Like all good road bikes, the Orca from Orbea – the 175 bike company from the Basque country (well, actually it started making a curious mix of guns then prams, only turning their hands to bikes in the 1930s) – broke cover a few months ago under the Cofidis team, covered in a spider-web print inspired by the paint used to protect the angles on a new car from spying lenses.
However, today is the official launch and we’re in San Sebastian with Orbea, so just to whet your appetites here’s a few preliminary shots to digest before we get our hands on one this afternoon, and follow this up with a proper report.
Lighter, faster and betterer were all words that featured heavily in the presentation of the new bike this morning, along with the news that the Orca will now come in a much anticipated disc version, along with three levels of a rim brake frame.
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First of these is the OME, a literal carbon copy of last year’s Orca, plus the revised OMP and OMR levels that will utilise all-new geometry, more aero research carried off by Orbea during R&D, as well as better construction techniques. All of this has allowed Orbea to create a bike it says is 80g lighter in the frame, now down to 795g (rim brake version), and 4 seconds faster per 10km in a wind speed of 40kmh, as well as supposedly handling better across different frame sizes due to its size-dependent fork trail.
Built up with some semi exotic parts, the complete Orca OMR bike is claimed to weigh as little as 5.6kg, and will retail at €6,999.
We are due to head out on a test ride shortly, and will update this article with more details and a first review as soon as we can.
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Orbea Orca OMR, €6,999