Canyon Gravel Size Guide: Find Your Fit by Height and Reach

Canyon sizes its gravel bikes 2XS to 2XL, seven sizes on both the Grail and the Grizl. It is one of the few brands that prints a recommended body height band directly inside the geometry table. Canyon writes the largest size as 2XL, not XXL. The bands are identical on the two models: 166 cm and under for 2XS, then six centimetre steps up to 196 cm and over for 2XL.

Canyon also warns, on its own sizing page, that its system does not work from seat tube length and that a rider who takes a large elsewhere may fit a medium Canyon. That is worth taking seriously. Browse the Canyon Grail collection or the wider Canyon range at Bikeroom.

Please note. The bands below are Canyon's published recommendations, not a fitting guarantee. Canyon's own tool asks for height and inseam together, and the table only shows height. Torso length, arm length and flexibility move the answer, so confirm with a bike fit or with our team before you buy.

Quick size finder

The height column reproduces Canyon's published body height row. The inseam column is a Bikeroom estimate, because Canyon publishes a seat height range per size rather than an inseam band. The two models share the same recommendation at every size.

Canyon leaves both ends open, with no lower bound for 2XS and no upper bound for 2XL. BikeRadar reported on 17 September 2026 that Canyon puts the current Grail range at 158 cm to 204 cm of rider height. The previous Grail generation used the same seven labels, but Canyon no longer publishes its height bands.

How to measure yourself

Height. Stand barefoot against a wall, heels together, eyes level. Rest a flat book on your head, square to the wall, mark the edge and measure from the floor.

Leg length (inseam). Barefoot, feet about 15 cm apart, press a book spine up between your legs as if it were a saddle. Hold it level against the wall, mark the top edge and measure from the floor to the mark.

Why Canyon wants both. The Perfect Positioning System compares the ratio of your body height to your inner leg length, then checks the bike can reach the seat height that ratio implies. Canyon says the algorithm draws on more than 15,000 data points and that 98% of riders entering correct data receive their ideal size. Height alone will not reproduce that, which is why long legged and long torsoed riders of the same height can land on different sizes.

Canyon Grail, current generation (gravel race)

The current Grail launched in September 2026 and clears 57 mm tyres front and rear, with 4 mm of ISO clearance to spare. Seven sizes, 435 mm chainstays throughout, and a stack that Canyon says is 15 mm lower than the outgoing bike for a more aggressive fit. BikeRadar reported on 17 September 2026 that reach was deliberately held constant and shorter stems fitted instead.

Official Canyon data from the Grail CF SLX 7 Di2 page. Frame rows should be common to the platform, but component rows such as stem length vary by build. A long, low gravel race fit: reach at size M is 411 mm, which is longer than most gravel frames at the same rider height.

Canyon prints two extra rows most brands do not: effective stack and effective reach, measured from the bottom bracket to the hand position rather than to the head tube. On the Grail those read 663 mm and 560 mm at size M. They are the more honest comparison when a bike ships with its own cockpit, and BikeRadar notes that the four drop shapes of the Pace cockpit shift effective reach by 10 mm on their own.

For the full launch detail, including weights and prices, see our Canyon Grail article, which a colleague is preparing in this batch.

Canyon Grail, previous generation (2023 to 2026, found pre-owned)

This is the 42 mm clearance Grail, the one most riders will meet on the second hand market. Canyon no longer publishes its geometry, so the figures below come from BikeRadar's review of the Grail CF SLX 8 Di2, dated 27 May 2024. Chainstays were 425 mm, 10 mm shorter than the current bike.

Press data, not manufacturer data, for model years around 2024. The reach row is identical to the current Grail at every size, which matches Canyon's stated intention of lowering stack while holding reach. Stack is 15 to 20 mm higher per size than the current bike.

Two consequences follow for a pre-owned purchase. A rider who fits the current Grail in M will very likely fit the previous one in M, with the bars sitting roughly 16 mm higher. And the shorter 425 mm chainstays make the older bike feel livelier, at the cost of tyre room.

