2023 Orbea Wild paint/quality issues

[RJUK]

I feel like the Covid boom made bike companies (and even some dealers/shops) lazy and complacent. Trying to buy a pricey ebike at the moment and had expected the bike shops to be fawning over me to get a sale. However, the amount of them that don't reply, or take ages to reply or say they will call you back about something and never do... I guess they must still be busy with enough trade to be able to ignore customers that are ready to throw £6 - £8k at them for a bicycle...?!

Staggering really. If I take a couple of hours to return a client's email I apologise and feel awful, yet some of these bike shops take days. My local Trek dealer rarely seems to answer the phone. (In their defence, they were great with loaning me a demo bike with no hassle and a very flexible return, but even then nobody followed up with me afterwards.)

Maybe once the sales dry up the industry will try a bit harder to get it right again. After the COVID boom I imagine most casual riders have their bike sorted for a while now, so you'd think supply would catch up and sales drop off...?

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

Well I finally received my 2023 Wild. I’m the one who posted the pics in the beginning of this thread.the black cosmic carbon.

The finish is beyond bad. It’s a slap in the face .

It’s like someone took a belt sander to the frame . There is literally no paint ! Just bare carbon. I’ll post pics once I get it put together. Prepare yourself.

 

[thewanted]

Well I finally received my 2023 Wild. I’m the one who posted the pics in the beginning of this thread.the black cosmic carbon.

The finish is beyond bad. It’s a slap in the face .

It’s like someone took a belt sander to the frame . There is literally no paint ! Just bare carbon. I’ll post pics once I get it put together. Prepare yourself.

If it’s so bad, why are you putting it together instead of filing a warranty claim?

 

[Chicane]

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.

The reason why I sold my Rise before the 2 year motor warranty was coming up and I could still get decent value for it. I didn’t want to take any chances of dealing with their well known less than stellar response times. This thread is not doing them any favors.

I had the stock blue Rise M10 and the paint was top quality. Nothing like the 3rd World paint that I’m seeing on these new Wilds.

 

[Gw0175]

Well I finally received my 2023 Wild. I’m the one who posted the pics in the beginning of this thread.the black cosmic carbon.

The finish is beyond bad. It’s a slap in the face .

It’s like someone took a belt sander to the frame . There is literally no paint ! Just bare carbon. I’ll post pics once I get it put together. Prepare yourself.

Look forward to the pics... Isnt the cosmic carbon frame not meant to look raw and kinda unfinished anyway?

 

[RJUK]

Look forward to the pics... Isnt the cosmic carbon frame not meant to look raw and kinda unfinished anyway?

This is what I don't get about naked carbon frames. They don't look like the carbon weave roof of a BMW or the crushed carbon tub of a Lamborghini... They look like black/greyish papier mache.

So why go for an exposed finish?

 

[Julie_X1]

This is disappointing to hear. My favourite bike is my Orbea Oiz. Not sure I could love a bike more.

Mine is a full carbon build but I’ve also seen some quality paint and above average welding on entry level Orbea’s and that type of care on “budget” bikes impressed me.

But the paint job and after care response to these Wild’s is disappointing for sure.

I originally ordered an Orbea Rise but couldn’t get an ETA and heard of other shops that couldn’t get an indication of they’d get a bike for the year. That kind of worried me… What if my bike develops a problem, what will the response timelines be like?

I ordered a Trek (Fuel EXe) instead. Not only did my husband and I get clear ETAs, but both were delivered earlier then expected (mine had to be built so took a few months), and one of my favourite LBS is a Trek dealer so if there was a problem, it’d be a one-stop shop for both the motor and the rest of the bike.

 

[VicenarianEbiker]

This is disappointing to hear. My favourite bike is my Orbea Oiz. Not sure I could love a bike more.

Mine is a full carbon build but I’ve also seen some quality paint and above average welding on entry level Orbea’s and that type of care on “budget” bikes impressed me.

But the paint job and after care response to these Wild’s is disappointing for sure.

I originally ordered an Orbea Rise but couldn’t get an ETA and heard of other shops that couldn’t get an indication of they’d get a bike for the year. That kind of worried me… What if my bike develops a problem, what will the response timelines be like?

I ordered a Trek (Fuel EXe) instead. Not only did my husband and I get clear ETAs, but both were delivered earlier then expected (mine had to be built so took a few months), and one of my favourite LBS is a Trek dealer so if there was a problem, it’d be a one-stop shop for both the motor and the rest of the bike.

Orbea is worth around $300 Million.
Trek is worth around $1 Billion.

Orbea is tiny compared to Trek, Giant, Specialized, etc. You should expect much worse customer service from Orbea and much higher lead times. Everything coming from Spain does not help at all. My new bike took about 3 weeks to ship. If I cracked the frame I hope it would only take that long.

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

What do you think?

 

[BiGJZ74]

What do you think?

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Looks like Carbon View Paint to me

 

[E-MAD MALC]

Bike one:

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If I produced a paintjob like that they would throw it straight back at me

 

[E-MAD MALC]

What do you think?

