JCW’S ORBEA RISE H10 £6,623 (w/ upgrades)

Right now, our editor’s only got eyes for the Rise

It was a little late arriving, but I’m stoked with my ride for 2022 – the relatively lightweight yet high-powered and extremely easy-on-the-eye Orbea Rise H. And that isn’t just my opinion – this is the only bike I’ve had that’s caused a passing lad in a hot-hatch to wind down his window and shout: “What’s that mate? It looks amazing!” A particularly impressive result given that it’s XL-sized and an e-bike.

Now, health issues and limited time to ride have made me a firm e-MTB convert, but there are elements of regular bikes that I’ve really missed – their lightweight manoeuvrability, being able to pump for ‘free’ speed in places where most e-bikes require pedal strokes to keep their extra heft rolling, and being able to get them into the boot of my car without risking a hernia... On paper, the Rise H sounds like the perfect compromise.

It uses a full-fat Shimano EP8 motor, custom-tuned for a less torquey ride, with a peak output of 60Nm instead of 85Nm. Orbea have also tweaked the software, to give a more ‘natural’ ride feel and get more range out of the 540Wh battery. Weight is saved by ditching the customary barmounted display (there’s a mode LED and emergency battery indicator on the cabling instead), making the power cells non-removable and limiting rear travel to 140mm, plus the tyres are lightweight (for an e-bike). My complete bike – with front mudguard, bottle cage, pedals and spare tube – weighs 21.5kg. Sure, that’s more than an equivalent trail bike, but a lot lighter than the 26kg+ Whyte E-160 I rode last year. Weight weenies should look to the carbon-framed version with its smaller 360Wh battery. But to me, the H10 looks to strike a great balance of performance, price and weight.

The bike comes with a 140mm Fox 34 FIT4 fork as stock, but mine has a beefier, better-damped, 150mm-travel Fox 36 GRIP2 instead – one of the optional upgrades on Orbea’s website. This has the dual benefit of increasing front travel and slackening the head angle by half a degree, but adds £135 to the bike’s £6,399 RRP. There’s a matching Factory-level Fox Float DPS shock, plus Shimano XT shifting and brakes (upgraded from two-pots to four-pots, for £89), an own-brand dropper post, and Race Face Turbine 30 wheels shod with top-spec Maxxis tyres – although the fast-rolling Dissector/Rekon combo wouldn’t be my pick for typical UK conditions.

I’ve only been for one ride so far, but immediately felt at home on the Orbea. It doesn’t rocket you up the climbs in the same way as the Whyte, but feels more like a regular MTB as a result, while still providing ample assistance. I can’t wait to hit some more spring trails to see what it’s truly capable of! www.orbea.com

This will no doubt resonate with quite a few fellow female riders, but my mountain biking journey started when I met a dude who was well into it, agreed to go down some blues on an oversized bike and ended up hooked. Not only was it the best thing to come out of that relationship, but it’s meant that I’ve spent most of my time on the bike riding with riders who are way above my beginner level. As inspiring as that’s been, my limited achievements have always seemed a bit pathetic in comparison.

It’s only in the past few months that I’ve started meeting up with other women of similar ability, which has triggered some friendly competition in an encouraging environment. The ‘if she can do it, so can I!’ mentality has helped me tackle gnarlier trails on the Juliana this month and made a big difference overall, but most of all, chasing these friends has left me hungry for more.

I’m always on the lookout for an opportunity to practise, and it’s starting to show – hopefully in my riding, but definitely cosmetically, on the Juliana. Only to a trained eye, though – the eye of a person who regularly spends 45 minutes trying to make that mist-blue frame look clean; the Joplin’s curse.

I’ve adjusted my set-up slightly, too. First off, I raised the bar height a touch, so that I don’t have to stretch so far to reach my brake levers on steeper terrain. Then, after struggling to clear a small double jump, I sped up the rebound damping of my fork and slowed it down on my rear shock. Perhaps it’s just the placebo effect, but after this small tweak, I finally landed on the sweet spot, which felt amazing. I do wonder if a little more suspension travel would help my riding – especially after experiencing the cringey noise of bottoming-out my suspension for the first time, after a heavy landing to flat.

One final change has been fitting an absoluteBLACK elliptical chainring, which is proving to be a blessing on the climbs. If you’re unfamiliar with oval rings, they’re claimed to work better with human physiology than round rings, maximising torque in the part of the pedal stroke where you naturally produce the most power, and minimising resistance elsewhere, to allow smoother spinning and reduce tiredness. I wouldn’t be ready to move from my Juliana to an e-bike-only life, but the team can testify that climbs aren’t my favourite part of the ride, so every little helps. www.jungleproducts.co.uk