Orbea

The New Orbea Wild

Beyond Power

Head to the bottom of this article to read our First Ride review

• The brand’s new enduro ebike offers an experience beyond power, where riding quality and performance are the most important.
• Wild’s perfect balance of geometry, kinematics, performance, and light weight, combined with the autonomy and power of the new Bosch CX-R and CX motor system, take the full-power e-bike category to new heights.

The new Wild is, first and foremost, an enduro bike where everything has been designed with a clear focus: performance on the trails. Geometry, kinematics, stiffness and weight make it behave like the best enduro bike.

Integrated battery for maximum performance

From the beginning of the project, Orbea has sought to obtain the most manageable, capable, and high-performance electric bike in the category. To arrive at this design, they listened to rider feedback, such as that from the Orbea FOX Enduro Team.

Frame designs which focus on removing the battery for charging necessitate many structural compromises. Extra mounting hardware adds weight and complexity, and opening access to the battery greatly compromises frame rigidity. Our SBS fixes the battery rigidly in place, resulting in a frame structure much like that of your favorite non-e-bike, adding security, removing noise from covers or rattling battery mounts, and limiting the possibility of damage to the battery.

For these reasons, Orbea has opted for a frame design with an integrated battery. Together with the OMR carbon, they have managed to design a high-performance enduro carbon frame that behaves very similar to Rallon.

The new Wild is a whopping 51% stiffer than its predecessor and up to 32.5% lighter, with a complete bike weight of less than 21 kg. Of course, all Wild models include a lifetime frame warranty.

In addition, all models come with the choice of two battery options: 750Wh or 625Wh. All models can be configured with a 750WH or a 625Wh battery through the simple, intuitive, and complementary MyO program. Riders looking for the longest range will opt for the former, while riders looking for the ultimate in handling will opt for the 625Wh battery

Geometry that’s more than capable

As an enduro bike, Wild shares much of the successful Rallon geometry. However, in the new Wild, Orbea has optimized said geometry for the specific use of an ebike.

The new Wild is more slack and longer than ever. Its 64o head angle and 450mm reach (size M), 25mm longer than its previous version, translate into extra stability and control, as well as more space to move on the bike.

For the steepest climbs, the 77.5o seat angle offers a centered position on the bike. As if that wasn’t enough, Wild has been designed with the shortest chainstays in its category: 448mm in all sizes, another factor in improving WILD ́s handling and agility.

One much-requested feature that the new Wild shares with the Rallon is the Steep ‘N’ Deep concept. That is: the ability to mount long-travel telescopic seatposts throughout all its sizes.

Size is another new highlight. Orbea now offers up to four sizes—S, M, L and XL—which can be chosen based on height or riding style thanks to the shorter seat-tubes which Steep ́N ́Deep allows.

E-Optimized Suspension

The new Wild features 160mm of rear travel, while users can choose a 160mm or 170mm fork via MyO.

Wild’s progressive suspension combines the terrific traction and active feel of a high starting leverage rate with bottomless capability as the suspension ramps up towards the end of the travel.

The biggest changes are in the middle part of the travel, where there is more support than its predecessor. This is key to achieving WILD ́s agility and playfulness. The final part of the stroke is designed to offer progressiveness and, therefore, greater control in strong compressions.

While all Wild models include air shocks, its progressiveness makes it compatible with coil shocks.

Powered by Bosch

All models in the range mount the Bosch CX Performance Line motor. However, Orbea is one of the few brands that also offers the limited-series Bosch CX Performance Line Race motor.

This motor is best for high-level competition thanks to the Race mode and its 200g of weight savings compared to the Bosch CX Performance Line. This motor will be available on the Wild M LTD model.

Performance Through Simplicity

Orbea worked hard on integration and simplicity with WILD, meaning that there are fewer distractions than ever for the rider, leaving them free to focus on the trail ahead. Bosch ́ ́ new Mini Remote offers wireless control and the Sealed Internal Cables, “SIC” system gives a cleaner, quieter cockpit than ever before.

With the SIC system the cables are routed through a spacer in the headset, reducing visual distractions, noise and cable movement while ensuring the cable entry and exit points are fully sealed. . Thanks to the design of this system it is as easy as ever to change a cable, stem or handlebar. The only time extra work would be required would be to change the headset bearings, and to make sure that doesn’t happen very often the upper bearing is made from stainless steel to give the longest lifetime.

In order to protect the frame, Orbea includes a Spin Block limiter for the headset rotation. If you exceed the limits on the descent and crash, the limiter will prevent the handlebars or the levers from impacting the frame.

Additionally, the development team has eliminated the cables in the bottom bracket area, routing them invisibly from the front to the rear triangle. A final key detail is the ergonomic charging port, a detail which is so often overlooked.

