davosaurusrex – it is an XL. Perfect fit for me at just over 6ft1 with 32inch inside leg. I’m running a 150mm dropper slammed almost all the way into the frame.

An M10 for less than £3100 sounds like a bargain!

Cheers GKW. If I recall correctly you were considering a few different bikes a few months back. Did you demo a Fuel EX at all?

Is that a 35mm stem?

Yeah I demoed the Fuel EX too. For me the Rallon is faster both up and down the hill!

i actually don’t know the stem length, I thought 40mm maybe – it’s just the stock one.

£3100! I got down to 33, feel free to post or DM me the source PLEEEEZE X

Anyone with a L or XL in the central belt/borders that I could throw a leg over on Saturday/Sunday morning? itching to pull the trigger on one for May delivery, but i need to do it soon.

lobby_dosser try Gordon Hardie at Hardies bikes in Melrose, they have a large that his son races on.

I’m in North Northumberland and have a large but will be out on it at the weekend…….welcome to throw a leg over it one day next week though.

lobby – try Sprockets in Kilmarnock, they have some demo ones in, not sure of size, but give Dave a call.

This from their FB feed yesterday

Pedals in Edinburgh have a large demo in.

They also have mine which I’ll pick up next week 😀

Right I really want one now, better get saving… How long have MYO orders been taking to arrive?

Seb, that bike is a thing of beauty! To ask, what size frame did you opt for and is that the stock 150mm dropper?

Mine is a large, can’t remember what seatpost length it is – I’ve feeling I ordered the 170mm but it was that long ago when I placed the order I can’t remember!

How do you find the coil? Have you just gone on (or close to) recommended settings for rebound/compression damping or are you finding it needs to be towards one of the extremes?

Too early to say as I’ve just had a brief ride on it so far and the settings are all fairly in the middle (LSC/HSC)

mark_rich – Member

Absolutely loving mine
Fast and fun
pedals well
My complete build is 31 lbs inc pedals and Huck Norris in rear

What build is this based on?

Planning a huck Norris on the rear too, ive opted for the dt1501 upgrade so want to preserve the rear rim best I can.

The bike is actually arriving a good week or so earlier than quoted.

My build
XL Frame with X2 air shock
Mrp Ribbon coil forks
Guide Ultimate brakes
Reverb 150mm
Renthal Carbon bars
Renthal Apex Stem
Descendant Carbon cranks
King BB
Gx Eagle cassette/chain.shifter
Hope pro4 with Nextie 30mm carbon wheels
DHF3c front and DHR 3c rear
Nukeproof Horizon pedals
Odi F1 grips

cheers guys for the heads for the shops in central belt/borders. I’ll try and get there tomorrow.

Lobby dosser Pedals in Edinburgh have a Large demo, they usually reply on Facebook quite quickly

thanks alan

My build
XL Frame with X2 air shock
Mrp Ribbon coil forks
Guide Ultimate brakes
Reverb 150mm
Renthal Carbon bars
Renthal Apex Stem
Descendant Carbon cranks
King BB
Gx Eagle cassette/chain.shifter
Hope pro4 with Nextie 30mm carbon wheels
DHF3c front and DHR 3c rear
Nukeproof Horizon pedals
Odi F1 grips

Any pics nicolaisam>

Yeah I demoed the Fuel EX too. For me the Rallon is faster both up and down the hill!

i actually don’t know the stem length, I thought 40mm maybe – it’s just the stock one.

Hi GKW, could you please elaborate on how you found the Rallon faster climbing than the Fuel? That’s a pretty bold statement! cheers

If you where to get the M10 upgrade the fork, shock and wheels didn’t care much if it was GX or X01 and had already got Hope brakes and other parts from your old bike, would spend the extra to get the M Team bike?

I know that’s going to sound daff as sorts but finding it hard to make up my mind what to do. Saving money keeps the wife happy.

