We believe that ebikes should ride like any other bike. That means they should feel natural and fun, connecting you to the ride and freeing you from everything else in that way that only a bike can. An ebike should be a collection of high performance solutions which work together but fade into the background the minute you start to ride, leaving you free to focus on how much fun you are having.
Follow Your Own Trail
At Orbea we have a very clear vision for our ebikes regardless of what category they fit into. Performance is the most important thing. Ebikes should feel alive and natural, not numb or detached. Simplicity. All things being equal, simple solutions mean lower weight, improved reliability and better looking bikes. Pursuing clever solutions, and not always following the herd, allows us to improve range and performance and offer lighter, better handling bikes.
Some riders wanted lighter ebikes, with less assistance, while others wanted the maximum assistance possible. Lightweight ebikes typically offer the most agile handling while full power ebikes are usually more capable downhill.
Rise is our lightweight ebike, a trail machine, with great range and natural pedalling. Our full power ebike is Wild, an enduro monster, ready to tame the wildest trails.
A Clear Vision
How did we develop these ebikes? It goes without saying that this involved hours of design and engineering. OOlabs was key for building protoypes and testing concepts. Driving everything was a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve.
Those ideas of performance, simplicity and clever solutions are what guided us.Refusing to compromise these points, even if it meant going in a different direction to the rest of the market is what differentiates our ebikes.
WILD – “BEST IN TEST”
We aim to make the perfect bikes for riders who share our passion for cycling and it is always pleasing when we win industry awards. One of the most respected ebike comparison tests is E-Mountainbike´s annual test, where 30 of the best ebikes of the year were compared.
E-Mountainbike had already visited us in the Basque Country to be among the first people to test the WILD and obviously enjoyed the bike, inviting us to enter their anual best e-bike competition. In this competition Wild rose to the top, winning the overall “Best in Test” prize.
E-Mountain bike loved Wild’s, “good-natured, intuitive handling” stating that it was “the most confidence-inspiring bike in the entire test field”. Wild owes a lot of that handling to the combination of light weight and frame rigidity that our SBS design creates and it is great to have our work recognised by some of the most demanding test riders out there. E-Mountainbike summed it up perfectly:
“WILD successfully unites supposed opposites, combining composure and agility like no other bike in this test.”
Maybe the best reflection of our belief that we are all unique is our MyO program, which allows riders to select components and even choose the colours. E-Mountainbike loved the ability to configure your bike for your needs, stating that:
“The MyO configurator allows for countless customisation options, both in terms of look and spec, allowing you to easily click your way to your dream bike.”
They gave special mention to the ability to choose different battery sizes and change the dropper travel, exclaiming simply, “awesome!”
RISE – “BEST BUY”
Enduro Mag are one of the most reputable, and demanding, mountain bike magazines when it comes to product testing. Although their main focus is muscular bikes, the proximity of lightweight ebikes to them means that they also enter their radar and consider them relevant for their readers.
They loved the previous version of our Rise and the disruptiveness of its philosophy so we were excited to let them test the latest bike with the new frame design, new motor, more battery options and added integrations.
In this comparison they thoroughly tested eight of the most interesting ebikes currently on the market to the extreme, including our Rise. They clearly loved the new, improved RISE and awarded us the coveted “Best Buy” award, the best balance of performance and price, describing Rise as “The perfect compromise between Light-eMTB´s and full-fat all rounders.”
A central concept for Rise is Rider Synergy, where our tuned Shimano motor offers powerful, natural assistance as well as approximately 50% more range than other ebikes. This took a lot of work to develop with Shimano so it was exciting to see Enduro Mag recognise our efforts, stating that:
“Rise proved the strongest climber in the entire test.“
Of course Rise is one of the lightest ebikes in this sector, and thanks to the frame rigidity offered by our SBS system Rise loves the descents too, something Enduro Mag summed up, stating that it: