Bespoke Blog

I recently spent some time riding the Orbea Orca M11i-PRO. I'd never really seen anything from this long running Basque brand, so I was keen to check it out.

First thing you notice is the stiffness. It's stiff. You come out of the saddle, it takes off. It feels very solid on the road, very stable. You feel like you could plough through anything, like a charging rhino. Looking at the chain stays you get the idea...

The chainstay is very burly and keeps it's shape from the BB to the drop outs...

The Orca is very reactive though, without being twitchy. I did some small climbs around North London, which is hardly the Alps, but it seemed to be quite happy pointing upwards, rewarding every turn of the pedals with maximum power transferred to the road. The Orca was champing at the bit on the descents, fast and stable.

Wide, triangular formed downtube.

It was definitely not the smoothest ride, though in all fairness it's not designed to be, it's a race machine. This wasn't an issue when riding for a couple of hours but over a 6 hour ride I could feel it. Again though, to be fair to the bike, it was actually a little large for me, so I wasn't in the perfect position on the saddle. Speaking of which, that would be something I'd change from the standard spec immediately. I'm not sure I've ever ridden a less forgiving saddle than the Prologo Scratch-2. After 3 hours I had the melody from 'The Nutcracker Suite' firmly implanted in my head...

This is what eTap looks like when it's dirty...

Other than the saddle gripes, the spec was all pretty decent, the standout being the SRAM Red eTap wireless groupset, which I already talked about HERE . In some ways, this is over-specced on this model, being a top of the range groupset. As usual with stock bikes, the wheelset wasn't amazing, but that said the Vision Trimax 30s felt stiff for the money, if a little heavy. Changed up for something lighter or more aero would pay dividends.

Curvaceous though hefty fork blades.

If you are looking for a fast, sleek hunter killer, then like its aquatic namesake, the Orca is truly formidable. Those seeking a more sedate and leisurely ride may wish to look elsewhere, such as Orbea's Avant model, though undoubtedly a change of saddle would dramatically soften the ride for my money.

The Orbea Orca M11i-PRO is priced at £4,499.00. Look for more on Orbea at Bespoke Cycling soon.