ORBEA RALLON REVIEW

THE LAB

Orbea’s Rallon frame utilizes their linkage driven single pivot suspension setup, featuring Orbea’s Concentric Boost (CB2) rear axle pivot. The design’s goal is to mitigate the braking forces’ effect on the suspension performance. The frame is produced with Orbea’s top-tier OMR carbon fiber, optimizing the weight and stiffness throughout with a mixture of high modulus and high strength fibers, and coming with a lifetime warranty to boot. There’s heavy asymmetry to the design to allow for all the key features to work in harmony, with the shock being offset 12mm to the right side of the frame, allowing for the left-sided support to sit nicely.

Looking at the kinematics of the Rallon’s rear end, they added significant suspension progression, up to 32%. This allows it to work with a coil or high-volume air shock equally well, however we really prefer this bike with a coil as it’s a bit firm off the top. By shifting the main pivot further forward in the frame, the rearward component of the axle path has been increased to aid in the tracking of the rear wheel through rough terrain. Anti-rise is low at around 60% throughout the travel, allowing for the rear end to move freely during heavy braking. Anti-squat is quite high on the other hand, sitting at 110% in the largest cog and rising to 150% in the smallest cog. This should give efficient pedaling throughout the cassette, with the support increasing as forces increase in the harder gears.

As you’d expect from a high-end carbon fiber frame, cable routing is fully internal, apart from a portion around the main pivot where they pass through an external tube. There’s room for a large water bottle in the main triangle; a tool mount on the underside of the top tube, and a flip chip on the shock yoke to allow for quick and easy geometry adjustment between a “low” and “lower” position. The frame also features Orbea’s take on internal storage with their “LOCKR” zone, which is equipped with two sealed bags to contain a spare tube, tire levers and CO2 cartridges. In the main pivot and rear axle you’ll find tools neatly stowed away, offering quick access to hex keys from 3-6mm to make trailside fixes and adjustments a breeze.

Orbea’s MyO program allows prospective owners the ability to customize their ride. MyO offers color choices for the main frame and graphics, as well as component customization to tailor the build kit to your exacting preferences. It is one of the most comprehensive custom build setups in the industry. The Orbea Rallon M-Team build tested is the second-from-highest level standard spec offered and comes with a suite of high-level components to match the $7,999 price tag. A Factory level Fox 38 and Float X2 suspension combination offer a large amount of adjustment potential to get the Rallon dialed in. Race Face provides the wheels, cockpit and cranks, with their Turbine R alloy wheelset and stem, and Next R carbon fiber cranks and handlebar. The gearing is handled by Shimano’s 12spd XT system, and the brakes are the XT 4-pots. Rounding out the spec is a Fizik Taiga saddle atop a Fox Transfer Factory dropper post; and a Maxxis Assegai/DHR2 EXO+ tire combination.

Geometry on the Rallon is suitably modern, tailored to offer stability and composure for confidence on the racetrack. Using their “steep and deep” philosophy, the seat tube lengths are low across the board ranging from 415mm to 460mm and allowing for riders to choose between a number of sizes to obtain the desired fit, independent of the seat tube length. Across the size range in the “lower” geometry setting for the 29er wheel configuration tested, are a 64-degree head angle, 77-degree seat tube angle. The chainstay length remains a constant 440mm, and the BB sits low at 35mm below the axles. The size large tested has a 485mm reach and 637mm stack, with the wheelbase totaling 1,260mm. The geometry numbers are quite typical for what we’d expect from a modern enduro bike and should offer a good blend of straight-line stability at speed whilst retaining enough agility for the tighter sections of trail.