Orbea?

elloharriet

Hello all!

I've been shopping around for ages, trying to find a good beginners road bike - I'm hoping to use it for a bit of amateur racing and maybe some club rides/ riding abroad.

I've come across one of these in my LBS (http://www.breninbikes.co.uk/inc/sdetail/781) for 855, which sounds like a good deal to me. Does anyone have any thoughts?

I've tested it, but I'm not used to riding road bikes at all so can't really tell if I like how it rides or not- they all seem really twitchy!

Anyway, thanks in advance!

nochekmate

A lot of money to pay for that model IMO - to put it in perspective, it would fetch no more than £500 secondhand (even if it was in tip-top 'as new' condition), so expect to take a big hit on resale.

Not that carbon is everything but there must be carbon bikes with Veloce spec and Khamsin wheels on the market.

elloharriet

Do you mean the money on the website is a lot, or the £855 wanted by the LBS?

Either way, thanks for the advice - it's all appreciated!

mega9

Have you tried PAULSCYCLES and it might help if you said
what budget you have.

elloharriet

mega9 wrote:

Have you tried PAULSCYCLES and it might help if you said
what budget you have.

No, I shall have a browse. My budget is around a grand.

Omar Little

Orbea make good bikes and they have a good warranty too. I dont really know about campag though so cant offer any advice on how the spec is in terms of value.

The potential second hand value of a bike is an irrelevance when i'm buying a new bike so personally i wouldnt worry about that (in any case i see no reason why an Orbea would lose more than other bikes priced about £850)

nochekmate

elloharriet wrote:

Do you mean the money on the website is a lot, or the £855 wanted by the LBS?

Either way, thanks for the advice - it's all appreciated!

Sorry didn't notice the bit about £855 from the LBS :oops: (thought it was pricey at £1000+ on the link) - that would be an acceptable figure given the spec. I quite like Campag Veloce - not high up on the Campag scale necessarily but I've had the groupset on a couple of bikes in the past and it has been faultless. Khamsins are reliable wheels at the price.

I mentioned resale because if you get the bug, like may of us you'll be looking to 'upgrade' in time and in my experience, Orbeas do not fetch great prices on resale (Orca apart).

As others have said, Orbea make decent bikes - I've had an Onix in the past.

sunburntknees

My GF has that bike but equipped with Shimano Sora. She loves it. We also tried a Boardman but the Orbea was a much more lively ride. A decent entry level machine in my opinion. Looks good too. She paid around £600 I think.

elloharriet

nochekmate wrote:

elloharriet wrote:

Do you mean the money on the website is a lot, or the £855 wanted by the LBS?

Either way, thanks for the advice - it's all appreciated!

Sorry didn't notice the bit about £855 from the LBS :oops: (thought it was pricey at £1000+ on the link) - that would be an acceptable figure given the spec. I quite like Campag Veloce - not high up on the Campag scale necessarily but I've had the groupset on a couple of bikes in the past and it has been faultless. Khamsins are reliable wheels at the price.

I mentioned resale because if you get the bug, like may of us you'll be looking to 'upgrade' in time and in my experience, Orbeas do not fetch great prices on resale (Orca apart).

As others have said, Orbea make decent bikes - I've had an Onix in the past.

Ah, yeah I see what you mean about the resale value, but as I'm a student it's going to be a very long time until I can upgrade to anything vastly better! It sounds like this is a solid beginner bike, especially when considering the advice given on this forum

I'm going to go give it another spin tomorrow, maybe test a few other comparable bikes and then go from there.


Thanks to all who have contributed!

sunburntknees

Omar Little wrote:

Orbea make good bikes and they have a good warranty too. I dont really know about campag though so cant offer any advice on how the spec is in terms of value.

The potential second hand value of a bike is an irrelevance when i'm buying a new bike so personally i wouldnt worry about that (in any case i see no reason why an Orbea would lose more than other bikes priced about £850)

Agreed. A lifetime warranty is not to be sniffed at. Campag Veloce is a solid gruppo, delivers nice crisp shifting and will last.

lostboysaint

Campag Veloce is a very good, reliable groupset. It's worth just slinging your hands across the hoods to see if you like the ergonomics as they are different to the two Ss. (I prefer them and have run a Veloce gruppo on my first road bike and have Centaur now).

The bike looks good for £855 but it may also be worth looking at the deals on the Wilier Escape or Montegrappa which are both alu frame, carbon fork and can be found with Veloce for a similar price or a little less. You can also find them with the entry level Campag groupset for down around £650.

markos1963

I have two Orbeas, an Onix and a Ora TT bike and I am very pleased with both. There are plenty of riders around here with Aquas, I think the importer is fairly local so they are stocked by a lot of local shops. I have seen them ridden in 3/4 races and people reckon they are very good as an entry level racer. The frame is certainly good enough for upgrades and with a decent mid level group like Veloce then all you would need in the future would be some better wheels and tyres. If your test rides go well and you like the fit it makes good sense to buy this bike as your first serious racer, also you'll have a bike that will stand out from the crowd.

