JONNY’S ORBEA RALLON M10 2018 £3,899

Speed beats style this year

What’s happened to me?! I started off stating that I wouldn’t let this bike change the way I rode. Well, that didn’t happen! I lasted about two months before giving in to the bigger wheels and extra travel and setting the bike up as it was designed to be. I instantly found myself going faster, as expected. The surprise was that I was enjoying this speed. In the past, I’ve preferred to ride slower and create fun by hopping roots, clearing gaps and riding corners like they’re part of a pump track. But on the Orbea, the fun comes from being the fastest down the trail.

I haven’t changed much, other than swapping the finicky Race Face dropper for a RockShox Reverb and the Fox 36 Performance fork for a RockShox Lyrik, just to see what the fuss was about. If I was keeping the bike, I’d fit some SRAM Guide brakes, partly to tidy up the bar but also because they’re generally more consistent than the stock Shimano XT stoppers.

The Rallon and I have been working together so well that if I had £4k to buy a bike, it would be at the top of my list. www.orbea.com