New bike week – Orbea Rise LT

Apologies I would have added to my original thread but can’t find it ?

So last weekend got my first ebike and first mtb for 12 years!

It is amazing the changes in that time, I think wheel size and tyres being the biggest impacts. The wheel size just rolls over stuff like 26’ers just can’t. The tyres look huge but give masses of grip compared to old 2.1s.

Wheel size and more relaxed geometry also reduce the ‘over the bars’ moments significantly. I’m completely having to readjust to wants normal to ride down and strangely up (more due to the motor).

The bike weighs in at 20.5kg fully kitted. It’s slightly more than I would like , but the 420wh battery wasn’t available when I ordered. I can’t say how it compares to other e-bikes or analogue bikes because stuff has moved on so much.

However having just turned 51, having hip issues and very limited riding time due to ferrying my son around the country for football, e-bikes are bloody brilliant!

First ride was 2 laps of Llandegla. First lap using the lowest 2 power levels, the 2nd lap on full 85nm. Yesterday I rode up Cadair Idris. It only used 30% battery up and down! I didn’t use full power most of the way but there were sections where 85nm just made the difference. Towards the top there was one section that I just could believe the bike could get up.

Ive set the power profiles at 34nm, 49nm, 85nm . The default low of 34nm is only really useful on flat trails. The 85nm enables you to get up stuff you just think you should be able to.

Looking at my data it is improving my fitness. Heart rates are very similar to n my analogue bikes. The big difference I do notice is that my upper body is being used a lot more just because of the added weight of the bike.

Dislikes so far

Internal cable routing headset. It creaked like f@@ on the 2nd ride. Slackening off and then tightening solved it, but I don’t like the idea of taking it apart.

The Fox Factory fork is harsh. The test bike I rode was plush. This one isn’t and apparently they are over dampened for normal riders.

Battery management- for £8k I would expect smart battery charging. Not having to stop charging, connect to the bike to check charge level. Should be as simple as an app that allows you to set charge level and it cuts off automatically

Weight – 20.5kg is heavy imo. I noticed it yesterday opening gates where you really had to think about how you hold the bike and open the gate. Plus after finishing the ride it’s actually a fair weight to get in the back of the car

Overall though, no regrets whatsoever. Opened up a whole world of riding again that I wouldn’t have been able to do with my current level of fitness, plus it’s making me fitter doing it.

Battery management- for £8k I would expect smart battery charging. Not having to stop charging, connect to the bike to check charge level. Should be as simple as an app that allows you to set charge level and it cuts off automatically

Yeah that annoys me with a Levo. Advice is to charge the battery to 70% if you’re going to store it for a while and a smart charger would do that automatically then just stop. Instead you have to disconnect and check periodically, which is irksome. I’d not really thought of it as a design flaw before, but now you mention it, it clearly is.

Nice, i approve. The weight is about as low as you’re going to find and even dropping a bit with a smaller battery isn’t going to make it feel like 15kg.

the headset thing i’ve seen about a bit on threads, i’m not sure anyone found a decent answer other than 1 bloke had the Orbea tech sort his and it was golden… but it shouldn’t be that complex.

The internal headset routing massively puts me off bikes, even more so than internal cable routing, i’d MUCH prefer external and i have no idea why this is now the done thing… I’d bet a larger majority of owners would prefer external.

The default low of 34nm is only really useful on flat trails. 

Maybe for you 🙂

I’ve a Spesh SL and it maxes out at 35nm – happily does +5000ft (or +7000ft with an extender) days.

Maybe for you

I’ve a Spesh SL and it maxes out at 35nm – happily does +5000ft (or +7000ft with an extender) days.

Completely agree. I have had nearly 3 years of very limited exercise due to hip issues and ferrying my son around the country for football matches so my fitness levels are very low. Hopefully over time as my fitness increases then yes lower assist levels can be used. However I simply dont have the time to nip out 2-3 times per week. This bike enables me to go and ride anything once a week/ one a month and still enjoy it 🙂

More power does have its place though. It gets you up some stuff you just couldnt on an analogue, or makes trail centres an absolute blast. The trick is not to start out at 85nm because if you then decide to go to a lower setting it feels like you are riding with the brakes on. However with the 630wh battery I think I could get round most trail centres on full power.

I also feel that on more natural trails the urge isnt there to switch to 85nm, its almost too much for ‘natural’ riding, and there is no need for the extra speed.

