This was a short review when I was thinking about it on the ride but got a bit long when I typed it out, sorry

I finally got my new Orbea after the theft of my Cannondale Topstone. Both are Gravel bikes and both have electric pedal assistance from the Marhle hub motor. I took the Orbea out for a 30 mile road ride to see what it was like and if there were any real differences and thought I would share my findings.

Before we get to that please be aware that I am not a trained cyclist or journalist and if you want the full detailed spec list then just Google it. These are just my personal observations. Also, the Cannondale was about £3,000 and the Orbea should have been about £4,500 but because the shop, Pure Electric, was closing in September there was a £1,000 discount which made the maths bearable. Big thanks to Doris5000 for telling me.

The fact they were closing limited my choices to one bike which was specced for road rather than gravel but is exactly the same frame and fork as their gravel version I believe. The main differences were not GRX drivetrain and 34mm slicks instead of 40mm gravel tyres. I don’t think the shifters made any difference on the ride but the tyres may have.

The similarities between the bikes.

They are both stupidly expensive for what they are but hey, ho, that is the way of the world today. It does mean that they are both reasonably specced and everything works nicely. They have the same size wheels and although the Orbea came with road tyres, it can have up to 40mm gravel tyres fitted. There might be a follow up review once these have been fitted.

The differences and the effects I think they make.

The Cannondale was sized as Large while the Orbea is a medium. I am on the cusp between medium and large on the Orbea according to the sizing software and probably would have gone for a large if there was the choice. There wasn’t the choice but the Orbea does not feel small when riding so perhaps worth checking before you buy.

The Cannondale was aluminium and the Orbea is carbon. Now I suspect the biggest difference is to the price but subjectively, the Orbea does not seem to transfer as much road buzz to my hands. With the Cannondale I bought a Redshift suspension stem within a week and it was brilliant. On the Orbea I came back from a 30 mile ride with no noticeable hand or wrist ache. This could be the carbon or perhaps I am not leaning as far forward due to the smaller frame?

The Orbea feels more twitchy, or agile I guess, depending on your viewpoint. This isn’t as noticeable at speed but I had a couple of surprise wobbles at slow speed initially when I turned into a corner too much. I soon adjusted to it but it is still worth noting. Once riding normally there was no real problem and I liked that the Orbea seemed to turn into slight bends more positively. It was like driving a car without much understeer as opposed to one with it – do bikes suffer understeer?

The hub motors a both by Mahle but one was the X35 and the Orbea is an X35 Plus. Check the spec sheets for the details but to me, and again subjectively, there appeared to be less boost on the Orbea. No, not less boost as the average speed was actually slightly higher, which could have been the motor or the tyres, but less obvious boost. Starting from stationary with full boost you could still clearly feel the ½ crank delay and then the power kick in but when starting in L1 boost, the minimum, it was much more difficult to detect.

Nice Touches

The Orbea has integrated lights that run off the main battery. These are not going to bring down any planes but do mean you always have a lit light when riding. I haven’t used it in the dark to see how bright the front light really is but it does have Day Light Running and Full Beam so hopefully will be sufficient to get home on the road if my off-road lights fail.

The Orbea computer, thrown in free by the shop so I am not sure if it normally is included, links to the bike so you can see details of the battery life and switch the power boost up and down using that instead of having to cycle through the single button on the top tube and only having green, amber, red for a battery gauge.
There is a built-in mount for the computer or Garmin or Wahoo as part of the headset so the device is held a few cm in front of your bars and you don’t lose any bar space with a clamp. This houses the front light too so that it doesn’t get blocked either.

All of the cabling is internally routed and there is lots of aero look bits like the seat clamp that is sunk into the frame rather than wrapping around the seat post like I am used to. The Aero headset spacers mean you can’t sling standard ones on without ruining the look and I hope I don’t need to buy a Redshift stem as that won’t look right either.

Summary
The Orbea Gain M20 is a very nice bike to ride. It feels smoother and more agile than the Cannondale it replaces and appears to be slightly faster over a 30 mile road loop – possibly tyres?

So do I like the bike? Yes I think it is amazing.
Is it better than the Cannondale? Yes, slightly but slightly in enough areas to actually be noticeable.
Is it worth the money? No, you could buy a car for that! Fortunately I decided never to try and justify my actions or spending so accepting the market pricing I still struggle to see the extra £1,500 over the Cannondale but can definitely see £500 of benefit.
Final Summary – Happy Cyclist

Quick update. I just stuck some Swalbe One 40mm Gravel tyres on and took it for a couple of miles around the Sport Centre and through Lordswood. What a revelation. So smooth and secure feeling compared to the Cannondale. I was on the drops and peddling on the dusty and occasionally rooty descent from Hadrian’s Way to the Golf Course and happily hopping over a couple of fallen branches. Certainly something I would have been way more cautious about before. I am really looking forward to some longer routes with more mixed trails and I will see if Strava agrees with my perception of greater speed for the same effort and less sketchiness.

The Aero headset spacers mean you can’t sling standard ones on without ruining the look and I hope I don’t need to buy a Redshift stem as that won’t look right either.

Pretty sure you could fathom something to fit though – if using a RedShift stem you’d need to make the lower piece out of rubber so it could handle the stem flexing into it.

I have an Orbea Orca and have pondered the same thing (as in if I changed to an integrated bar/stem combo – how would it match up with the stem spacers).

Pretty sure you could fathom something to fit though – if using a RedShift stem you’d need to make the lower piece out of rubber so it could handle the stem flexing into it.

Thankfully the bike seems to suffer with way less trail buzz than the Cannondale so no need for the Redshift, based on the couple of rides so far.

Really surprised how good it felt on the dirt through the woods. Really good traction through the corners, fast turn in at the front, comfortable on the drops even down the little wooden steps section.

Also, just looked at Strava and did a PR on the road section out of the woods and heading home. I wasn’t even trying at this point, just smiling about the previous couple of miles.

Wow, I fitted some 40mm gravel tyres to the Orbea and the 30 mile test ride surprised me.

Normally I ride faster when with friends that when I am alone and was just enjoying a stretched lunch break. Then Strava brought up the link to the last time I rode the same trail and I was 2.1mph faster this time compared to the Cannondale with the same power electric assist.

Neither time was I sprinting or trying for speed, just enjoying a nicely paced ride along tarmac and mostly gravel and wooded single track up to and around Farley Mount near Winchester, so I am putting it down to the new bike.

Sounds like a good (forced) upgrade and then really!

I do like the look of the Orbea Rise lower power ebike. If I had to buy one right now I think that would be my choice.

Can i ask how the Mahle motor feels once past the speed cut off? i am thinking of a commuter with the same motor but my commute is fairly flat, so would only need the motor when there is a headwind etc, so dont want anything creating lots of drag when exceeding the max speed.