Orbea Orca M31eTeam Road Bike with SRAM Rival AXS in Vulcano Black

Built for climbing but without compromise on all-round ability, the 2024 Orbea Orca OMR M31e TEAM carbon road bike features a full SRAM Rival AXS electronic 12 speed groupset and semi integrated cockpit for concealed, aerodynamic but servicable routing. Orbea's new carbon Oquo Road Performance RP35 Pro wheels are built around Zipp's ZR1 hubs and are light, stiff and profiled for climbing. Shod with Vittoria Corsa N.EXT tyres for speed and confident handling.

Re-engineered for 2024, the new Orca frame platform from Spanish bike manufacturer Orbea, is a refreshing change to the narrative of recent decades. Recognising that for the most part we all ride one bike, across all sorts of terrain and with varying levels of competence, Orbea have chosen to shift the focus from Aero efficiency to structural efficiency, with the ultimate goal of producing an eminently rideable bike frame platform. This is not to say that Orbea don’t recognise the importance of Aero but they have a bike for that: The Orca Aero. It is more about servicing the rest and doing it without the compromise that aero obviously injects when balancing the key aspects of frame design. Clearly, balancing three is easier than balancing four.

The new Orca does this with aplomb with low weight, stiffness and a responsive ride quality firmly in focus.

In the modern era, weight- certainly at the top echelons of bike production - is almost moot given the restrictions put in place by the UCI. Bikes need to be above 6.8kg for the pros so making frames hyper-light is often pointless. On top of this, hyper light bikes - as I have often said - make for twitchy, unstable creatures that bleed confidence when it matters, ultimately making riders slower. So it is then that the new Orca in its top-tier OMX form, tips the scales at a pro-level 750g in a 53cm - a light frame indeed. The more accessible OMR stablemate is not to be sniffed at though - at a little over a kilo, the OMR is highly competitive in its class, especially when you consider that the figures include hardware and paint. While these are by no means the lightest frames on the market, it must be contextualised. Orbea have clearly set their sites on a balanced ride feel for an all-day ‘rideability’ while delivering comfort, response and most importantly - control. Retaining freshness as a rider should not be ignored since the rider is the engine and a stressed engine doesn't perform as well.

Weight alone means nothing. It is possible to create stupidly light frames, but most don’t because of the point I made earlier, combined with safety considerations. Stiffness is is key to the way a bike handles. The way the frame handles your input ultimately dictates how the bike responds and how efficiently it uses your power to get from A to B. It is immediately evident when looking at the refreshingly ‘traditional’, crisp lines of the new Orca, that stiffness is to the fore in the spine of the frame. A very large, asymmetric ovalised downtube feeds into Orbea’s preferred 386Evo Bottom Bracket housing. From here, the rigidity is transferred to the similarly shaped chain stays before these ’soften’ in form at the dropout to deal with compliance.

Speaking of, the top-tube is quite clearly engineered for comfort. As a relatively less important tube when it comes to structure, the top tube is an excellent place to build in compliance. A flattened trapezoid shaped here lends itself to vertical compliance while deftly retaining lateral stiffness duties as a function of its width. Similarly, the seat stays - mounted in traditional fashion at the top tube rather than low down as has become the norm on most modern bikes (a function of the aero component creating greater stiffness that needs to be tempered by lower mounted stays) - are super thin á la the Giant Defy, to allow flex at the rear and keep you comfortable in the saddle. The seat tube ties it all together and is - as it ever was - round! It houses a 27.2mm seatpost with discreet internal wedge binder, that delivers a great balance of stiffness and compliant flex. With a tyre clearance of up to 32mm in the new Orca, there’s bucket loads of scope for additional comfort too.

While Aerodynamics are not the focus, Orbea would be remiss to ignore it entirely and there are some nods to aero in the shape of the fork blades and indeed in the company’s use of semi-integrated cable routing through their highly serviceable 2-piece bar and stem combos (Orbea also offer headset top-caps to allow for use with aftermarket bar/stem combos like Deda and FSA). Not much aero granted, but that’s not the remit and if aero is your focus, you won’t be looking at the Orca anyway.

The Orca frames are all designed and built ‘to-size’. That is, the layup, shapes and thicknesses of the tubes are scaled by size to ensure a consistent ride quality across the range. When considering layup, it is important to recognise the Orbea approach, one that is far more material efficient. Unlike others creating monocoque framesets, Orbea use large sheets of fibre to create their frames which reduces wastage and use of bonding agent.

From a geometry standpoint, the Orca remains unchanged - and that’s a good thing. One of the more accessible race frames, the Orca is long and low - but not cripplingly so. The shape is compact, with short stays and tight angles keeping the Orca a spritely, agile and responsive ride that performs well across all terrain. While it may not be as aero as other all-rounders, it is certainly a comfortable chassis with an engaging ride feel that will keep you both fresh and entertained throughout your rides. The addition of the new Oquo Carbon wheels adds further refinement and agilty over the standard OMR models while keeping costs down and mitigating the 'need' to upgrade!