Orbea Urrun - Shimano EP8 RS equipped hardtail for mile munching

Urrun means ‘far’ in Basque, which is where the Orbea company harks from and hints at what this bike is for.

Following on from the success of their full suspended Rise eMTB with its ‘low fat’ battery capacity Orbea have now taken many, if not all, of those same principals and applied them to a hard tail eMTB. The Urrun.

Like a Rise but not quite

While the Urrun gest the same custom Shimano EP8 RS motor as the very popular Rise it gets a much larger batter capacity of 540wh compared to the 360wh capacity of the Rise carbon. That is, however the same capacity as the aluminium Rise H. So, the same battery as the Rise H? Not quite. In capacity, yes but in practice it’s a bit different.

The new battery in the Urrun is a proprietary battery designed by Orbea and is claimed to be more compact with a higher energy density than previous batteries. This is how it fits so snuggly inside the downtube offering up a very slim looking profile (for an eMTB).

“This battery uses 21-700 cells that optimize energy density, meaning more energy with less volume. Its complete integration in the frame reduces the overall system weight and improves stiffness, which translates into better and easier bike handling”
Orbea press release

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The Urrun is designed as a bike for riding a long way – you can take the cues from what Orbea call their “adventure ready” geometry and spec on that front. The head angle is a comfortable 66 and the seat angle is a steepish 74.6. The reach is pretty conservative across the range and is perhaps the strongest hint that this bike is not for hardtail ‘agro’ purposes and to emphasise that point it comes with a 120mm Fox 34 performance fork on the top of the range model. There’s just two models btw although the Orbea website does offer up a great many customisation options.

There are a plethora of mounting options, with particular emphasis around the rear dropouts that mean you attach pretty much anything you like to this bike. And once loaded up with all your gear, if you find you need some extra power there’s the optional 250wh bottle battery that will take your total battery capacity up to 790wh.

Shimano EP8 RS

Although not as ‘rowdy’ as the Rise the Urrun motor is the same. That means it’s built out of a top of the line Shimano EP motor but with some unique software tuning that effectively limits the maximum torque output from 85 to 60nm. The result is motor that still feels beefy enough when you decide to boost up a steep climb but doesn’t overwhelm you with power. The result of limiting to power leads to Orbea’s claim that the 540wh battery capacity combined with the lightweight bike chassis offers the rider the ride equivalent of a much more ‘full fat’ eMTB.

From the Orbea Presser..

This isn´t just an EP8 with limited torque but rather a totally new control system designed to give the quietest, most natural feeling assistance possible with no lag or drag. The EP8-RS is optimized in the 75-95rpm cadence range so that just as you are pedaling harder the Rise responds instantly with more power, and this is one of the reasons it feels so alive and natural.
Orbea press release

Connections

All the same connection opportunities come with the Urrun in terms of connection to apps and Garmin devices, so you can track everything you do and unlike the Rise, both model options offer up a proper Shimano on bar display/controller unit.

Neat and tidy

Orbea have gone to some length to neaten up the cabling of this bike by way of integrating many of the cables internally. They’ve done this by routing the motor controller through the bar and then into the frame via the stem. The gear cables are also routed into the frame via the custom Orbea stem. The overall result is a very tidy cockpit, although home and workshop mechanics are probably going to be faced with a servicing job handled through gritted teeth. Internally cabling being a riders aesthetic dream but a mechanics nightmare.

The frame itself gets a lot of cosmetic attention with all the tubes being hydroformed aluminium with highly polished and smoothed out welds. The overall look is carbon like. There’s no battery hatch so you cannot remove the battery for external charging. Orbea state that this allows them to not only reduce the chances of any battery rattling but also allows them to avoid any stiffness compromises in the downtube construction.

Two options

There are just two ‘off the peg’ models to pick from. The Urrun 10 (We have on test) and the Urrun 30. There are of course, component savings to be had with the Urrun 30 to get it to its RRP of £3499 (£800 less than the Urrun 10) but the most noticeable difference being the lack of a dropper post – again, signalling this bike’s intended purpose.

