Bike maker Canyon goes custom with a new service offering unique artist-designed frames

Cutting edge bike builder Canyon is venturing into the custom sphere with its new service, MyCanyon. Launching today in the US, the program is the culmination of over two decades of development and obsession over every facet of the modern bicycle. Founded by Roman Arnold after a career racing and building bespoke racing bikes, Canyon is headquartered in the German city of Koblenz. ‘We started the business out of passion,’ Arnold recalls, ‘It was because I loved the sport and I rode bikes, so I knew what our customers wanted.’

Now the custom framing business has taken a step forwards. Not only will Canyon continue to offer high quality bikes built from the very best components, but it will pair them with unique designs developed with a coterie of contemporary artists and designers. MyCanyon builds on the Canyon style developed over the decades, a graphic sensibility that has given the company an aesthetic advantage, shown in ultra limited-edition collaborations like the Ultimate CF SLX Kraftwerk from 2017 and one-offs like their collaboration with designer Konstantin Grcic.

The first model available to customise via the MyCanyon service is the streamlined Aeroad CFR race bike. This high-performance model, with a host of victories to its name, was first introduced in 2010 and updated in 2024. Now it’s available with three collections of frame artwork, including a special art-designed series created in collaboration with artists Elena Salmistraro and Felipe Pantone. All frames involve hands-on techniques and applications to achieve something distinctive and unique.

As well as choosing a frame design, MyCanyon will help you tune the fit of the bike and a custom ‘groupset’ of mechanical parts, together with the perfect wheel and tyre combination. All of these services are available for the first time with Canyon.

The three special artwork collections are named Fabrio, Mano, and Opus. The first involves a combination of special pigments and finishes to give the frame a dynamic finish that shifts and moves with changing light. The three Fabrio finishes are the yellow Gold Dust, the multi-hued Milky Way and Dark Matter, which sets iridescent colours against a dark background.

The next tranche of custom frames will be known as the Mano collection. Each features an individually hand-painted design, ensuring no two bikes will ever be the same. Four designs are available in the debut series, dubbed Astro, all with a space-faring theme. These include Henize, Leo, Carina and Himiko, the latter three inspired by nebulae and galaxies with overlaid coats that create depth and lustre.

Finally, there are the artist-designed specials, the Opus collection. The first collaborator is the Italian product designer and artist Elena Salmistraro, whose highly coloured and fantastical works have been seen in partnerships with Apple, IKEA, Nike and Disney and Steinway. Salmistraro’s take on the Aeroad CFR involves kaleidoscopic colours and forms which appear to dance around the frame.

‘Working on a bicycle was a brand new challenge,’ Salmistraro says, ‘I had the idea to add blue lines to my original design: thin but decisive, similar to fingerprints or drops of water, which interrupt and emphasize the composition. Each fingerprint represents the direct contact of a cyclist with the bicycle, like a personal signature.’

The firm has also worked with Felipe Pantone who brings a futurist eye to the frame design. Wallpaper* spoke to the Argentine/Spanish graffiti artist about the collaboration, which focuses on capturing the ‘organised chaos’ of speed.

Wallpaper* How did you go about bringing your very strong sense of colour and form to a bicycle frame, which is traditionally not a broad or expansive canvas?

Felipe Pantone: I’m all about adaptability - a skill honed on the streets. The bike’s ultra-dynamic form called out to me, transforming a narrow canvas into a playground for vibrant color and bold structure.

W*: Did you create all-original works for the project or adapt existing artworks?

FP: I crafted original pieces while revisiting some of my signature patterns. Mixing these with metallic, iridescent paints turned the bike into a kinetic fusion of familiar motifs and futuristic energy.

W*: What were the technical issues surrounding getting your work onto the frames - how was this achieved?

FP: Designing on this frame was both a challenge and a thrill. I printed my patterns on paper, accentuating and reinforcing design lines to boost dynamism. The real test, however, was at the factory, where every intricate detail had to be meticulously hand-painted - a true labor of love.

W*: Did the project make you look at your aesthetic and approach in a different way? Did you find it creatively inspiring?

FP: The project didn’t completely transform my approach, but it was a meaningful extension of my work. A measured exploration that refined my signature style and reinforced the dynamic interplay of color and form.

MyCanyon by Canyon launches in the US this month, Canyon.com, @Canyon