After a solid showing at its launch in the Basque Country, how has the Orbea Wild M10 ebike held up against a winter of near constant use?
Complete with a raft of upgrades to send its capabilities through the roof, Pete weighs in on how the Orbea Wild M10 has faired since he last checked in.
Photos by Pete Scullion.
Key features:
- Fox 38 Factory 170mm fork
- Fox X2 Factory shock
- Shimano XT 12-speed drive
- Bosch Performance CX Line motor
- Bosch 750Wh battery
- Shimano XT 4-piston brakes
- Oquo Mountain Control MC32 Team wheels
- OC Mountain Control MC20 dropper
- From £7,999.99 RRP
- Orbea.com
As stock, the Orbea Wild M10 is the second from bottom carbon fibre Wild model. The Wild is, in effect, the ebike sibling to the Rallon, aimed at taking on the EDR-E races so you get 170mm travel a full power Bosch CX Line motor, a non removeable battery of either 625Wh or the bigger 750Wh battery. This bike means business.
At the official launch of the Wild, I was impressed at how Orbea had upped the full fat ebike game by making a full power ebike that didn’t ride like one. Many ebikes of old had silly long chainstays that made the bikes unweildy, but I have ridden normal bikes with longer chainstays than on the Wild. The Race motor was a bit of a novelty and not one I’d be after but it showed where ebike designs were going.
With Orbea’s MyO offering upgrades options to almost every component going, this Wild M10 is far from stock. Both Fox dampers have been upgraded, the shock from a Float X Performance to an X2 Factory, and the forks from 38 Performance to Factory units. Brakes have gone from Shimano Deore 4-pots to XT 4s, making the most of that extra braking power is a jump from Maxxis Minion DHF EXO+ tyres to a DH-casing Assegai/Minion DHR II combo.
All these changes bumps the price up from £7,999.99 to £8,478.00 but I feel vastly improves the capability of the bike whilst still coming in under two grand cheaper than the top tier M-LTD. Dampers, brakes and tyres are what I prioritise when it comes to bike spec, as anything else can be managed assuming the geometry is up to scratch.
Geometry
The Orbea Wild is available in Small, Medium, Large and XLarge.
Reach on on Medium is 455mm combined with a 415mm seat tube. Head angle is 64 degrees paired with a 77.5 degree seat tube angle. Chainstays are 448mm across the sizes with the wheelbase on the Medium of 1247mm.
At first glance, speccing a 200mm dropper on this bike at my 5′ 4″ height might not seem like a good idea. In hindsight, I am likely in between a 170 and 200mm dropper on this bike, but the ability to run a full height post on a size medium with a 200mm dropper shows where we’ve come in terms of seat tube lengths. This is especially important when you consider that there’s a motor stopping the seat tube being full length.
The Orbea Wild has been an ever capable companion for those days when a little bit of help is appreciated or I feel like really going for a daft mission. The combination of the Bosch motor’s 90Nm torque, the massive 750Wh battery and my low weight (~60kg) means that range anxiety is only a thing when the distance and elevation numbers really get daft.
For example, I can ride 36 miles from my house, taking in a mountain almost 900m tall and return home with just enough battery to go an do it again. When the going is good, I can do this without putting a foot down. That combined with the geometry and suspension of the Wild is a seriously impressive combo.
At launch, the Wild was the lightest full power ebike on the market, a title that might well have been usurped by the new Cannondale Moterra but it’s still a very impressive bike. Previous ebikes have left me struggling with technical climbs, but these might well be the kind that are on the edge of being easier on normal bike. The Wild has cleaned the ‘Randy’ climb three times back to back. This climb is my go-to tech climb that is the benchmark for a bike’s ability to climb.
On the downs, the Wild doesn’t feel as close to 20kg as it is until you really need to haul it to a stop. Far livelier than any other full power ebike I have ridden, but still has a longer braking distance compared to a normal bike. Traction on the rear is excellent though and the brakes have a decent rein on the bike unless things get really steep and slippy. The faster and rougher the trail, the more the Wild sings.
There’s been little to report on the reliability front. The bike has just worked. Plugging away some daft mileage and elevation numbers without a complaint. This is in the context of one of the wettest Scottish autumn and winter seasons going. Yes the bike got cleaned and lubed regularly but it’s been through the ringer and I haven’t even needed to check the brake pads…
The Wild is the only full power ebike I have ridden to date that gets close to the same riding experience as a normal bike, especially with the 800mm bars clipped to something better suited to me. With the bike being close to 30% of my bodyweight, I’m never going to be able to throw it about but the low weight for this kind of machine and the sensible chainstays means it’s not a million miles away. Dropping to the smaller battery would clip almost a kilo off the weight of the bike. If I was going to spend my cash on an big boy ebike, then the Wild would certainly be at the top of the list.
What do we think?
Orbea continue to be at the sharp end of full power ebike performance with the Wild, bringing them ever-closer to the normal bike riding experience. The M10 custom build has been a dream to have as a daily driver for the last few months, just plugging away with plenty of help and poise when needed.
We love:
- All-day range
- Descending poise
- Reliable
Could do better:
- Still ~20kg for a bicycle