People talk about emtb’s as ‘cheating’. I dont see that now having one. It just opens up more opportunity.

The only ‘cheating’ that does go on is modern bikes. I still havent got used to how capable they are downhill. In fact I am sure this bike is more competent downhill than I will ever be. However the rock gardens descending off Cadair Idris yesterday were so easy compared to my 2012 bike, something that is going to take me time to get my head around.

Good choice. Mate has the similar bike. Very nice and a decent weight compared to my 25kg full fat ebike.

He had an issue with the freehub within 4 rides but apart from that he’s had no other issues.

The trick is not to start out at 85nm because if you then decide to go to a lower setting it feels like you are riding with the brakes on. However with the 630wh battery I think I could get round most trail centres on full power.

that is the key on an e-bike. You can completely viably ride the Rise with the motor off. It’s heavier than a normal bike, but it’s fine.  But if you do it half way through a ride it feels lie treacle – I’ve found switching to an unpowered bike off road takes me a little while to adapt climbing.  Just have to relax and slow the target pace as it’s not the same as on the e bike.   I rode my old Rise most of the time in RS Eco and it’s still means quicker, longer days but it depends who your riding with – that worked with K on a day where just the two of us on Rise, but not so much if everyone else is on full power or your riding with XC racer types.

Battery charging – easy way is to get a ‘delay’ plug in timer.  it’s about four hours to full from empty, but a couple of hours gets it most of the way and top up later if you’re worried.  I don’t think theres any real issue if your’e using the bike every week or so in just fully charging it.

the headset thing i’ve seen about a bit on threads, i’m not sure anyone found a decent answer other than 1 bloke had the Orbea tech sort his and it was golden… but it shouldn’t be that complex.

It needs to be torqued to 8nm (and difficult to do that accurately by hand).  Neither of our bikes have been an issue having done that but there are a lot of parts to mesh so it needs a lot more torque than I’d normally use on a headset.   it was enough to damage the Alu bolt in mine (!) and I’ve just replaced it with a steel one.

The Fox Factory fork is harsh. The test bike I rode was plush. This one isn’t and apparently they are over dampened for normal riders.

This is odd – the test bike shouldn’t have felt different.  And a new 2024 fork (when you’ve not had a new bike for 12 years) should feel way better – if it’s really feeling harsh in comparison Fox have badly screwed up.  Does it just need some running in I wonder?

How heavy are you?  Only one ride in but I had a Shockwiz on it (which normally thinks every fork and shock I’ve ever put it on has too much compression damping) and it seemed happy with mine with zero High speed (and about 4 clicks of low). 85kg, 85psi.  Probably need to add a token.

K’s under 65kg and it wasn’t too unhappy with hers either (again zero HS compression, 1 or two LS)

Very nice.

I bought a 2022 Rise M20 on the weekend. First ride on Sunday and was really impressed. The only other time I have ridden an eMTB it was a heavy, full-fat one and the Rise is much lighter and feels more like a ‘regular’ bike. It’s the older model with a 60Nm motor and 360Whr battery.

I don’t know what the new model you have is like but I was surprised at how short the reach is on my Rise. It’s a large frame but felt shorter than my 2016 medium Trance. I have rolled the bars forward a bit and pushed the saddle back and this has improved it but I think a longer stem may be needed.

I have used the Shimano E-Tube app to set up a second profile for when I want more assist/power.

Profile 1 (Standard) is:

ECO: Assist character Lv 2, Max torque 24Nm, Assist start Lv5

Trail: Assist character Lv 4, Max torque 38Nm, Assist start Lv5

Boost: Assist character Lv 7, Max torque 60Nm, Assist start Lv5

Profile 2 is:

ECO: Assist character Lv 3, Max torque 33Nm, Assist start Lv3

Trail: Assist character Lv 5, Max torque 47Nm, Assist start Lv4

Boost: Assist character Lv 10, Max torque 60Nm, Assist start Lv4

I have only had a short get-used-to-it ride so far but looking forward to taking it on a bit of an XC ride up and around Cwmbran this weekend.

Looks great.

My 3 year old Rise H15 is still plugging along. I find most of my riding is covered by the “low power” profile 1 which, I think, has Boost pegged at 47nm and that seems to suit my riding. On the “flat” I often turn the motor off.