Also available in aluminum

The new Wild comes with a range of up to seven models: four in carbon and three in aluminum. The aluminum frame shares all the technologies of the carbon frame but at a more accessible entry price.

Configure and/or reserve your Wild

One of the features that differentiates Orbea from other brands is its personalization program, where customers can configure their bike before it arrives.

Through MyO, customers can choose different components to adapt their new Wild to their riding style: two battery options on all models, different suspension options, wheels, ergonomic measurements in the cockpit, dropper seatpost and, of course, a wide palette of colors and finishes.

The availability of the new Wild will arrive at the beginning of 2023, but it’s already possible to reserve a bike through Orbea’s Rider Connect service.

Orbea Wild Carbon Models

FIRST RIDE

THE NEW Orbea Wild M-LTD

First Ride by Robert Johnston

I was invited to visit the Basque Country – the area surrounding the Orbea headquarters in Northern Spain – to learn all there is to know about the new Wild from those involved in its development, and put two big days of riding on their new enduro eMTB bike to get a feel for how it performs.  Led by Basque MTB on the incredible trails that forms Orbea’s primary testing ground for their mountain bikes, it was a tiring couple of days even with the assistance of the Bosch motor and draining four batteries, but it let me get a solid idea of how it rides.

I was given a M-LTD model to test in size Large, equipped with the new OQUO MC32 Team aluminum wheels instead of the MC32 LTD Carbon model that production bikes will come with as standard. With the Bosch CX RACE motor, Fox Factory suspension and Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes, I had very little to complain about. After an initial setup with the help of Orbea and a Fox suspension tech, I was sat happy with 30% sag out back and my go-to Fox 38 settings, rebound and compression tweaked to a reasonable car park feel, and ready to hit the trails. It took all of a couple hundred meters down the trail to feel comfortable and begin to attack the blind trails, following Orbea’s product manager Markel who is an incredible rider. By this point I’m fairly good at hopping on and adjusting to a bike, but the ease of getting familiar with the Wild was really quite something. The relatively high stack gives a nicely integrated feeling in the bike, and the weight balance fore and aft is notable, feeling like you’re naturally well centered between the wheels.

What was evident from the get-go is that the new Orbea Wild is a much tighter and more refined machine than the previous model. The low profile Bosch mini remote and integrated top tube System Controller are very sleek and let you focus on the trail ahead while still offering enough control and an adequate display of the mode and battery life to keep you informed of the important factors. The quiet running of the bike – absent of any cable or battery rattling – was immediately notable and pleasant when riding, with the only noise other than the tires or rear hub being the occasional rattle of the Bosch motor freewheel mechanism, or the occasional notion of chain noise on the hardest slaps back down to earth. The effect that quiet running bikes have on the descending ride experience is significant, it really gives a sense of confidence in the machine beneath you.

The climbing position on the new Wild is notably upright and centered, feeling very much like a modern enduro bike, as you would expect given that it shares the same numbers as their Rallon. This upright position makes technical climbing and tight uphill switchbacks very pleasant and manageable, weighting the front wheel effectively whilst retaining the agility to pop the front wheel up for a power wheelie to clear a step. Combined with an efficient feeling platform and the CX RACE motor on the M-LTD test rig, this makes for a rocket ship on the way up the hill, but it isn’t as comfortable as some, with a slightly firmer off-the-top climbing feel thanks to that high anti squat figure. On rougher technical climbs this can result in a slightly more feedback through the bike, but it helps to further improve the already impressive ground clearance produced by the short 160mm cranks and mid-height bottom bracket, making pedal strikes much more manageable than many of the ultra-slammed bikes populating the market. I was running flat pedals for this test as I think they expose more flaws in a bike than when running clips, and still had very few encounters with the ground.

Onto the way down the hill, and the Wild packs all of the good traits of the Rallon enduro bike, but avoids the slightly harsh feeling that can creep in. The Orbea E-Enduro machine only shows its “E” side in a negative way in the most dynamic trail situations, whether it be a tight and loose corner or a particularly complex aerial movement. Otherwise, the weight distribution and balanced geometry; supportive but not harsh suspension platform, and fine stiffness balance let you charge as hard as the best of them. It’s not just good for an eMTB, it’s good full stop. As I hop from acoustic bikes to eMTB’s and back so often, there’s usually a slight adjustment period to get used to the slightly different approach to riding a motor-equipped MTB, but the Wild’s trail mannerisms sit as close to the non-powered siblings as I’ve yet to experience in a full-power eMTB.

I’m very excited to put more trail time in on this full powered Enduro eMTB to really figure out where it shines and where it fails, and to see how the long haul affects its quiet running. We’ve got a Dissected feature coming shortly where we’ll dive into the Wild a bit deeper, but I’m quite confident to say that this is one of the best all round eMTB’s on the market right now.