New Orbea Oiz | Now even lighter than before!

The latest update to the Orbea Oiz is revealed, and it uses a new OMX carbon which results in what Orbea claims is the lightest frame in its category.

The Orbea Oiz has been growing in popularity in recent years, with Orbea reporting strong sales growth in Europe. The bike comes in two models: the Oiz XC and Oiz TR, with the 120mm travel TR being aimed at the less race focussed rider who wants a bit more travel and forgiveness on their rides. The Oiz XC meanwhile offers just 100mm of travel, and its new Oiz OMX frame sees it weighing in at just 1740g for a medium frame with shock – that’s 250g less than previous models.

The new OMX carbon uses construction techniques designed to eliminate ripples in the carbon – which cause unnecessary material and therefore weight to be included in the frame. Orbea says ‘Fiber direction and layup are tuned and adjusted with testing prototypes, and hours of premolding specific areas of each production frame before final heating ensure optimal fiber and resin compaction with the smallest amount of carbon. Smooth and even compression of the laminates is the goal; full EPS molds, Polyurethane and Latex inserts are used to eliminate wrinkles and imperfections when the frame is moulded’. This video explains, erm… not a lot. But it makes some cool swirly graphic stuff happen.

In addition, the top end model includes a long-fibre injected Fiberlink, all OMX models have had their chainstays shortened by 5mm, and come with flat mount brakes. With all that weight shaved off here and there, this is a bike Orbea expects to see being raced at the top level.

While us mere mortals might not make too much use of a three position handlebar control for our fork, racing snakes may well appreciate this, and Orbea has developed the ‘Squidlink’ to give riders three settings at the touch of a thumb. It comes as standard on XC models, and is available as an extra on TR models. All models feature a bespoke ‘OC’ headset/stem/spacer combo, which is designed to give a neat cockpit and includes an inbuilt computer mount option. If you want to swap to a standard set up you can, but you’d need to change out the spacers as well as the stem.

In addition to the super light and super fast, the Oiz range retains the Oiz TR and alloy models. All bikes in the range will come specced with 2.35in tyres, though there is now room for up to 2.4in tyres. All bikes come in sizes Small up to XL, and the standard carbon and alloy frames share the same geometry.

There are some wild design finish options available, and if you want to mix up how the bike looks, or the spec, you can do so with Orbea’s MYO ‘Make Your Own’ personalisation options.

The addition of the OMX carbon means there are now alloy models plus two tiers of carbon to choose from, plus the choice between an XC or TR set up, making 10 bikes off the peg before you’ve got going with colours and MYO pick-n-mix. Not a bike for the indecisive then! If your bank balance helps you choose, the alloy Oiz H30 base model comes in at £2,199, while the all singing all dancing Oiz M LTD will be £7,699. The Oiz M-Pro TR is £4,999, while the H10 TR is £2,699.

Bikes are available now, to order or for full details, see the Orbea website.

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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