2023 Orbea Wild paint/quality issues

[Jdog]

To be clear I am in no way affiliated with Orbea, the name is purely comical.

I can see a few people have posted quality issues with the 2023 Wild in the All New 2023 Orbea Wild tread so wanted to start a separate thread just focusing on paint and quality issues people are having.

Not looking to make this an Orbea witch hunt (I know this can happen on forums) just genuinely interested to see how many bad bikes have been shipped so I have also included a poll for owners who have a Wild but not had any quality issues.

Having personally now had dealings with two Wild M10s that were both in a very poor condition I've experienced a bad bike rate of 100% which is pretty shocking and I'll include photos of both bikes below.

 

[Jdog]

Bike one:

 

[Jdog]

Bike two:

 

[Jdog]

Both of these bikes were from Leisure Lake Bikes who I must say are absolutely useless and I highly recommend NOT buying a bike from them. When I sent the first bike back they actually listed it on their website as ex display:

Ex Display Orbea Wild M10 Custom Large Electric Bike 2023 Silver/Carbon

<span>The <strong>Orbea Wild M10 Electric Mountain Bike</strong> is first and foremost a fantastic enduro bike.</span>

www.leisurelakesbikes.com

I’m shocked that Orbea quality control allowed this to be shipped twice and I’d have real concerns about buying a 2023 Wild right now.
Just as shocking is the state Leisure lake bikes shipped it to me, just look at the cable routing .

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

Here is mine. Dealer just sent me pics . Should be delivered to me this weekend

 

[Gw0175]

Both of these bikes were from Leisure Lake Bikes who I must say are absolutely useless and I highly recommend NOT buying a bike from them. When I sent the first bike back they actually listed it on their website as ex display:

Ex Display Orbea Wild M10 Custom Large Electric Bike 2023 Silver/Carbon

<span>The <strong>Orbea Wild M10 Electric Mountain Bike</strong> is first and foremost a fantastic enduro bike.</span>

www.leisurelakesbikes.com

I’m shocked that Orbea quality control allowed this to be shipped twice and I’d have real concerns about buying a 2023 Wild right now.
Just as shocking is the state Leisure lake bikes shipped it to me, just look at the cable routing

Both of these bikes were from Leisure Lake Bikes who I must say are absolutely useless and I highly recommend NOT buying a bike from them. When I sent the first bike back they actually listed it on their website as ex display:

Ex Display Orbea Wild M10 Custom Large Electric Bike 2023 Silver/Carbon

<span>The <strong>Orbea Wild M10 Electric Mountain Bike</strong> is first and foremost a fantastic enduro bike.</span>

www.leisurelakesbikes.com

I’m shocked that Orbea quality control allowed this to be shipped twice and I’d have real concerns about buying a 2023 Wild right now.
Just as shocking is the state Leisure lake bikes shipped it to me, just look at the cable routing .

It's like they took your first bike back, stared at it, shrugged their shoulders, boxed it up and sent it straight back to you!

My frame is on the way back to the dealer from Orbea so should be built up and ready for me soon. I too have used Leisurelakesbikes but unlike you, my service so far has been decent... Will update once the bike arrives and I get a chance to look at the frame!

 

[VicenarianEbiker]

Wow what a piece of junk. On the bright side a couple rides and crashes you'd never know it had so many issues .

I didn't check my Rise H15 that carefully as I'm a perfectionist and anything I saw would bug me. Luckily I've already wrecked it and scratched the lower arm a little. Nothing a sharpie can't fix

 

[maynard]

I couldn't even see anything In alot of the photos . Just ride the bike . I saw photos of the black carbon parts. It's supposed to look like that , raw carbon looks sexy and unique. I feel sorry for that bike . And your shop . A few tiny blemishes , I suppose would be disappointing but oh well it's gonna get scratched anyway.

 

[yorkshire89]

It's more than just a couple of tiny blemishes though, most of the frame looks crap and shouldn't have ever left the factory like that.

 

[c0stunga]

I couldn't even see anything In alot of the photos . Just ride the bike . I saw photos of the black carbon parts. It's supposed to look like that , raw carbon looks sexy and unique. I feel sorry for that bike . And your shop . A few tiny blemishes , I suppose would be disappointing but oh well it's gonna get scratched anyway.

