Issue #032, Review - February 27, 2018

Orbea Rallon M-Team Review

If you like being the centre of attention, you’ll love the Orbea Rallon! No other bike garnered as much attention and as many comments during our tests. For all of those we didn’t meet on the trails, here are the answers to the many questions about how the bike rides.

For an overview of the test fleet head to the group test: The Crème de la Crème – Nine high-end enduro bikes of 2018 in comparison

**Orbea Rallon M-Team**
160/150 mm (f/r) | 13.72 kg | € 6,689

You just have to love the Orbea Rallon! The elaborately manufactured asymmetric carbon frame with a clear view of and access to the shock just looks incredibly good. On top of that, every customer can design the bike completely in the colours of their choice using Orbea’s own configurator – and it’s free. Even the components can be selected according to personal preference. Our test bike in the M-Team version came with a FOX DHX2 steel coilover shock instead of the FLOAT X2 air shock and goes for € 6,689. You get a SRAM X01 Eagle drivetrain, sturdy DT Swiss EX 1501 SPLINE ONE wheels, and stylish Race Face bits to finish it off. We would recommend using the configurator to invest € 39 in a set of SRAM CODEs instead of the standard Guide brakes. The total weight of 13.72 kg is perfectly acceptable.

**Helmet** POC Tectal | **Glasses** POC Crave | **Jersey** ION TEE LS Scrub_Amp | **Shorts** ION Bikeshorts Scrub_Amp | **Shoes** ION Rascal

The looks of a supermodel… but with significantly less affectation. You just have to love the Orbea Rallon!

Once seated on the Orbea Rallon, you immediately notice the rather compact and very comfortable seating position. Thanks to the steep seat tube angle, you sit in a very central position and keep a lot of pressure on the front wheel, even up steep sections. The Rallon is a good climber and takes the sting out of long, hard uphills thanks to the efficient rear triangle (despite having a coil shock). Due to the rather moderate reach (455 mm in size L) and short stem, the bike rides very directly, possessing a successful combination of composure and agility. Orbea has opted to give the Rallon a fork with a shortened offset (44 mm), stabilizing the steering and making it capable of railing through long corners with ease. This behaviour is supported by the low bottom bracket (35 mm BB-drop in X-Low setting), whereby the rider is well integrated into the bike. In tight, slow sections, the Rallon is a bit sluggish and requires some muscling to make it around tight corners. The rear linkage together with the coil-sprung shock is very sensitive and provides sufficient feedback and a lot of traction while braking. Orbea puts the pivot point of the rear linkage exactly on the axle, which keeps the suspension active during braking. However, on very fast, hard hits, the bike lacks the necessary progression (the linkage has only 10% progression) and starts to struggle in the end of its travel. For ambitious riders, the FOX FLOAT X2 certainly is the better choice and can be easily selected in the configurator. We’ve received an air shock from Orbea in the meantime, and we’re curious to see what kind of difference it will make. We will report on our experience with both shocks in a long-term review to come.

The Orbea Rallon M-Team in detail

Fork FOX FLOAT 36 Factory 160 mm
Rear shock FOX DHX2 150 mm
Brakes SRAM Guide RSC 200/180 mm
Drivetrain SRAM GX Eagle
Seatpost Race Face Turbine 150 mm
Stem Race Face Turbine R 35 mm
Handlebar Race Face Next 800 mm
Tires MAXXIS Minion DHF 2.5″ / 2.3″
Wheelset DT Swiss EX 1501 SPLINE ONE
Weight 13.72 kg
Price € 6,689

**Low or Lower**
Even in the high geometry setting, the Rallon rides very stably. If you set the flip chip to Lower, the bottom bracket drops further, and you become even more centred on the bike. This is great for extremely steep trails.

**Sufficient space**
Thanks to the asymmetric frame design, Orbea not only gave the Rallon a special look, but also made room for a bottle cage. We like!

**Back to the Future**
They’re back! More and more new bikes are returning to threaded bottom brackets instead of press-fit. Although they’re less stiff, they are not noticeably so, and they are much easier to maintain and change. Brilliant!

Die assymetrische Hinterbauintegration des Orbea Rallon überzeugt nicht nur optisch, auch in der Praxis steckt der Dämpfer harte Schläge weg. — **Beautiful**
The frame of the Rallon is a real feast for the eyes. If you do not like the paintwork, you can design the bike in the online configurator in the colours of your choice. It gives you a choice of more than 7.4 million combinations – and it’s completely free!

The geometry of the Orbea Rallon

Size	SM	LG	XL
Seat tube	406 mm	444 mm	483 mm
Top tube	583 mm	611 mm	644 mm
Head tube	100 mm	110 mm	125 mm
Head angle	65°/ 65.5°	65°/ 65.5°	65°/ 65.5°
Seat angle	76°	76°	76°
Chainstays	435 mm	435 mm	435 mm
BB High	343 / 336 mm	343 / 336 mm	343 / 336 mm
Wheelbase	1187 mm	1217 mm	1253 mm
Reach	430 mm	455 mm	485 mm
Stack	615 mm	624 mm	637 mm

Das Orbea Rallon schlägt bergauf excellent, bergab fühlt sich das Rallon auf groben Trail wohl.

Conclusion

The Orbea Rallon M-Team not only scores with its appearance, but also with its enormous versatility. It climbs terrifically and will put a grin on your face on every kind of downhill. However, the rear linkage doesn’t seem to harmonise quite so well with the coil shock. Thanks to the numerous configuration options, you can opt for an air shock instead.