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Again the old saying Friday afternoon job
Couldn't wait to get down the pub

 

[Gw0175]

Tbh, the raw carbon look on these frames doesn't appeal to me. It does look pretty bad but I guess the lighting conditions will make a significant difference highlighting the carbon fibre weave also?

I'm assuming the actual final gloss coat is smooth though and not rough which is how it looks in the pics? If that's the case then I guess this is how Orbea want them to ship

 

[VicenarianEbiker]

Tbh, the raw carbon look on these frames doesn't appeal to me. It does look pretty bad but I guess the lighting conditions will make a significant difference highlighting the carbon fibre weave also?

I'm assuming the actual final gloss coat is smooth though and not rough which is how it looks in the pics? If that's the case then I guess this is how Orbea want them to ship

Agreed

 

[Chicane]

Looks like Carbon View Paint to me

That's what it looks like to me, which is normal. It looks like they added some sparkly glitter to the clear coat, but it's hard to tell from the pics.

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

If it’s so bad, why are you putting it together instead of filing a warranty claim?

I’m riding it !! They can send a frame out when they get their shit together

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

Tbh, the raw carbon look on these frames doesn't appeal to me. It does look pretty bad but I guess the lighting conditions will make a significant difference highlighting the carbon fibre weave also?

I'm assuming the actual final gloss coat is smooth though and not rough which is how it looks in the pics? If that's the case then I guess this is how Orbea want them to ship

I think that’s the problem.
Final gloss coat is absorbed into the carbon .
The actual paint is non existent; hence the final coat is sucked in

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

Just for reference. Just to let you know I’m sot some whiny #%€¥£

This is my Orbea that I’ve been riding for the last 15 years. Look at the finish. Impecable!!

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

This is disappointing to hear. My favourite bike is my Orbea Oiz. Not sure I could love a bike more.

Mine is a full carbon build but I’ve also seen some quality paint and above average welding on entry level Orbea’s and that type of care on “budget” bikes impressed me.

But the paint job and after care response to these Wild’s is disappointing for sure.

I originally ordered an Orbea Rise but couldn’t get an ETA and heard of other shops that couldn’t get an indication of they’d get a bike for the year. That kind of worried me… What if my bike develops a problem, what will the response timelines be like?

I ordered a Trek (Fuel EXe) instead. Not only did my husband and I get clear ETAs, but both were delivered earlier then expected (mine had to be built so took a few months), and one of my favourite LBS is a Trek dealer so if there was a problem, it’d be a one-stop shop for both the motor and the rest of the bike.

Love my OIZ. It’s a work of art

 

[BIG-DUKE-6]

Look forward to the pics... Isnt the cosmic carbon frame not meant to look raw and kinda unfinishedanyway?

No. It has a glitter type of finish

 

[Chicane]

Just for reference. Just to let you know I’m sot some whiny #%€¥£

This is my Orbea that I’ve been riding for the last 15 years. Look at the finish. Impecable!!

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Just a different weave that doesn’t pertain to the carbon weave on frames by all manufacturers. I’m no carbon expert, but just what I’ve seen. When you purchase carbon rims directly from China companies, you get the option of 3 different weaves, with one looking like your frame.

 

[Jdog]

What do you think?

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I'd like to see pictures in the daylight, I think the artificial light isn't doing this any favours, I took some photos of my Orbea in the dark with a flashlight on that made the already bad frame 10x worse but in the daylight the issues didn't show up as bad.

 

[yorkshire89]

It's hard to tell from the photo's if that's paint defect or not. Orbea have clearcoats/candy colours that show up the carbon layup. From the Rise's I've seen in person I've always thought it looked nice and is what Orbea intended it to look like. The bolt holes and half rounded bolts do look bad though!

The solid paint from your first set of photo's are what looks really poor from the photo's.

 

[E-MAD MALC]

Thing is with a solid paint colour you can make good any imperfections before painting
But when it comes to carbon fibre trying to strip back and clear it, your down to the way they layer it
Most of the time because it's just a solid colour there's no so much attention given to the accuracy of the first layer

 

[FFM]

Bike one:

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The cable routing is a nightmare, also the paint job - horrible.

 

[FFM]

This is/was my bike. Orbea change it now into the carbon raw frame, I will get next month, hopefully in a good condition. I will keep you updated.

 

[RJUK]

Wow, that's awful. Did the work experience kid paint that with a brush and some emulsion?!

Sorry, but when you're selling bicycles for car money they need to be in much better condition than that. Lazy lazy Orbea.

 

[Mteam]

This is/was my bike. Orbea change it now into the carbon raw frame, I will get next month, hopefully in a good condition. I will keep you updated.

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That's bad, and I thought treks paint on the fuel exe was poor quality,but that's even worse.

Fwiw my old 2020 wild fs is perfect. Orbea are clearly struggling to get the frames right

 

[FFM]

Wow, that's awful. Did the work experience kid paint that with a brush and some emulsion?!

Sorry, but when you're selling bicycles for car money they need to be in much better condition than that. Lazy lazy Orbea.

Looks like my graffiti skils back in the days

 

[Chicane]

Do you know where the black sharpie went? I have a few spots that need to be touched up on this $12.99 model before it gets shipped out.