Canfield Tilt & Lithium Review - The Classics Updated To Modern Times

What Happens When Canfield Remakes Their Classic 29" Bikes?

The resurrection of Canfield Bikes is something we are excited to see. Canfield is a long time classic and has been one of Worldwide Cyclery’s favorite brands for years. Canfield Bikes has been making amazing bikes since 1999 with the BFFF, AKA the Big Fat Fatty Fat. Historically, when we think of Canfield Bikes we think of two things: CBF suspension and short chainstays. While the geometry of the new models has all been updated, one thing that remains constant is the use of CBF to actuate the rear shock. The Riot, which later came to be known as the Tior, was the Canfield bike that really made us fall in love with the brand. Early on in the 29er days, the stigma was that 29ers were for XC and couldn't be fun. Well, Canfield might have taken that as a challenge and created the Riot, a 29” 140 mm travel bike that had some of the shortest chainstays on the market, especially for a 29” rear wheel at 414 mm long. I personally owned a Riot along with many of the guys at the shop. With the 414 mm chainstays and CBF suspension, you could really get this bike to have some fun, jump around, hit the jibs and also make it down some extremely rowdy trails that usually required much longer travel bikes. 

If you haven't heard of CBF suspension, I strongly suggest you do some educational research on it. I think the best place to start is our full video and blog article featuring one of the men behind the creation, Chris Canfield. CBF uses a dual rotating link design where the instant center of the platform sits just above the chainring throughout the travel and just about in any gear combination. By doing this, the suspension remains active yet supportive and has amazing traction and pedaling performance especially in technical terrain. The same goes for going downhill. The support and traction the rear end gives you is amazing and one of the main reasons we love Canfield Bikes and CBF Suspension. And yes, Revel Bikes licenses this technology from Canfield for their bikes. The crew at Revel liked CBF so much they decided just to license it instead of trying to come up with their own suspension platform.

While Canfield has re-done their entire lineup, we are reviewing the Canfield Tilt and Canfield Lithium here. The two are their 29” wheel trail bikes with the Tilt rocking 138 mm of rear travel and the Lithium with 163 mm of rear travel. 

Canfield Tilt:

What's New

The Canfield Tilt is taking off where the Riot (sadly) ended. It’s a mid-travel trail bike with 138 mm of rear travel and the ability to run a 140 mm or 150 mm fork. With updated geometry, the Tilt is ready for your all day adventures, having enough to really give it on the rough stuff, while not having too much that you can’t pedal for hours on end. The Tilt was given some more progression through the CBF rear linkage to better suit the hard charging demands of today's modern trail bikes.

Specs: 

The Tilt is spec'd with 138 mm of rear travel, 29” wheels, and boost rear wheel spacing (148 mm x 12 mm). It also has internal cable routing, a tapered headtube with a ZS44/ZS56 headtube, a 30.9 seat tube diameter, ISCG 05 tabs, 180 mm rear brake mount and the ability to run up to a 29” x 2.5” tire. 

• 29” Trail/All-Mountain
• 7005 aluminum with 7075 T6 CNC links
• Patented Canfield Balance Formula™ Suspension
• Internal cable routing
• Tapered Headtube 44 mm upper/56 mm lower
• Seatpost: 30.9 mm, stealth dropper compatible
• Rear dropouts: Boost 148 mm x 12 mm
• Max rear tire size: 29x2.5
• Brake mount: Post Mount 180 mm
• Bottom bracket: 73 mm threaded
• Weights (medium): 
• Frame w/ hardware: 7.6 pounds
• Frame w/ shock: 8.9 pounds

Geometry 

As I mentioned, the geometry of the Tilt has been updated to modern standards with a 450 mm reach for a medium and 475 mm for a large. The headtube angle is 65 degrees with a 77 degree seat tube angle and chainstay lengths remain short at 425 mm across all sizes. It’s a perfect blend of modern geometry to pair well with the remake of a classic. 

Canfield Lithium:

The Canfield Lithium is the brand’s long travel 29er, something that was previously missing from their line. The Lithium is aimed at everything from enduro racing, to bike park days, to long pedals in the backcountry. Rocking 163 mm of rear travel, the only thing holding it back will be the limits of the rider. It does, after all, rock the classic Canfield skull on the headtube, so you know it's ready to party. With modern geometry and the CBF suspension platform, let's look into what makes this bike so amazing. 

Specs

As stated above, the Lithium has 163 mm of rear travel paired with a 170 mm or 180 mm fork and 29” wheels front and rear. You will find a threaded bb, boost spacing, ISCG 05 tabs, a 30.9 mm seatpost diameter, room for a 2.5” 29er rear tire, and 180 mm rear brake mounts. 

