The Kanan fills a need in the Franco line for the rider who isn’t looking for a full-blown race bike; rather something with a little smoother ride and more upright position, but without having to entirely sacrifice lateral stiffness and handling. Company owner Julian Franco feels that, “The Kanan is a bike that most any cyclist can appreciate; it has the comfort of a taller headtube, tuned toptube and seatstays for better compliance, while still delivering handling and stiffness similar to the Balcom”. 

The Kanan’s bottom half resembles the Balcom, with their trademark triangular downtube and derailleur cables that pierce the headtube—giving it a clean routing. The cable routing isn’t done for aesthetics alone though; when testing frame strength Franco found that most failures were due to the rivet holes from the cable stops mounted on the downtube. Their design forgoes the need to drill through the carbon, thus keeping it structurally sound. 

Once you move up the seatstays, the Kanan takes on an identity of its own. The curved seatstays have been optimized in shape and lay-up to provide a smoother ride. The arched stays then meld into a mono-stay that flows into the toptube. Like the seatstays, the toptube has also been designed with compliance in mind by using a thinner lay-up. In the front, a 175mm long headtube (size 54) is a full 35mm longer than that of the Balcom’s race geometry. This gives you the ability to run an ideal handlebar height without having to resort to using a few inches worth of spacers under the stem, which would greatly reduce front-end stiffness. To fulfill the desire to give the Kanan agile handling it shares the Balcom’s 73-degree headtube and 73.5-degree seat tube angle, with a 98.5cm wheelbase. 

One of the things that Franco is capable of, that other bike shop brands are not, is giving the customer the ability to choose a fully custom parts selection. Complete bike pricing starts at $1,999 for a Shimano 105 equipped model and goes up from there depending on what you're craving. Our test model had a premium build. It came with Shimano Dura-Ace, 3T carbon handlebar, stem and seatpost, and HED Ardennes SL alloy wheels. The HED wheels were ones we hadn’t spent much time on in the past, but definitely hope to see more of them in the future due to the ride quality of their wide, 23mm rims and sub-1500-gram weight. 

Between the product testers here at RBA we have a diverse group that ranges from seasoned racers to recreational riders; and when it comes to bike tests we don’t always see eye to eye in terms of our likes and dislikes. One’s stiff and snappy dream race bike is usually another’s jarring, twitchy nightmare. But, as we logged time on the Kanan, it became clear that it’s a bike that can please the vast majority of riders out there. The hammerheads liked the fact that the geometry gave it a quick feel when cornering, in addition to the bottom bracket stiffness giving it notably efficient power transfer. This was an equally shared sentiment with the testers.  But it was the taller headtube, allowing a more upright position, and the slightly better damping than a traditional race bike that satisfied the non-racing testers. 

One tester likened it to a BMW M5, “It provides a comfortably smooth ride; but when you want to put your foot down and go, it feels like it has a turbo due to bottom bracket stiffness and handling-which is much better than most other endurance style bikes”. 

With the Kanan, one doesn’t have to sacrifice low-weight, lateral and torsional stiffness, and a sporty feel to attain a smoother ride in a more comfortable position. Franco has found a blend between the two styles that will please most riders out there. But, the Kanan won’t be a replacement bike for the racers who want the three-plus inch saddle to handlebar drop, and who also don’t mind feeling the road beneath them a little more—the Balcom still fills that place in the Franco line. 

Franco has branched out from their original single color offering of black by now coming in four stock color choices, with an option for a custom paint job at an additional $500. The Kanan is also available in a women’s specific build with parts such as handlebar and saddle that are women’s specific. 

Price: $4,999

Weight: 14.9 pounds

Sizes: 45, 48, 51, 54 (tested), 57, 60cm