Thanks to World Cup legend Julien Absalon and the women of the Luna Chix race team, Orbea has had huge success on the cross-country race circuit for a relatively small Basque bike brand. We dropped into its factory in the coastal mountains of northern Spain to see where the magic happens – and to find out if the Oiz is as spellbindingly quick as the trophy cabinet suggests.
The Oiz was already sitting in the foyer of the factory when we rolled into Orbea’s HQ, but our tour revealed strengths that set any Orbea bike apart from standard options you’ll find in the shops. While the frames are made in the Far East they’re designed and prototype tested in the superb riding of the sub Pyrenees, and the Oiz name actually comes from the nearest mountain to the factory.
Orbea has its own in-house stress testing and suspension development rigs, which we saw trying to rip apart a couple of next generation frames (which we can’t tell you about yet). The company’s also affiliated to the technology department of the local university and there’s clearly a lot of fresh, innovative thinking going on.
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While Orbea's original Oiz was a 26in-wheeled, rear pivot-equipped bike, the latest version uses a pivotless ‘U-Flexion’ carbon rear end. Using built-in flex rather than a real pivot is by no means a unique idea. But it’s neatly executed right up to the very short carbon linkage hanging inside the open underside of the top tube.
Space is too tight for a conventional bridge, so Orbea also uses a high tension Tensegrity metal rod to tie the stays together behind the linkage. The M50 and M30 get a ‘performance’ carbon rather than the ‘race’ blend of the top models. The fact you get a full composite chassis (including linkage) at this price is still damned impressive though.
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