The new Orbea Oiz retains its cross country race appeal but bumps up the travel to 120mm front and rear. And is lighter and stiffer.

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By ben_haworth

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New Orbea Oiz: XC racers need only apply

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I honestly can’t see the appeal of cables going through the headset, unless your maintenance is done for you / for free. Am I missing something here?

Otherwise, great looking bike.

I honestly can’t see the appeal of cables

You could have just finished there.

Why stick with cable operated gears at all? Wireless shifting is reasonably priced, much easier to install and maintain.
For brake hoses, one they’re in, they’re in. It’s not like you even really need to change them.

That dropper post??! Limited by frame? I’ve seen longer ones on gravel bikes.

Why stick with cable operated gears at all? Wireless shifting is reasonably priced, much easier to install and maintain.

No, no NO
It’s also bloody electric, and a good portion of us don’t want any more electrical gubbins on our bikes than absolutely needed ( light)

For brake hoses, one they’re in, they’re in. It’s not like you even really need to change them.

Bollocks
I’ve changed the rear brake hose at least twice on my Orbea.
Whoever invented internal cable routing needs to be shot

/ overopinionatedpersonnotyethadhisfirstcoffee

Whoever invented forgot the internal cable guide routing tubes needs to be shot

Electric of road? Wonderful! Nope.
Of course it is great when working well but the darn mechs are too fragile . Mechanical mechs wear out rapidly but at least are cheaper to replace. What about crash damage etc. If some one else was paying then yes but otherwise, nope.

It’s also bloody electric, and a good portion of us don’t want any more electrical gubbins on our bikes than absolutely needed

Bang on!

There was an article on Pinkbike the other day about the increasing number of MTBs coming with fully internal / down the headtube cable routing…

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/burning-question-why-are-so-many-bike-manufacturers-putting-cables-through-the-headset.html

about 3 – 4 kg over XC weight too unless you fork out the cost of a car for a carbon version

Alloy version for only £300 more than I paid for the same spec of carbon less than three years ago.

Would Orbea really describe it as for ‘XC racers only’? They must still be relying on fat knackers like me to shift some of them.

It’s so XC racers can realize their secret desires to do sick bar spins.

XC racers need only apply  is a strong move to have it adopted by the elite, but I guess that anyone else wanting one has to actually buy it?

I still haven’t quite figured out headset routing, where does the cable actually go?

The routing goes into the side of the steerer tube, that way you only need to change it if you change the bearings, to minimize the risk of that the top bearing is stainless. You can change spacers and stems as normal. Also not hard to swap from UK to EU brakes.

It is an XC focussed bike, not just for XC racers, just the same way that my Rallon is an enduro race bike but I don’t race enduro. Orbea describe it as an XC race weapon and not down country! It certainly looks like a fun light bike to me but I’ve certainly never considered XC racing!!

Dropper post isn’t limited by the frame, it’s Fox’s XC dropper with just 2 positions. Longer droppers are possible.

M30, the cheapest carbon version, is €4K, not sure what that is in the current pound.

Hope that helps a bit.

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/23676822/

Think I’ve got it from this photo (ignore that there’s also a knock block thingie in there) there’s an additional sleeve which goes around the fork, cables go through that, and it sits within a larger than normal upper headset bearing.

Actually quite neat as long as it’s done well. I don’t hate this.

Regarding electrics – I have the axs dropper. It’s the best dropper I’ve ever owned. Only cost is preventing me from having axs gears. And most of that cost is in upgrading to 12 speed, not the electrical components. Waiting to see the surely imminent shimano offering.
I think it already exists in the curly bar world, some top end frames being wireless only, no possible way to route cables apart from the brake hose. Personally I would welcome this.