You are right, a bike most probably get scratched anyway. As well as a car gets rock chips after some time on the streets.
But that doesn't mean someone should accept this bad of a quality when they buy an expensive new product.
It hurts way less when your bike gets scratches because you are shredding than if it comes from manufacturarer with scratches and paint chips.

In my opinion some of these images look really bad, and I would either want a proper discount or a new bike.

 

[501AM]

Remarkable how a finish like that can pass a QC, would be interesting to see how the finish is on the ones who not pass it.

 

[Jdog]

I couldn't even see anything In alot of the photos . Just ride the bike . I saw photos of the black carbon parts. It's supposed to look like that , raw carbon looks sexy and unique. I feel sorry for that bike . And your shop . A few tiny blemishes , I suppose would be disappointing but oh well it's gonna get scratched anyway.

I assume you're talking about the photo's of the black Wild? if so I am not sure the user said there were any issues. I personally wish my bikes had that quality. I do get your point that it's a bike and it'll get scratched but still there must be standards for new bikes given the prices being paid (£8449). I also choose to wrap my bikes which would have been completely pointless given the standard and it would have hammered an already bad resale value.

I must confess the photo's just don't do the same justice as the human eye because the bike really did look to have been sprayed by a rattle can in a sand storm. There were over 20 paint imperfections, the suspension linkage is completely different colour, loose bolts and the cable routing was borderline dangerous. I'd also note both the bike shop and Orbea agreed the bike wasn't good enough.

To put it in perspective, my 2 year old Trek Rail with 1600 miles on it was in better condition and I've seen and owned second hand bikes in better condition.

 

[ebsocalmtb]

The paint on my rise is not the greatest quality job, but it is no where near that bad. I've had plenty of bikes with mediocre factory paint jobs over the years. I'm the kind of person that as long as i don't start seeing imperfections when looking at it from standing height (eyes 50-75cm away +/-), I'll tolerate it. As mentioned above, it's a mountain bike, it's going to get dropped, crashed, scratched while shuttling and moving around the garage etc.

That being said, those wild frames are a bridge too far for me to accept with the current cost of bikes. The combination of un-even and substandard paint coverage, color matching issues, poor masking and surface finish are all adding up to a substandard overall product. I'd tolerate all of the little dings and flakes around the pivots and bearing recesses... those are the issues my rise has along with paint that's overall, too thin and fragile.

I wouldn't give up on orbea fwiw. I think that maybe their gloss painted bikes are better quality overall. I've had that opinion before after looking at a few, but no reason to outwardly avoid their matte finish frames (i do now). The thing about Orbea is that you are getting one solid notch less quality with regards to frame finishing, design details etc. They are certainly not the worst, but it's not quite the level of Santacruz, Pivot or some of the other botique brands. For the price delta between them and some of the uber expensive brands, I'll tolerate some of the overall quality issues... that is, until their prices creep up.

The truth is, many of the other brands also have paint issues, Giant, yeti, specialized, kona to name a few. Typically though, it's with adhesion and or color fade that's the issue. Not typically initial application thickness, masking, color matching issues.

 

[Tony4wd]

The cable routing is hilarious.

 

[Ark]

All new bikes seem to have some money saving job going on with the paint finishes...
On my old bikes the paint was like car quality, on new bikes it seems to be a paper thin layer of watery paint, especially if it's a bike with a matte finish.

It seems to be a general thing, just not with orbea.
You can could always get your frame sandblasted and repainted, there's no doubt a local business in your city that does it

 

[yorkshire89]

You can could always get your frame sandblasted and repainted, there's no doubt a local business in your city that does it

And void any warranty you have...
Sandblasting a carbon frame wouldn't be a good idea.

 

[nobbyq]

Orbea quality is defo not up there like specialised or santa cruz that's for sure !

 

[Ark]

And void any warranty you have...
Sandblasting a carbon frame wouldn't be a good idea.

not all of them are carbon though.
and it doesn't necessarily void your warranty.
you think every term and condition is legally binding or what? also even specialised have authorised places where you can get your frame repainted without voiding anything

 

[Chicane]

not all of them are carbon though.
and it doesn't necessarily void your warranty.
you think every term and condition is legally binding or what? also even specialised have authorised places where you can get your frame repainted without voiding anything

Send him a check for $1200 to cover the paint, labor and he might consider.

