metal on metal bottom out from the otherwise strong-performing Ohlins coil shock. That wasn’t the only mechanical clunking coming from the Jedi either. In terms of cable management and chain slap protection, the frame lacked the necessary pieces to hold those noises at bay, but the chain never skipped a beat on the idler. Adding a few homemade solutions to these areas would add to the Jedi’s ability to sail over the nasty bits.

---

Technical Report

TRP DH-Evo Brakes: Simple, effective, and powerful. These brakes appeared on a few test bikes this year and I wasn't the only editor left impressed with their performance. They could slow down a train with the tap of the lever, yet modulation is plentiful and there’s no sign of fading either. The only downside that I can find is that they don't have a pad contact adjustment like SRAM's Code RSCs, however you can create a shorter throw by carefully pulling the lever without the rotor to stop the pads.

TRP DH7 Derailleur and Shifter: Drivetrains are usually a boring aspect of bikes, so it's refreshing to see a unique spec choice here. TRP's DH7 shifting combo gets the job done just fine. The Hall Lock works similarly to the clutch on the cage, but clamps down on the B-bolt to keep the derailleur from rotating more than necessary. The shifting itself is crisp, but the ergonomics of the paddles take time to adjust to. There was also more play in the downshift paddle than expected. If you do find yourself on this system, carrying a spare derailleur would be worthwhile because it's not as commonly found in shops as the main staples from SRAM or Shimano.

Ohlins TTX22M Shock: Exchanging the Swedish gold nickname to yellow butter might do Ohlins more justice. The combination of this damper's control with the Jedi's rearward axle path and kinematic handled almost everything we threw at it. The only minor downside was the occasional top-out clunk. Otherwise, I sat nearly in the middle of the damper range and could easily feel the changes in each click. Ultimately, that allows a rider to figure out what works for them in a shorter time frame. I also appreciated the shorter rebound knob that eliminates the need to remove it when swapping springs.

---

How Does It Compare?

Against another bike with a rearward axle path, like the Antidote Darkmatter, there were two large differentiators: overall weight and comfort. No other bike touched the Jedi in terms of isolating the rider from the trail and keeping the wheels on the ground. The suggested setup runs a bit softer than the others, however, it never did cave in the middle of the travel and there was enough progression to save all but the heaviest of compressions. The pedalling performance isn't affected by the plush suspension either due to the high-anti squat that the idler positioning provides.

While you could change the high gearing choices with a custom build, you're not going to win any pumptrack races on the aluminum workhorse. The weight is significantly more than the carbon Antidote, as is the price for that matter. There are no other adjustments to run a 27.5" rear wheel or modify the geometry either. The rearward axle path, weight, and larger rear wheel mean that the Jedi takes more work to accelerate back up to speed or carry speed through jump lines against the likes of the Darkmatter.

As mentioned before, the long offset crowns did cause require more attention to the steering. Jumping back and forth between the short, 48mm offset crowns on the Darkmatter and 54mm crowns on the Jedi presented the night and day difference. On the longer offset, the leverage inputs to the steering and confidence in traction at the front wheel felt dated and uneasy. That's not so much a bike characteristic as it is a specification choice. That also added to the feeling that the Jedi wasn't as slack as the geometry chart stated, especially considering the Darkmatter sat 0.5 degrees steeper at 63.

---

Pinkbike's Take

---

---

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews DH Bikes Canfield Bikes Canfield Jedi