FransJacques

Plus Orbea are just gorgeous in a way that Treks, Specializeds, and Boardmans are not. Cycling has an emotional side and appealing to that side can tempt you out on your bike more than just buying a "tool" for riding.

If you like it and technically the bike is not a basket case, that equals a good marriage.

rich164h

I like them too. I almost bought a 105 equipped aqua (until my employer changed the R2W scheme provider which meant that I had to go to Evans who don't stock Orbea) and the black/orange one I tried looked amazing. The orange colour that they used was stunning with all sorts of subtlety different coloured metallic flakes in it. Gorgeous.

deswahriff

..I've had an Aqua for 2 years now, came with 9 speed Sora (fairly budget Shimano with little thumb levers on the sides of the hoods) and cost about £700. Orbea are generally well regarded and make a change from the big brands that so many others have. I've done about 5k miles in mine and while its been great, there are a few things you might want to consider.
As a newbie like yourself back then, I took some time to adjust to a road bike and get comfy. The clincher for me was swapping the bars for a compact "shallow drop" set ( FSA something or other, about £25) - this made getting on the drops much more viable and also brought the hoods slightly closer. I also soon found I wanted an easier low gear so swapped the cassette (and rear mech) for an 11-30 - other brands, Giant, Spec e.g., seem to come already with compact bars and at least a 28 on the back. I've also since changed the shifters to Tiagra and fitted new wheels (Mavic Aksiums) which gave it a new lease of life.
Also note there are no mudgaurd mounts and very minimal clearance at the brakes even to fit crud catchers. The rear wheel also runs very close to the seat tube where the front mech is attached - none of these are a big deal but it does pick up loads of road clag at these points, especially at this time of year.

To be honest, that's more than I'd want to pay, but I guess the Campag kit pushes the price up. If you're not fussed about the groupset, you may find a Tiagra equipped model for a good bit less. Cycle Surgery do an Onix ( next model up, all carbon) for a grand http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=CORB0036KC&utm_campaign=CS130103&utm_term=jan13&utm_source=kia&utm_medium=email

rich164h

deswahriff wrote:

..I've had an Aqua for 2 years now, came with 9 speed Sora (fairly budget Shimano with little thumb levers on the sides of the hoods) and cost about £700. Orbea are generally well regarded and make a change from the big brands that so many others have. I've done about 5k miles in mine and while its been great, there are a few things you might want to consider.
As a newbie like yourself back then, I took some time to adjust to a road bike and get comfy. The clincher for me was swapping the bars for a compact "shallow drop" set ( FSA something or other, about £25) - this made getting on the drops much more viable and also brought the hoods slightly closer. I also soon found I wanted an easier low gear so swapped the cassette (and rear mech) for an 11-30 - other brands, Giant, Spec e.g., seem to come already with compact bars and at least a 28 on the back. I've also since changed the shifters to Tiagra and fitted new wheels (Mavic Aksiums) which gave it a new lease of life.
Also note there are no mudgaurd mounts and very minimal clearance at the brakes even to fit crud catchers. The rear wheel also runs very close to the seat tube where the front mech is attached - none of these are a big deal but it does pick up loads of road clag at these points, especially at this time of year.

To be honest, that's more than I'd want to pay, but I guess the Campag kit pushes the price up. If you're not fussed about the groupset, you may find a Tiagra equipped model for a good bit less. Cycle Surgery do an Onix ( next model up, all carbon) for a grand http://www.cyclesurgery.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=CORB0036KC&utm_campaign=CS130103&utm_term=jan13&utm_source=kia&utm_medium=email

This is all true but to be fair to Orbea, the same is also true of almost every road bike.

Think about what what you need before you buy the bike. If you are commuting a lot and think you'll need mudguards, look for a bike with proper mounts for them. for occasional wet weather/club rides clip ons would be sufficient. The same goes for comfort. try and go for a test ride, or at the very least sit on the bikes in the shop before you purchase. until you've ridden a fair amount and know form the published literature what geometry you need this is really the only way of knowing what will suit you. Gearing is similar. for the riding I do which is mainly in the Cotswolds (so fairly hilly) I've never needed a cassette larger than the 27 that I've got. If I lived in the lake district I might think otherwise. It's also dependent on your fitness so don't automatically think you'll need anything bigger than a 25 or 27 on the back. If you live in East Anglia you almost certainly won't and even a 25 would be to low a gear!

elloharriet

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply!

deswahriff, your post gave me a lot to think about! The shallow bars in particular may be a good idea to start with, and I shall talk with the shop about purchasing them. Not being able to fit mudguards isn't particularly a problem for me, as I have a little single speed for commuting/ bad weather riding.

Anyway, popped down to the shop today to find it closed - whoops! Try again tomorrow.