Canyon Grizl (adventure and bikepacking)

The Grizl is the long distance frame, sold in carbon and aluminium and badged as current at 54 mm of clearance. Seven sizes, 2XS to 2XL, all on 700c wheels, with 440 mm chainstays. Against the Grail at the same label it is taller and shorter: 596 mm of stack and 404 mm of reach at size M, against 575 and 411 on the Grail.

Official Canyon data from the Grizl CF 7 page, frame geometry only; the aluminium Grizl was not separately checked. A relaxed, upright adventure fit. Note that Canyon's own chart lists the same standover figure for L and XL, and the page carries a standard errors and omissions notice.

What riders say about Canyon gravel sizing

Canyon sizing generates more published argument than most brands, and the pattern is consistent. The recommendation often comes back one size smaller than the rider expected, and opinion divides on whether to follow it.

A reviewer who took the recommended size found it short. Testing the Grail CF SL 7.0 for BikeRadar on 17 February 2020, Matthew Loveridge, 174 cm, took the S that Canyon's 172 to 178 cm band gave him. He wrote that it felt very short and that he should have stayed on a medium.

He corrected it the following year. Reviewing the Grail 6 on 4 January 2021, Loveridge asked Canyon for the M instead and was happy with it. His advice to riders caught between two Canyon sizes was to take the larger one.

Long reach, short stem. Warren Rossiter, 188 cm, rode an L Grail for BikeRadar on 27 May 2024. He called 427 mm of reach very long, and credited the cockpit's effective 70 mm stem with bringing it back.

Owners split on following the tool. In an MTBR forum thread started on 20 July 2023, a rider of 178 cm reported being sent to S where he takes M or L elsewhere. Another at the same height runs an M Grizl with a 90 mm stem and says the S would be too small. A third, at 173 cm with a 76 cm inseam, is happy on an XS Grizl.

The Grizl sits you up. Sam Challis, 185 cm, tested an L Grizl for Cyclist on 12 August 2021 and reported that the short reach and tall stack left him sitting up in the wind.

Between two sizes?

Canyon's own tie-break is sensible. Check that both frames reach your ideal seat height, then choose on riding style. Canyon characterises the smaller frame as lower, shorter and more agile, the larger as longer, higher and more planted at speed.

Add two Canyon specific points. First, the current Grail already sits 15 mm lower than the bike it replaced. A rider who sized down on the old Grail to get a low front end may not need to repeat that. Second, the Grail's Pace cockpit changes effective reach by 10 mm depending on the drop shape chosen, which covers a fair part of the gap between two sizes without touching the frame.

If your riding is mostly loaded and long, the Grizl's taller stack does the same job as sizing up on a Grail, with better tyre room and a slacker head angle. Our guide to choosing between road and gravel covers that decision from the other direction.

Shop Canyon at Bikeroom

• Canyon Grail for the gravel race platform, new and pre-owned
• Canyon road and mountain bikes for the wider range
• Gravel bikes to compare the Grail and Grizl against other brands
• Pre-owned gravel bikes where the 42 mm Grail usually appears

For Canyon's road geometry, which uses the same size labels on a different chart, see our Canyon road bike size guide.

If you sit at 178 cm, where Canyon's chart offers both S and M, and you cannot tell whether 17 mm of reach will help or hurt, talk to our concierge.

Disclaimer: the size suggestions here are indicative and offered as general guidance, not as a fitting guarantee. Current Grail and Grizl figures are official Canyon manufacturer data, read from the Grail CF SLX 7 Di2 and Grizl CF 7 pages on 21 September 2026. Canyon states that they are subject to modification without notice. The previous generation Grail figures are press data from BikeRadar, not manufacturer data, and inseam bands are estimated by Bikeroom. Confirm against the exact bike you are buying.

Sources: Canyon Grail CF SLX 7 Di2 geometry; Canyon Grizl CF 7 geometry; Canyon Perfect Positioning System; BikeRadar, new Canyon Grail, 17 September 2026; BikeRadar, Grail CF SLX 8 Di2 review, 27 May 2024; BikeRadar, Grail 6 review, 4 January 2021; BikeRadar, Grail CF SL 7.0 review, 17 February 2020; Cyclist, Canyon Grizl review, 12 August 2021; MTBR forum thread, 20 July 2023.