• 29” All-Mountain/Enduro
• 7005 aluminum with CNC 7075 links
• Patented Canfield Balance Formula™ Suspension
• Internal cable routing
• Optimized for air or coil shocks
• Tapered Headtube 44 mm upper/56 mm lower
• Bottom bracket: 73 mm, threaded
• Seatpost: 30.9 mm, stealth dropper compatible
• Rear dropouts: Boost 148 mm x 12 mm
• Max rear tire size: 29x2.5
• Brake mount: Post Mount 180
• Weights (medium): 
• Frame w/ hardware: 7.7 pounds
• Frame w/ shock: 8.8 pounds

Geometry

With a 64.5 degree headtube angle and a 76.7 degree seat tube angle, the Lithium is in line with many modern enduro rigs. The chainstays get a bit longer at 430 mm across all sizes with a 450 mm reach and 1221 mm wheelbase on a medium and 475 mm reach and 1248 mm wheelbase on a large.

On the Trail:

Tilt:

While new specs and updates are cool, nothing else really matters unless the bikes perform well on the trail. I was excited to get on the Canfield Tilt after owning a Riot of my own for over a year. I knew the platform well and what I could potentially love from this bike. Canfield sent over a bike spec that is pretty much their stock spec, which includes Cane Creek suspension, TRP Brakes and drivetrain, and Industry Nine 1/1 hubs laced to Atomik rims wrapped with Maxxis tires. All in all, a solid build for us to get some time on this bike. 

Taking it out for the first ride, the CBF platform is immediately noticeable. Efficient yet planted is what comes to mind. Setting up the bike with 30% sag is what I typically do on CBF platforms and then I tune it from there. The rear Cane Creek shock is easy to set up and I started with the compressions mostly open. There are some instances when you can feel the little added weight of the alloy and slightly heavier build kit when compared to a similar bike, such as the Revel Rascal. It never became a problem and actually I like the feel when it comes to rough terrain. Alloy bikes seem to have a different feel to them, not better or worse but different. 

After spending a handful of rides on the Tilt, I can say it certainly lives up to the Canfield name and as the successor to the Riot. It excels at normal trail riding, technical climbs, rough flat terrain that might eat up your speed, rowdy descents and the occasional trail jump. The Tilt really impressed us with its all around style and agility. Of course, the one main con is the water bottle situation. Without having mounts inside the frame you are either forced to run one on the bottom side of the downtube or use a hydration pack. I had just finished a six day stage race where I used a small USWE pack everyday, so I just kept using that when I went to ride this bike. For me, it's not a huge issue, and while having a water bottle inside the frame is ideal, the performance this bike gives you more than makes up for that one main con. 

Lithium:

The Lithium was the new rig I had really wanted to try out. With so much time on many CBF platforms including the new Revel Rail 29 (155 mm of rear travel with a 160 mm or 170 mm fork), I was curious how the Canfield Lithium would compare. The build kit was pretty similar to our Tilt but with TRP Quadiem brakes for more power and Ohlins suspension front and rear. 

Heading out I took this bike to where I normally ride any longer travel bike, Suicide Trail and the surrouding trails in that area. I ride them often and know the terrain well, so I know what to expect on it, which makes it a solid baseline when trying out a new bike. The trail is your typical fast Southern California trail, lots of rock, sand and blown out corners. Getting the Lithium up the hill was as good as expected from a bike with this much travel and a burly build kit. While this bike isn’t exactly a mountain goat, the CBF suspension does a great job of keeping your pedal strokes moving you forward with great efficiency. This climb up doesn't really have any technical climbing but having ridden the Tilt and many other CBF platform bikes, I had no doubt it could hold its own, and possibly even beat, many other 29” enduro bikes. 

Going downhill is what this bike is made for. In Canfield’s own words, “It’s got even more of a penchant for ludicrous speed and stands ready to flatten any terrain and wage all-out war on the Strava segments of lesser bikes.” Our test bike was a medium and while we typically ride larges, the medium didn't hold us back from putting it through the ringer. Lap after lap, we kept pushing this bike to see what we could get away with. I'd say the support front and rear is really something we all felt. While we often used most or all of the travel, we never felt it stay too deep and we always had the support needed to stay composed in the rough stuff. One of my favorite aspects of CBF is when you are in a long and rough corner, the rear end tracks so well that you feel like you can pump through the rough terrain holding speed. That is what I love about this bike. Something I feel I can always get better at is cornering and the Lithium helps me with that. 

While this is a great all around bike, I really want to ride this bike at the bike park. The geometry is extremely playful while still remaining planted enough to eat rough terrain. The alloy frame I think adds to this feel and really makes you want to push your limit while riding it. I also have to say the Green Patina paint job is a great color and it gets lots of compliments, although the Raw frame option is also a classic Canfield look. 

Worldwide’s Final Thoughts?

Canfield Bikes has struck gold again with their new 29” bikes the Canfield Tilt and Canfield Lithium. Both bikes scream Canfield in the best of ways and are amazing updates to their lineup. The alloy frames with clean lines, internal cable routing, CBF suspension and solid build kits offer a great value in this market that seems to just continue getting more and more expensive. The Canfield Tilt is an amazing all around trail bike with 138 mm of rear travel. It can go uphill equally as well as it can go down thanks to the CBF suspension. The Lithium is what everyone really wanted from Canfield, the hard charging 29” enduro bike that is ready to party on your local DH trails or do all day bike park laps. With a frame only option or a build kit with a solid and unique parts spec, you can opt to choose your own parts or ride what Canfield chose for you.