Already proven at the highest level thanks to Tahnee Seagrave’s win in Poland, the new Orbea Rallon is a versatile beast thanks to it’s lower Gravity Link.
The clever humans at Orbea have developed a new long travel platform for their flagship bike, the Rallon, and by swapping out the lower link and shock, you can either have a race-ready downhill machine or an enduro sled.
Orbea enter the downhill market for the first time with their flagship model, the Rallon. This is the seventh iteration and shows what the Basque brand have learned through their OOLab programme with Martin Maes competing at World Cup downhill races.
With a frame that doffs its cap to the Wild ebike, the lineage is clear, but this is far from just a downhill Wild, Orbea have gone to town with the Rallon, with the lower Gravity Link and shock determining whether the bike is set up for enduro or downhill riding.
The Rallon DH offers up 200mm rear wheel travel on Mullet wheels only, whilst the Rallon EN can run on Mullet or 29″ wheels and sports 170mm rear wheel travel. This is also the most adjustable frame Orbea have have ever made, with an angleset and a four-way lower link flip chip, two ways for BB height and head angle, the other two for progressivity. You can also add weights to the frame at the Gravity Link to better fine tune the feel of the bike.
Both bikes feature full carbon fibre frames operating the shock via a four-bar link. Two chainstay lengths are available at 442mm and 450mm. These are non-adjustable in order for Orbea to get the kinematic right, and customers can select their preference when ordering. The downhill bike comes stock with the 450mm and the enduro with the 442mm however.
Head angle range on the downhill bike is 62.95 to 63.7 degrees, whilst the enduro model is similarly slack at 63 to 64.25. Seat tube angle at its steepest on the enduro model is 79.1 degrees which is mighty steep. This is complimented by being able to fit 240mm droppers in all sizes. Sharing the same front and rear triangles means that the weights are similar, with the enduro tipping the scales at 35lb in size Large, whilst the enduro bike just goes past the 36lb mark for the same size (E-Team).
The Gravity Link is where the magic happens, but the name belies its true function. Essentially a lower shock mount with some extras, it allows the bike to be fine tuned without having to deal with pivots. The downhill bike has one on offer with the four-way adjustment, the enduro has one each for both Mullet and 29″ wheels ensuring geometry and kinematic stays consistent.
Kinematics-wise, there has been a desire from Orbea to reduce pedal kick and keep the bike feeling consistent through the travel. Anti-squat is quite a bit lower than the outgoing model and the leverage curve is not a curve at all but a straight line almost to the bottom out point. Anti-rise is around the mid value.
Gravity Links can also come with a 395g weight, plus two smaller weights to give the bike a really planted feel. With this weight low down already, adding more weight is something that the Orbea team found was very effective when developing this bike from the Wild. You can further tune the feel of the bike by adjusting the progression rate on the flip chip.
Both bikes come with LockR downtube storage and a Fidlock bottle mount, a Fully Loaded Pivot (multitool in the pivot), a 6mm allen key in the rear axle, full length and shrouded internal routing, UDH compatibility, full sealed bearings and their ‘Second Skin’ frame protection.
Orbea Rallon models
The Orbea Rallon range is made up of four bikes. One downhill bike and three enduro bikes. The Rallon D-LTD starts from £7,899.00, with the Rallon E-LTD topping the enduro range at £9,999.00, the E-TEAM at £6,899.00 and the E10 at £5,399.00.
Orbea Rallon D-LTD
Key features:
- Fox 40 Float Factory Grip X2 203mm fork
- Fox Float X2 Factory shock
- Shimano Saint M820 10-speed drive
- Shimano XTR M9220 4-piston brakes
- Oquo Mountain Control MC32TEAM wheels
- £7,899.00 RRP
Orbea Rallon E-LTD
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Factory Grip X2 180mm fork
- Fox Float X Live Valve Neo Factory shock
- SRAM XO AXS Eagle T-type 12-speed drive
- Shimano XTR M9220 4-piston brakes
- Oquo Mountain Control MC32LTD wheels
- OC Mountain Control MC10 dropper
- £9,999.00 RRP
Orbea Rallon E-TEAM
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Factory Grip X2 180mm fork
- Fox Float X2 Factory shock
- Shimano XT 12-speed drive
- Shimano XT M8220 4-piston brakes
- Oquo Mountain Control MC32TEAM wheels
- OC Mountain Control MC10 dropper
- £6,899.00 RRP
Orbea Rallon E10
Key features:
- Fox 38 Float Factory Grip X2 180mm fork
- Fox Float X Factory shock
- Shimano SLX 12-speed drive
- Shimano Deore M6120 4-piston brakes
- Race Face AR 30c wheels
- OC Mountain Control MC22 dropper
- £5,399.00 RRP