Hi GKW, could you please elaborate on how you found the Rallon faster climbing than the Fuel? That’s a pretty bold statement! cheers

It was whole lot of things that basically meant the bike was faster for me – it definitely fitted me better, the riding position was better, I felt the suspension was better and although it’s not the most reliable Strava confirmed it was faster uphill on a regular route!

I managed to get a ride on a large on Saturday, thanks to Pedals, and I was very impressed. This was my 1st ride on a 29er and it quashed my preconceptions. The bike felt very agile and not dissimilar to my 27.5er. The best thing for me was the lack of pedal strikes- II kept it in the low (not lower 8)) setting and didn’t encounter any. LOng. low and slack maybe all the rage, but to be honest, I would rather sacrifice some of the benefits of this to minimise pedal strikes.

It wasn’t the best conditions to test a bike and I was a bit unsure of the tyres, but overall i think i could live with one 🙂

If you where to get the M10 upgrade the fork, shock and wheels didn’t care much if it was GX or X01 and had already got Hope brakes and other parts from your old bike, would spend the extra to get the M Team bike?

I know that’s going to sound daff as sorts but finding it hard to make up my mind what to do. Saving money keeps the wife happy.
If you’re not too fussed on bar/stem/drivetrain and have your own brakes then M10 with upgrades works out cheaper, or did for me anyway. Personally, GX eagle will do (almost) the same job and importantly isn’t going to be any slower than the top of the range eagle stuff (not sure the same can be said for lower end fork/shock/wheels, which is where the upgrades are worthwhile IMO). I also went for the upgraded dropper and will likely swap the brakes out at a later date. Came to £4500 with 10% work discount, so £1200 cheaper than the M-team.

What would you swap over from your current bike?

I have Rental bars and stem, Ergon grips and saddle along with hope Tech 3 E4 brakes.

I’m thinking get an M10 upgrade the wheels and the same with fork and shock. Ride and enjoy the bike then when needs be add X01 parts when a good deal comes around online or in my LBS.

I also went for the upgraded dropper and will likely swap the brakes out at a later date. Came to £4500 with 10% work discount, so £1200 cheaper than the M-team.

Noob question, are you upgrading the parts via your LBS when ordering? I was under the impression you could only customise via the Rallon website?

You can upgrade most parts (inc brakes and dropper) on the MyO bit. And I am sure if your LBS is good enough, they could help you out if there is something specific you want that isn’t listed on the orbea site. I have bars and stem from my previous bike and brakes will get replaced at a later date if I dislike the XTs.

When you order through orbea, you create a PDF with your spec taken from the orbea website. This PDF is emailed or taken in person to your LBS who puts the order in with orbea directly.

Here’s mine I picked up this weekend,
Ordered through a dealer late October and arrived bang on time.
XL M10 with factory 36’s, X2 and 1501 wheel upgrades as a few others have recommended, cost me £4,350.00
By far the best value in my opinion too, happy with the GX eagle stuff, don’t believe in spending big on drivetrain with the weather we get !

I’ve added the Sixc bars and reverb.

Took it out yesterday, well impressed, I had a demo ride before I ordered.
Initial impressions are its a superb climber and efficient pedaler, possibly best I’ve owned, riding position its fantastic for me at 6’3″ even with the 40mm stem, plenty of room in the cockpit, no steering flop on the climbs.
Once you get out of the saddle and stomp on the pedals it really flies with no wallowing in its travel.
Did a few short off piste forest trails and it feels like a real weapon downhill but still very playful and manouvarable.
Only ridden in the low setting rather than lower, but I’d say that it would take more than the half degree you lose off the HA and SA to ruin this bikes climbing ability.
The XT brakes felt superb too once bedded in.
Can’t wait to get out on some steep dry trails.

That looks bang tidy Mark. Any chance of a side on photo with saddle at pedalling height please?

