Canyon Citylite:ON review: A smart, stylish and light ebike, but not without its problems

Electric city bikes have come a pretty long way in the past few years. What used to be chunky, heavy bits of kit have slimmed down into something you'd actually want to be seen on (and can manoeuvre around without giving yourself a hernia).

The best electric bikes now blend seamlessly into the urban cycling world, offering motor assistance without added bulk.

Canyon, the German brand best known for its road and mountain bikes, recently threw its hat into this ring with the Citylite:ON, a city-focused e-bike with a distinctly Dutch-inspired design.

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It’s built around a Bosch Performance Line motor and boasts a low-maintenance Gates belt drive and a long list of commuter-friendly features, including integrated lights, a frame lock, mudguards, and a MIK HD rear rack.

I've been riding it around Manchester for the past few months to see whether it delivers on that promise. Here’s how I got on.

Canyon Citylite:ON review

Price and availability

The Canyon Citylite:ON is available to buy now, direct from Canyon's website, priced at £2,799 in the UK and €2,999 in the EU. Canyon sells directly to consumers only, so you won't find it in bike shops, though the brand now has a network of over 500 European service partners who can build and maintain bikes bought directly online.

At the time of writing, the Citylite:ON doesn't appear to be available in the US or Australia. If you're based elsewhere, £2,799 converts to roughly $3,600 / AU$5,400, but without official availability in those areas, you'd likely be looking at import costs on top.

For context, this puts it in a competitive space alongside commuter e-bike rivals such as Cube, Riese & Muller and VanMoof, though Canyon's direct-to-consumer model means you're generally getting more bike for the money than you would from a traditional retailer.

In terms of accessories, there's also an optional front rack (around £50), a wireless charging adapter for the SP Connect phone mount (also around £50), and a Bosch Range Extender (250Wh, around £470) if you need more juice for longer rides.

Design and build

On first impression, the Citylite:ON looks super smart. It sports a clean, modern design with a distinctly Dutch-bike feel, thanks to its high stem, swept-back handlebars and relaxed, upright riding position.

It seems Canyon took inspiration from the Amsterdam cycling scene for this one, which is a nice touch and gives it an element of class. Meanwhile, the aluminium frame and carbon fork keep things light (around 22kg with accessories, which is impressive for a fully kitted city e-bike), and the whole thing looks nice and tidy thanks to internally routed cables and neatly integrated components.

The accessories list is pretty generous for the price. You get full-length mudguards, a rear kickstand, integrated front and rear lights (the rear includes a brake light function), an Abus frame lock, a Selle Royal comfort saddle, a suspension seatpost, and a 27kg-rated MIK HD rear rack that's compatible with panniers, baskets and even child seats.

There's also an SP Connect phone mount on the stem, which is helpful for thoise needing something to snap their phone or GPS to with ease. The Gates belt drive is another feature worth highlighting, as it means no greasy chain, no occasional oiling and therefore way less maintenance. After years of getting oil on my trousers or legs from traditional bike chains, this is a very welcome upgrade.

The Bosch Purion 200 display and controller are among the biggest smart features here. It sits neatly on the handlebars and is intuitive to use, while the companion Bosch Flow app connects effortlessly and adds a premium layer of control that’s actually useful.

You can customise power modes, check ride data, monitor battery levels from your phone, map your routes and even control security features. It all feels very polished and well thought through.

Now, here comes the negative stuff. Firstly, my review unit arrived with a bent front axle. While annoying, it wasn’t a huge deal. Canyon's PR team were prompt in sending a replacement, which was appreciated, but it wasn't a great start.

Then I discovered the plastic battery cover panel on the underside of the frame wouldn't clip back into place properly. I was sent a replacement for that, too, which also wouldn’t stay in place. After closer inspection, it turned out that the connector on the bike frame above the battery that holds the panel in place seemed compromised.

By this point, I didn't have the energy to go back to Canyon for a third time, so I strapped the cover on with a cable tie. It works, but it's hardly the premium experience you'd expect from a supposedly premium e-bike.

I'm confident Canyon would replace the bike outright if a paying customer had the same experience, and this could absolutely be a one-off issue with a review unit.

But I can only go on my own experience, and for me, it raised real questions about the build quality of certain components, particularly the plastic parts around the battery housing.

One other design niggle I had isn't specific to my unit. In theory, the integrated rear wheel lock is a brilliant feature. But in practice, the key can only be removed when the lock is engaged, which means it stays in the lock while you're riding.

If you've got other keys on a keyring, they dangle against your leg as you pedal. It's a small thing, but it's an annoying detail that shouldn’t be there for an almost-£3k bike.

Performance and features

When it comes to the actual ride, the Citylite:ON is impressive. The Bosch Performance Line motor delivers 75Nm of torque and provides smooth, responsive assistance that feels natural rather than jerky.

It matches your pedalling effort well, and the four power modes (Eco, Tour, Auto and Turbo) are easy to cycle through via the Purion 200 controller. Auto mode is the standout for city riding, adjusting assistance based on conditions so you barely have to think about it.

The bike is noticeably light for an e-bike, and you can really feel that during a ride. It's nimble, easy to steer through traffic, and manageable to carry up a few steps or lift onto a bike rack, which makes a huge difference. The upright riding position gives you excellent visibility in urban traffic, and the wide Maxxis DTR-1 tyres provide decent grip and stability.

While the belt drive paired with the Shimano Nexus 5-speed hub gear is mostly smooth and hassle-free, I did experience a few clunky downshifts under load, which is a known trait of these hubs. It's nothing major, but worth mentioning if you're coming from a derailleur setup.

Another thing that you’ll notice while riding is the lack of proper suspension. The suspension seatpost does take the edge off minor bumps, but on rougher roads and Manchester's less-than-perfect tarmac, you do feel a lot of the vibration coming through.

It's not uncomfortable on short rides, but on longer stretches over poorly maintained roads, it becomes noticeable. On the other hand, this lack of full suspension helps keep the weight down, so it's a trade-off that makes sense for a city bike.

When it comes to battery performance, the 400Wh Bosch CompactTube option shipped with this Citylite:ON is the lightest in Bosch's range at around 2kg, but the modest capacity does feel somewhat limiting.

Canyon claims up to 90km of range, but in real-world use with a mix of power modes and hilly Manchester terrain, you can expect significantly less. If longer rides are your thing, the optional Bosch Range Extender adds another 250Wh but will set you back close to £500.

Nevertheless, the integrated lighting system is a nice touch. The Supernova Starstream Mini headlight sits flush with the handlebars and is bright for its size, while the rear strip light on the rack, with brake-light function, I found, is all you need for great visibility.

Verdict

The Canyon Citylite:ON is a bike I really wanted to love. On its best days, it's a brilliant city e-bike, touting a light, smooth, well-equipped ride, with superb Bosch motor and app integration. The overall design is attractive and modern, and the belt drive is another very welcome feature.

But I can't pretend my experience was without issues. A bent front axle on arrival and a compromised battery cover connector that I ended up cable-tying in place are not the kind of things you expect from a £2,799 bike.

Add in the baffling decision to leave the key dangling in the wheel lock while riding, and the overall impression is of a bike with great ideas that doesn't always execute them as well as it should.

If Canyon can nail the build quality on these finer details, the Citylite:ON would be a no-brainer. But based on my own experience, it's a bike with a lot of potential that doesn't quite deliver the polish its price tag suggests.