Bike Check: Striving for perfection with Jesse Melamed

When Jesse Melamed won the Enduro World Series (now Enduro World Cup) in 2022, it opened the door to a spot on the elite Canyon Cllctv team. With a new team, came a new bike: Canyon’s recently revamped Strive enduro race bike.

The Strive isn’t just any race bike, though. It is built around Canyon’s innovative and, in the EDR world, unique Shapeshifter design. That allows on-the-fly changes to the rear shock’s travel and the bike’s geometry.

With Melamed being notoriously attuned to his equipment, and known to always be seeking to improve his race setup, we wanted to find out what the Canadian champion thought about his new Strive, Shapeshifter and that K.I.S. steering system that the Cllctv has Mcguivered onto Melamed’s top-tube for Canadian Enduro National Championships (which Melamed won) and the Loudenvielle EDR.

We caught up with Melamed just after he landed in Europe to get deep into the details of his 2023 Canyon Strive.

Canadian MTB: Ok, so the Strive is Canyon’s designated enduro race bike but you started the season racing on the Spectral in Derby and in Maydena. What differences between those bikes led you to race the Spectral?

Jesse Melamed: That was mainly because Tasmania has what I thought were mellower trails. That was true for Derby but maybe not true for Maydena. I had the right bike for one of the races but not the other, but I think it went reasonably well.

The Spectral seemed just a little bit more agile and was a little bit lighter. Just more of a trail bike than an all-out brawler and I didn’t think I needed a brawler. I wanted a bike that was more of a little weapon to sprint out of every corner. There weren’t so many bumps and rough patches to manage in Derby. In Maydena, I wish I’d had the Strive. If I could go back and change that I would, but at least it worked for Derby and I had a podium there.

You were with one team for a long time and had some influence, or at least input on the design of your race bike there. How has it been switching to Canyon Cllctv? Do you have freedom to play with the bike or are you racing a basically stock bike?

There’s definitely some room to make some changes, which has been great. That’s actually part of the reason I made the switch. Going forward, I feel like there’s a lot more…