ORBEA URRUN 10
£4,299 Spanish brand’s top-tier electric hardtail with lightweight motor and battery
At first glance, it’s hard to tell the Urrun is even an e-bike. Its elegant shape is accentuated by the way its cables are hidden inside the frame, and the quality of its paintwork and finish. This reflects it being the most expensive bike here.
THE FRAME
The sleek aluminium frame has a slim down tube housing a compact, lightweight battery. This powers a speciallytuned Shimano EP8 RS motor, said to be up to 1.5 times more efficient than the standard version, so the 540Wh powerpack should provide assistance equivalent to 810Wh on a standard e-bike. It does drain its battery much slower than the EP8-equipped Canyon.
Geometry is pretty modern, including a relatively relaxed 66-degree head angle for calmer steering. The frame sizes are way smaller than most, though, with the 440mm reach on the ‘large’ size more typical of a small frame on many modern full-sus bikes.
THE KIT
Up front, the Fox 34 Performance fork feels exceptionally smooth, especially over exposed tree roots. The steerer tube on ours was cut too short, though, so we couldn’t add spacers to raise the bar for a more upright riding position. We pumped up the fork to 120psi to keep it high in its travel. You could also buy a higher-rise bar; neither is ideal.
The Maxxis Rekon tyres are fast-rolling but grippy and pack a more protective EXO+ casing, and Shimano’s 12-speed XT drivetrain is high-quality and smooth. However, the Magura MT5 brakes don’t have enough bite when really trucking downhill and the too-small 160mm rear rotor means they’re simply not powerful enough.
THE RIDE
Being tuned for long distances (or massive ones if you buy the 252Wh range extender), the Urrun gets you out into the wilderness with smooth assistance and a natural feel when coming on or off the power. There’s noticeably less torque and boost on top of your own pedalling power than with the regular EP8 motor on the Canyon, though, once gradients tip upwards.
Orbea have designed it this way, limiting the bike to 60Nm of max torque (rather than the 85-90Nm of full-fat eMTBs). This means peak power stays within a range that allows them to spec ‘regular’ trail bike parts, such as lightweight wheels, which make the Urrun lighter to manoeuvre
as well as to lift or carry. The RS motor is also the quietest on test, with just a background whir in each of its three assistance modes, and the internallyrouted cables are rattle-free.
The long 70mm stem creates an old-fashioned, cross-country style riding position, with your bum up and head down. This puts your centre of gravity forward, which helps with climbing balance and ergonomics (making up for the RS motor having less poke), but can feel twitchy on technical trails. So, at faster speeds, the Urrun is much less capable than the other bikes here on off-road trails.
Because each frame size is short and the bottom bracket high, your weight gets pitched forward if you ride down anything steep, and this has you feeling teetering and hesitant when the terrain isn’t super-smooth. The weight distribution also results in the supersensitive fork getting overloaded in berms and compressions, and the front tyre wanting to tuck under you. This is at odds with what we’d expect based on the bike’s head angle, but it’s noticeable – even when pottering about a campsite with a washbag slung over the bar – how much less manoeuvrable and stable-steering it is than rival bikes. On top of this, the slim frame feels really stiff. It’s by far the least comfortable here on bumpy ground, transmitting a lot of trail feedback through the bar and frame.
The Urrun isn’t that easy to handle on techy trails and feels so much less surefooted through steep sections that we didn’t even tackle a tight corner we rode on the other bikes, because we were worried about the lack of braking power and being unable to get our weight back. While this isn’t what these bikes are designed for, it’s a good indication of what a novice rider might experience on mellower terrain.
Ride quality doesn’t quite live up to the Urrun’s million-dollar looks, due to the overly forward riding position