ORBEA RALLON M TEAM
£5,699 The Spanish brand have completely redesigned their enduro bike, yielding some impressive results
The fifth incarnation of Orbea’s Rallon enduro bike is a whole new machine that’s been several years in development. At its launch, product manager Xabi Narbaiza told us confidently that it was the best bike he could make, so we were eager to see for ourselves just how good it is. The frame There are several big changes over the previous model, most notably the move to 29in wheels and a carbon fibre frame. The main hangover from the Rallon mk4 is the suspension design, which places the rear pivot concentric with the wheel axle. Orbea say they’ve kept the same suspension characteristics, making the leverage rate progressive, but not overly so.
In geometry terms, the Rallon is quite long – the 485mm reach on the XL size should be spacious enough for most riders – and seriously low. ‘Low’ and ‘lower’ linkage settings give 28mm and 35mm of bottom bracket (BB) drop respectively, and adjust the head angle between 65.5 and 65 degrees.
Visually, what sets the bike apart is its asymmetric design. The shock is o set to the drive side, making space for a top tube brace and a water bottle on the non-drive side. Every detail has been thought through, from the cable routing to the brake mount sized for a 180mm rotor and the down tube guard that’s honeycombed to save weight. The kit The M-Team is the mid-range model, which sports a top-end Fox 36 fork and Float X2 shock. A good base tune on the shock meant we didn’t need to add any volume spacers. There weren’t many climbs we couldn’t grind up with the SRAM X01 Eagle gearing, and the 30mm-wide DT Swiss wheels and Maxxis rubber gave excellent traction. Orbea’s ‘My O’ website lets buyers pick the
THE RALLON’S D TO FAULT IT WAS HAR WE COULDN’T ABILITY AND N CORNERING OF TRACTIO E AMOUNT BELIEVE TH GROUND OVER LOOSE
colour of their bike at no extra cost, and select from optional suspension, brake and wheel upgrades.
The ride
Thanks to short seat tubes across the range, our 6ft tester felt comfy on both the L and XL sizes. The shorter bike was definitely more playful, but for all-out speed the XL was the one to go for, requiring more dynamism to get it going but providing a well-centred ride position and extra stability, which encouraged us to push the limits.
With relatively short 435mm chainstays, the Rallon rarely felt awkward in tight turns and delivered a good balance of manoeuvrability and high-speed grip. Due to the rocky nature of the trails we were testing on in Spain, we kept the bike in the higher of the two geometry positions most of the time. Even with the BB raised it was hard to fault the Rallon’s cornering ability, and we couldn’t believe the amount of traction over loose ground. Dropping the linkage into the lower setting and bolting a Fox DHX2 coil shock on (an optional upgrade) made things even better – its consistent bump-eating capability down sustained descents was seriously impressive.
With a steep 76-degree seat angle and a 500 per cent gear range, the Rallon climbs well, but we were conscious of the low BB (even in the higher setting) and on more than one occasion either caught a pedal or fumbled because we felt we couldn’t risk a pedal stroke. We also found it took a bit more e ort than usual to get the front wheel o the floor, largely due to the minimal 10mm rise of the Race Face bar.
Apart from this and a bit of chain slap, it’s hard to fault the Rallon. We feel we could throw this bike into the gnarliest terrain or race tracks imaginable and it’d come out on top. With its low and slack geometry it definitely favours more experienced riders, but if you ride it aggressively, this bike will excel.