Canyon has partnered with DT Swiss to create a new gravel suspension fork. The F 132 boasts 40mm of travel with nine rebound settings, positive and negative chambers and cable-actuated lockout with a remote lever.

To test the new design, I rode the Traka 100km gravel race. In five hours of gravel goodness, I rode the F 132 over questionably technical rock gardens, down flowing descents and up steep climbs.

The thunderstorm count measured three, waist-deep rivers crossed stood at one, and my finishing position mattered not. Here’s what I learned.

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Climbing with the DT Swiss F 132 – worth the weight?

Climbing with a gravel suspension fork when the lockout is open feels somewhat like a halfway house between a mountain bike and a rigid gravel bike.

On the MTB, such a gravel climb would be a simple act of pointing the bike up and pedalling.

On a rigid gravel bike, you have to pay attention to your line choice in an effort to maintain your momentum. 

While the F 132 soaks up smaller roots and rocks, I still had to avoid some of the larger obstacles.

The fork’s 1,340g is quite a significant increase over the Grail’s standard 380g rigid fork, and it would be remiss of me to claim this weight wasn’t noticeable when climbing.

DT Swiss’ design is also 20g heavier than the 50mm travel Fox Tapercast and 90g heavier than the 40mm Cane Creek Invert CS fork.

Girona’s gravel climbs are particularly steep in places. If you’re aiming to get up them as quickly as possible, a suspension fork might cost you a little time.

But with the F 132 in the open setting, climbing wasn’t noticeably slower than with the fork locked out.

The latter certainly feels more solid under me, especially out of the saddle, but I’d be very interested to see comparative climbing times for locked vs open and the energy cost of both.

While we’re on the subject of weight, you can add even more to your front end via the mounts for bikepacking bags. This is a first, Canyon claims, for a gravel suspension fork and each side will take a 3kg load.

Descending –

The F 132, and gravel suspension in general, starts making a lot of sense when descending.

I don’t claim to be the best off-road bike handler, but over Girona’s technical terrain with plenty of rocky sections, I felt fully in control.

While lightweight MTB forks often suffered fore/aft flutter, especially under braking, there was no sign of this on the DT Swiss fork. It’s impressive that the engineers have worked such good stiffness levels into the design.

I wasn’t suddenly shredding, but the confidence the fork gave allowed me to push my speeds and line choices beyond where I would usually ride. That is a tangible performance benefit, though more of this could have been exploited.

Two key parts of the fork’s build will influence this.

PlainGain is DT Swiss’ gravel adapted damping cartridge. The LineAir SL spring cartridge features a positive and negative air chamber.

With my fork pumped up to 106psi and the rebound set 6 clicks from open, the F 132 fork delivered just what I wanted on fast, flowing descents and slower technical sections.

The front tyre felt well planted when I found bumpy ground mid-corner. With a rigid fork, I would probably have been knocked off line, which does nothing for my confidence. 

When I found some bigger roots to hit, I felt the travel ramped up with a very nice progression and despite charging a little too quickly into some rocky sections, I never bottomed out. 

In fact, the assured feeling that the F 132 brought improved my experience of the Traka 100 immeasurably. 

My Canyon Grail test bike was set up in consumer-ready spec with 40mm Schwalbe G One RS tyres. Anyone with a weather app knew that a slick tyre was not the choice for such wet conditions, and I had some rather scary moments when hitting slick mud.

The fork enabled me to reduce my tyre pressure just a little more to squeeze out every last drop of grip. That said, I would have loved a wider front tyre.

The fork is also officially rated for 50mm tyres, though I saw pro setups with a 57mm tyre squeezed between the stanchions. 

Safe to say, I would have benefited greatly from a wider front tyre with a wet weather tread pattern. 

Pushcontrol lockout – work to be done

The only fault that I could find with the fork came at the lockout, which simply didn’t function well as the ride progressed.

Granted, the Traka 100km race took place in some of the grottiest conditions imaginable. Torrential rain began in the opening 10 minutes, turning Girona’s gravel roads into a sandy sludge.

It didn’t take many kilometres for the Pushcontrol lever to feel vague. Five hours and two thunderstorms later, and the remote lever had ceased to work at all.

Speaking to the other journalists on Canyon’s Traka press trip, this was a common issue which I hope DT Swiss addresses immediately.

While you may think me harsh for critiquing a component that failed in such conditions, gravel is often raced and ridden in adverse weather, so parts designed for the discipline must be up to scratch.

DT Swiss, however, may already have an answer. The brand suggested that integration into electronic shifters may be possible in the future. But until then, I hope a more robust mechanical system is developed.

Worth the price?

The DT Swiss F 132 is currently a Canyon-only product, though it will become a standalone DT Swiss product in 2026. It is also only available on the Grail CFR Rift at €8,999 (UK and USD pricing TBC). An equivalent rigid Grail CFR, with 2×12 GRX 825 Di2, costs £6,999 / $7,499 / €7,499.

This €1,500 price increase is significant, though I’m not sure how much it factors into the buying decisions of those with such deep pockets.

And given the proprietary design of Canyon’s steerer tube, you’ve no other option to add suspension to an existing Grail CFR.

The fork makes a clear improvement to my technical abilities on a gravel bike. That is worth a lot when it comes to the general enjoyment of a gravel ride.

I also like the sleek aesthetics, which look less jarring on a drop bar bike than most gravel suspension.

Cane Creek has done something similar with its Invert CS fork, but this still has an externally routed brake hose, which doesn’t look as good to my eye.

However, due to the current teething issues with the lockout lever, along with the significant price jump from the rigid Grail CFR, I would struggle to see myself buying the Grizl CFR Rift.

That said, I’ll be keeping a close eye on the 2026 aftermarket prices.