Orbea Wild M-Team review

This bike has a lot going for it. Full power Bosch, Fox X2 dampers, capable geometry… And it looks pretty much as good as eMTBs can.

• Brand: Orbea
• Product:Wild M-Team
• Price: £8,999
• From: Orbea
• Tested by: Benji for 6 months

Pros

• Great geometry
• Bosch motor does it all well
• Looks fantastic

Cons

• Back end maybe overly flexy for heavier/aggro riders
• Thru-headset routing

The Wild is perhaps understandably marketed as being Orbea’s E-Enduro race bike. But, let’s be frank, does anyone reading this have a similar set of demands as an EDR racer? Probably not. I know I don’t. So I’m not really going to go much into the process of swapping out/in spare batteries (Spoiler: it’s best left to pro mechanics).

Where racing is relevant to me – and hopefully to some of you – is sheer capability. And capability in the Holy Trinity of eebs: power, range and handling.

Power then. The motor is the Bosch Performance CX, which I duly upgraded to the latest level of oomph, so it gives out 100Nm of torque and has 750 watts of peak power. To compare it to the e-lephant in the room of eMTBing (DJI Avinox motor) it isn’t as powerful. But it genuinely is powerful enough, and I say this as a self-confessed watt-hog. I rarely ride eebs in less than Turbo or Souped-up-Auto modes. Where the Bosch system suffers slightly in comparison to the Avinox is actually in pedal-response and ‘intelligence’; the superior rear wheel of the Avinox system just knows more about what’s going on at the rear wheel.

As regards range, the battery is 750Wh Bosch Powertube. Which, again, is not the absolute biggest battery out there. But it’s fine. Even though there’s no point me typing the next bit because The Customer Is Always Right here goes: I’d recommend going for the 600Wh option (which saves you £215 by the way). The weight saving will result in biek that’s more fun and technically capable in my experience. Should you find yourself forever running out of battery (you won’t), you can always put your £215 saving towards a range extender piggyback battery (approx £400 if you shop around).

Finally then, handling. On any mountain bike this comes down to two main factors really: geometry and suspension.

The geometry on the Orbea Wild is virtually flawless. Especially for taller riders. I tested the XL size. The head angle is a tad slacker than Orbea state (it’s around 63° by my measure) and the BB is a bit more lower slung than the 22mm BB drop listed. Thankfully the seat angle (77.5°) and reach (505mm) figures are up to the job of working with the slack ‘n’ lowness. The 448mm chainstays may not be super on-trend lengthy but I can get along with stays circa 450mm just fine. And again, they play into a geometry system that works well altogether.

The suspension on the M-Team spec is Factory level Fox stuff. Which is what I’d expect to see at this high price point. The rear Float X2 generally works well, as does the Fox 38 fork, but there is a degree of harshness that comes through into your hands and it’s rare that full travel is accessed (although not impossible). To cut a long story short, unless you’re a heavier rider, for regular trail riding duties it’s a good idea to run some comfier grips, flexier handlebars and remove some volume spacers from the suspension components.

I also had success with running very healthy amounts of sag (35%+) but some riders won’t like such a low slung rig. Because I can’t help myself, I did install a coil shock for a while and can confirm that the Wild really rides well with a coil back end. And you can run more sensible amounts of sag and still get full travel decently without having to enter the super-low stance of the aforementioned mega-sagged setup.

In terms of frame construction, aside from looking like one of the prettier ebikes out there, the Wild is sort of a tale of two halves. Between your feet and your hands there is high level of stiffness. Yet at the back there’s a definite bit of flex to be felt. This is verified by the lack of paint left on the inside of the seat stays. It’s hard to be sure as to where this flex originates from (possibly the ‘Split Pivot’-esque axle pivoting design? maybe the lack of seat stay brace? or flexy wheels? a combo of all three?).

Even looking at the bike it appears like the front triangle is belt-and-braces whereas the swingarm is relatively minimalist. As a lighter rider I didn’t really mind the flex – it arguably helps at times – but I think heavier riders would be well advised to bulk up in the rear wheels department. Or possibly go for the MX mullet wheel build which will be an inherently stiffer rear wheel and probably not get quite so much paint rub loss due to the slight increase in tyre clearance.

Personally, I’d probably look at some of the aluminium Wilds, in mixed wheel flavour – also with the 600Wh battery ‘downgrade’ too- for an experience that would be extremely near this carbon M-Team model. Something like the Orbea Wild H20 for £5,484 (600Wh battery).

Overall

At the end of the day, there’s no denying that the Orbea Wild is a great bike. Great geometry, great brakes, great tyres, long travel dropper, capable suspension and top-drawer Bosch motor (complete with the actually useful ‘Flow’ smartphone app) all combine to give an experience that never failed to be anything less than completely brilliant fun. It’s an excellent technical climber, a fearlessly fast descender and is agile as any big-battery-laden ebike out there on anything and everything. I kept hold of it for as long as I could, even though I had multiple other eebs to be testing. Orbea UK had to come and prise it from my grasp. That says it all really.

Orbea Wild M-Team specification

• Frame // Orbea OMR Carbon, 160mm
• Shock // Fox Float X2 Factory, 205x65mm
• Fork // Fox 38 Float Factory 170, Grip X2
• Wheels // Oquo Mountain Control MC32TEAM POWER
• Front tyre // Maxxis Assegai EXO+ 3C MaxxGrip 29×2.5in
• Rear tyre // Maxxis Minion DHRII DoubleDown 3C MaxxTerra, 29×2.4in
• Chainset // e*thirteen Helix Core, 160mm, 34T
• Drivetrain // Shimano XT 12-sp, 10-51T
• Brakes // Shimano XT, 203/203mm
• Stem // OC Mountain Control MC11 Alu SL
• Bars // OC Mountain Control MC10 Carbon, 800x20mm
• Grips // Orbea
• Seatpost // OC Mountain Control MC21 dropper
• Saddle // Fizik Aidon
• Motor // Bosch Performance Line CX, 100Nm, 750w peak
• Battery // 750Wh
• Size tested // XL
• Sizes available // S, M, L, XL
• Weight // 23.8kg

Geometry of our size XL

• Head angle // 63.5°
• Effective seat angle // 77.5°
• Seat tube length // 450mm
• Head tube length // 140mm
• Top tube // 639mm
• BB height // 22mm BB drop
• Reach // 505mm
• Chainstay // 448mm
• Wheelbase // 1,311mm

Ben Haworth

185cm tall. 73kg weight. Orange Switch 6er. Saracen Ariel Eeber. Schwalbe Magic Mary. Maxxis DHR II. Coil fan.

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