Issues I have had with the Rise are the well documented linkage problem, it eats bearings, Orbea branded dropper failed, freehub shat its internals after 2 months – but everything sorted under warranty by supplier (MTB Monster) and Orbea.

A mate of mine has been waiting over 8 months for a replacement battery (wouldn’t charge and diagnosed as water ingress to the battery) for his Rise, apparently it’s due this week but he’s at the stage of not wanting the bike any more. His brother has the same bike and has had no issues at all so far but personally I’d be wary after his experience

The weight is about as low as you’re going to find

Nope fraid not, my medium levo sl is a mere 18.5kg in it’s bog standard guise inc. the inserts I’ve added. But it doesnt have 85nm but nor do I need it to.

Nope fraid not, my medium levo sl

i meant proper Ebikes 😉 😉 *smileys here somewhere… or not*

20.5kg is spot on for a 85Nm 630W battery bike.

Surprised it doesn’t have a smart charger. My H30 does.

But it doesnt have 85nm but nor do I need it to.

correct you don’t need 85nm to ride the bike or indeed go on a long ride.

However as above it makes some stuff that you would never consider rideable uphill rideable , and it makes flowing trails ie trail centres unbelievably good fun. No it’s not ‘proper’ riding whatever that is, but it makes it a 2 dimensional bike imo

Also love that because it’s an ebike, KOMs are all meaningless as there is so variation in bike power

@FunkyDunc – what height are you and what size did you go for?

@FunkyDunc – what height are you and what size did you go for?

I am a short arse. 5ft 6. I thought I would be a small but on the demo days I was advised that I really needed a medium. They are quite short in the top tube, well IMO

I would really try and sit on one if you can.

Thanks – I’m between a M and L.  Would love to demo one but that doesnt seem possible!

I demoed the top model LT in the summer , i had the joy of testing the none LT the year before. Pretty sure the LT is all the bike i would ever need. I found trail mode to be the best mode, rapid absolutely everywhere up and down. I didn’t notice the weight of the bike whatsoever.

Lovely bike

Also love that because it’s an ebike, KOMs are all meaningless as there is so variation in bike power

True for all trails except those steep enough theres no pedalling at all now.  It has made strava times a bit of a joke – it not even just power – peopel with US speed limit, or completely derestricted.  And loads of people on e bikes not even flagging as such. KOMs are only useful agasint your own times and your mates now.

Surprised it doesn’t have a smart charger. My H30 does.

it is a smart charger – it goes to trickle when full.  But theres no way of telling how much charge it’s got while charging – display/phone connection only works if you disconnect charger, turn bike on.

@funkydunc – still intrigued by your experience of the fork – see upthread

@funkydunc – still intrigued by your experience of the fork – see upthread

The shock pressure was setup by the shop where I bout it from, based on the sag of 30mm in the shop. I am roughly 82kg

I checked it last night and it does suggest its too much psi for my weight. Ive gone to the lower end of the psi setting and will try that on a ride. TBH I also need to check what effect thats had on sag.

There have been a number of reviews on the fork that all say its a harsh fork.

@scc999 how tall are you? Before I bought my Rise I’d always ridden Mediums, the Large on an Orbea is just right . If you are anywhere near mid Somerset you’re welcome to swing a leg over .

Gratuitous Quantocks mid week pic, talking about the fork , my 36s are nice and plush compared to the 34s on the Curtis I just had built . I’m guessing they will improve with age unlike the rider !

@oldfart – I’m 5’8″. Thanks for the offer – based in High Peak so not local.  I do have access to an older version that is medium and feels maybe a bit small but will the large feel too big.  Questions questions.  I’ll try and get to a shop that has them soon.

I reckon a Large will be too big ?

@funkydunc

The shock pressure was setup by the shop where I bout it from, based on the sag of 30mm in the shop. I am roughly 82kg

I checked it last night and it does suggest its too much psi for my weight. Ive gone to the lower end of the psi setting and will try that on a ride. TBH I also need to check what effect thats had on sag.

There have been a number of reviews on the fork that all say its a harsh fork.

There have, but reviews. Someone says something and suddenly everyone repeats it.  Pressure sounds about right to me – I’m similar – but if they’ve followed the manual they’ll have put some high speed compression on  – wind that all the way off (blue knob on the top) and try it.

Rangefinding ride today RS+. 100% Trail. “Full gas”/high cadence (80-90+)
50k 1600m 10% left in the 600 battery. (85 kg ride weight)

Happy with that.