 

[jbrown15]

I own a 2022 Red wine carbon frame and that frame is flawless and gorgeous.

I’ve also personally assembled and built about six other 2022 Wild frames. All were great, so this has me wondering WTH is going on with these 2023 frames.

 

[Jdog]

not all of them are carbon though.
and it doesn't necessarily void your warranty.
you think every term and condition is legally binding or what? also even specialised have authorised places where you can get your frame repainted without voiding anything

I did think about having it resprayed but it absolutely does void your warranty not to mention I was quoted £1500 to do this so it’s not a valid option.

Also spraying a brand new 8k+ bike just doesn’t sit right with me.

 

[Jdog]

I own a 2022 Red wine carbon frame and that frame is flawless and gorgeous.

I’ve also personally assembled and built about six other 2022 Wild frames. All were great, so this has me wondering WTH is going on with these 2023 frames.

Completely agree with you here, my riding group has a 2021 H10 (alloy) in red/black and a 2022 M-Team in red wine carbon and both are mint, I also have a friend on a non eeb Occam that’s mint so I know Orbea are more than capable of top quality finishes, I’d say their alloy welds are up there with the best too.

There’s a serious quality issue with the 2023 Wild for both carbon and paint.

 

[ilostmypassword]

They look second hand.

 

[Ark]

Send him a check for $1200 to cover the paint, labor and he might consider.

Maybe orbea should, or send him a new frame

They look second hand.

Display model, that got scuffed by tyre kickers grinding against it

 

[Gw0175]

I've waited around 7 weeks for my frame replacement from Orbea. What's the usual average wait time for a replacement frame?

I was told custom frames take longer which I understand however my custom frame was all one colour so that doesn't wash with me

 

[maynard]

You are right, a bike most probably get scratched anyway. As well as a car gets rock chips after some time on the streets.
But that doesn't mean someone should accept this bad of a quality when they buy an expensive new product.
It hurts way less when your bike gets scratches because you are shredding than if it comes from manufacturarer with scratches and paint chips.

In my opinion some of these images look really bad, and I would either want a proper discount or a new bike.

Fair call ur cash dude .

 

[Chicane]

I did think about having it resprayed but it absolutely does void your warranty not to mention I was quoted £1500 to do this so it’s not a valid option.

Also spraying a brand new 8k+ bike just doesn’t sit right with me.

View attachment 114437

Ya, I thought his suggestion was a bit ridiculous and comical. 1 or 2 small blemishes around a mounting point might be acceptable, but 7-10 different areas like your frames is beginner work. After all, there's a reason why you didn't buy a Huffy from Walmart.

 

[Jdog]

I've waited around 7 weeks for my frame replacement from Orbea. What's the usual average wait time for a replacement frame?

I was told custom frames take longer which I understand however my custom frame was all one colour so that doesn't wash with me

I first notified Leisure Lake bikes and Orbea of the issues on 24/03/23 so a warranty claim was started but on the 11/05/23 they were still messing me about and said it’s going to take another 3 weeks for a non MyO colour (Blue/Silver) I was 7 weeks when they said a further 3 and I think 10 weeks for a replacement frame is just not acceptable so I cancelled my order.

For clarity Orbea actually did offer me money off those two awful frames…first offer was £200 or 2% which I swiftly declined and then they offered £750 or 8% which I also declined. Both times I made it very clear a replacement frame was required but in my opinion Orbea aren’t keen on this. Possibly suggesting it costs Orbea more than £750 to paint a frame or they just can’t cope.

 

[RJUK]

Agreed. When a bike costs as much as a car, they ought to be able to get the paint right. It's not just Orbea, for sure. My 2022 Canyon Spectral CF8 had similar issues. Rear dropout had a huge issue around it, that had been badly touched up in the paint shop and sent out anyway. There was also over spray or something under the clear oat on the downtube. As it was when there were no stocks of bikes I had to accept it with a small discount or return the bike and wait months for another. Ultimately I kept it, but I wasn't particularly happy about it.

 

[Endoguru]

I was seriously considering a 2023 Wild. I think I will pass after reading this thread. In addition, where I live, the local Orbea dealer said they are less than thrilled with the service and communication from Orbea.