Inside bits

The very simple on/off button sits down on the BB casing, close to the motor, which on the face of it seems a little ergonomically compromised when compared with other bikes that offer a top tube power button. However, Orbea claim there’s reason behind this choice and it’s to do with the simplification of the internal cable routing. By positioning the power button relatively close to both the battery AND the motor the amount of internal cable routing through the frame is considerably simplified. We can vouch for the fact that over complex electrical harness routing is often the weak point of reliability in eMTB design. Orbea are claiming that the slight inconvenience of power button location is worth it for the extra reliability of operation.

Charging bits

Orbea have done some upgrading to their charging system for the Urrun which takes a lead from electric car charging technology. Lithium Ion batteries have a finite life span which can be extended or shortened depending on how well they are treated – and by treated what we are talking about is how they are charged. Lithium Ion batteries are really quite robust and can be fast charged quite easily – up to a point. That point is at around the 80% mark. For most electric cars, with their massive and very expensive batteries, the charging circuits in the car restricts the last 20% of charge to a much lower rate in order to not damage the battery. Orbea have adopted the same principal with the Uurun. In practice this means the charger will fast charge up to 80% at 4amps and then slow that rate to 2amps for the remaining capacity. This should keep your Uurun battery in tip-top shape for longer. Unfortunately, due to the extra little connections that are needed inside the charging cables Urrun chargers are not backward compatible with existing Rise models and existing Rise chargers won’t work with the Uurun.

That’s the narrative parts over with. Now let’s get into the numbers.

Orbea Urrun Geometry Table

Orbea Uurun 10 Spec List

Price // £4299
Frame // Hydroformed Alloy 6061 series Internal Cable Routing, Boost 148×12, carrier and kickstand compatible
Battery // Orbea Internal 540Wh (Optional 252Wh Range Extender)
Fork // Fox 34 Float Performance 120 Grip 3-Position QR15x110 E-Bike Optimized
Wheels // Race Face AR 30c Tubeless Ready
Tyres // Maxxis Rekon 2.40” 120 TPI 3CMaxxTerra Exo+ TLR
Chainset // Shimano Steps EM600
Shifter // Shimano XT M8100
Rear Derailleur // Shimano XT M8100 SGS Shadow Plus
Display // Shimano SC-EM800
Brakes // Magura MT5 E-STOP Hydraulic Disc Easy Route Connection
Stem // OC1 35mm interface -6o
Bars // OC 35mm 20mm Rise 780mm
Seatpost // OC MC20 Mountain Control Dropper, 31,6mm, 100mm travel
Saddle // Selle Royal Vivo
Sizes Available // S, M, L, XL
Weight //

Orbea Uurun 30 Spec List

Price // £3499
Frame // Hydroformed Alloy 6061 series Internal Cable Routing, Boost 148×12, carrier and kickstand compatible
Battery // Orbea Internal 540Wh (Optional 252Wh Range Extender)
Fork // Marzocchi Bomber Z2 120 QR15x110 E-Bike Optimized
Wheels // Orbea OC1 29c Tubeless Ready
Tyres // Maxxis Rekon 2.40” 120 TPI 3CMaxxTerra Exo+ TLR
Chainset // Shimano Steps EM600
Shifter // Shimano Deore M4100
Rear Derailleur // Shimano Deore M5120 SGS Shadow Plus
Display // Shimano SC-E5003
Brakes // Magura MT30 Hydraulic Disc Easy Route Connection
Stem // OC1 35mm interface -6o
Bars // OC 35mm 20mm Rise 780mm
Seatpost // Alloy 31.6x400mm Offset 0
Saddle // Selle Royal Vivo
Sizes Available // S, M, L, XL
Weight //

And finally, before we go off into the hills to test our model, availability on the Uurun is from today. dealers have stock from today so you can go touch and feel one in the real world now.