Some of those look lovely. That one is the same colour as the prototype I had Mark and it looks great. (Although mine was hand painted and had the black bit made up with electrical tape!) The purple also looks stunning in the flesh. I don’t think that the pictures, pretty as they are, do it justice. Mine is going to be similar to Seb´s grey one but all in Matt, I can´t wait for it to come. I’ve ordered a Laufey (new name for the Loki) in the meantime.

davosaurusrex – Member
That looks bang tidy Mark. Any chance of a side on photo with saddle at pedalling height please?

Can’t get a pic for u at the moment as the brand new reverb died on the first outing, the bottom came out of the post and it spilled its guts after an hour, appears like there was no circlip fitted in the bottom.
Currently sat with no post in until I fit the standard affect dropper.

The reverb was a 170 drop and gave a bb to top if saddle height of about 820mm when set up as per photo… if I remember right, if that helps.

Doug is right that the pics don’t do the bikes justice, they don’t photograph well with that Matt finish. Mine has a matt invisiframe kit fitted which makes it look really nice with a slight sheen, the kit fits awesome and covers almost everywhere, first time I’ve had one on a new bike and I’m impressed.

LBS will do me a M10 with Wheels, fork and shock upgrade for £4300 should be £4800. Very tempting.

Anybody in here who’s ridden both the Rallon and the Smuggler or the Aeris AM9?

I’m almost sold on the Rallon, but I can’t demo one before the end of April.

Cheers

Sold my 2016 smuggler for the Rallon, early days as I said above only had one ride on the rallon (not ridden the 2018 smuggler though) but I’d say the rallon has a comfier riding position and is a better peddler/climber than the smuggler. Also lighter, I’d rather do a big xc ride on the rallon than the old shape smuggler.
The rallon when climbing and pedalling xc trails does not feel like it has 150mm at the rear as it doesn’t wallow and is very efficient even without the climb switch on.

dblspeed – I also replaced a Smuggler with the Rallon.

As mark_rich has said the Orbea is lighter and a better climber than the Transition. The Smuggler despite being short travel always felt very plush and I have not got the Rallon to feel like that yet – I’d say its more of a lively feel. In general I would say it feels snappier despite being much longer travel but that might be down to weight as much as anything else. Descending on the Smuggler was very good (I had 150mm forks and an Angleset on mine) but I’m going faster on the Rallon and feeling more in control.

I’ve not ridden the Aeris to compare but my gut would say it’s a middle ground between the 2 in terms of ride style?

Has anyone ridden the 2018 Enduro in comparsion to the Rallon? They look very similiar geometry wis.

MBR did a rallon v enduro shootout this month, but I take their reviews with a pinch of salt!
Rallon 9 / 10
Enduro 8 / 10
Enduro was let down by the ohlins fork but could be THE bike if equipped with fox suspension.
Mentioned rallon might be better with 160 rear travel…..maybe for enduro racing but I’d rather have it at 150 and have more pedalling efficiency for my usage thanks.
Anyway I think spesh will be giving them pink enduro elites away come August.

Descending on the Smuggler was very good (I had 150mm forks and an Angleset on mine)

gadzooks!

Mentioned rallon might be better with 160 rear travel…..

😆
Did they hit a rock that was 10mm too big for the back wheel to get over?

Thanks all for the input.

GKW my gut feeling (and looking at the suspension design) tells me the AM9 is more pedal friendly than the Smuggler, I also like the lower standover better, but less the 4 mm taller seat tube.

The Aeris is also quite a bit longer than the Rallon, 773 mm vs 753 fc, longer chainstays, so probably the latter is better suited to most of my riding than the former.

Argh analysis paralysis

So my brother’s rallon has arrived! Mine is going to be another week or so, but here is his to have a gander at.

Another one that looks great! I have yet to see a really dodgy colour combo – given the scope on the MyO system there’s bound to be a few…..

The frame is so beefy it makes that 36 look like a 32 😀

Nickism which build is that?