WestCoastRider
New Member
I picked up an on sale Orbea Rise H30 in December. I decided I wanted a lower torque and lighter weight bike after riding about 5 different hi power emtn bikes over the last few years. I have a Guerilla Gravity Gnarvana, 160 rear and 170 front and really like this style of longer slack bike. So I decided the Orbea Rise was close to what I wanted in some ways and maybe I would tweak it to address things I was hoping to get. Did it work? Would I do the same thing again? Pretty much yes, the work is not yet done but so far I am really happy.
I settled on a size XL, I had read that Orbea's run a bit small and I am usually a L but absolutely hate having a short top tube so the dimensions of the XL were better. Overall the fit is pretty good, but the seat is a hair higher than I would like (frame is constructed to have a higher standover the seat height than it probably needs). Even stock, with the crummy front and rear suspension, I was pretty happy with the first ride down some steeps. I mean I could manage it, the only direction in terms of performance was up from there!
First step, new Fox Factory X2, wow... this makes the bike perform way better, especially for me at 230lbs. Then, new cockpit, bars and stem like what's on my GG to keep the feel familiar. Swapped some carbon wheels w 240 hubs and beefy tires. Next step, Magura T5 4 piston calipers and XT 2 finger levers. Immensely better stopping power, but wow does that Marzokes front suspension fork flex... gonna have to replace that ASAP.
But I decided to take a couple of hardcore enduro rides to do some thinking about what to put up front. One idea is just to put a 150 36-38mm up there to get rid of the flex, improve the suspension and slacken the thing out. More work would be a 9point5 1.5degree slackR kit and 160mm of travel.
This weekend I took the bike out to Palm Springs, CA and took it through the paces on some climbs and descents. What I found, that Dunn Rd climb to access the trails is steep. I have ridden it before with a full power bike and I did feel the lesser torque of the Rise, but it got me up. It did burn through 2 or 5 bars of battery to get up to the picnic benches where the 7 miles of flow and downhill starts. So to realistically lap at this particular ride spot, I'll need the range extender.
How about the flow and downhill performance? Well, I think it was such that I don't want to put an angleset on this bike and slacken it that much. It was really fun on the flow, although I found myself having to be careful about getting too far forward, my GG is just sticking forward so much more in the front and so the shorter trail bike that is the Orbea took a few turns to get used to. But once used to it, wow, this is a fun handing bike for the flow (the first half of the 7 miles down).
View attachment Hahn.jpg
There is a brief interlude where you kind of reverse flow, a nice open desert area that is inclined and I burned most of another bar of battery here, but had so much flying through these ups and downs and side to sides.
Then, the real fun, Cathedral Canyon DH, tons of chunk and "high consequences" riding. The initial couple hundred feet is a tough all rock section which I struggle with on a heavyweight emtn bike. The Rise threaded the needle and was nimble enough and powerful enough to rock me through this section. Then the downhill, I really was surprised how well it did. I had pumped the fork way up to avoid having the bike change geometry by having a fully compressed front end, so I was getting a harsh ride in the repeated drops. But I did like the way the bike was more nimble than my GG in the sharp (and very high consequences) switchbacks. For the first time I rode through all of those, again reminding me that maybe the HT angle on the Rise isnt bad even though it looks so on paper. The rear suspension, even though 20mm less than on my GG, was perfect. Probably my biggest gripe was the Marzochi fork bending under heavy front braking. At one point I wondered if I might just snap it!
Otherwise, I was really impressed with the handling of the 40lb Rise compared to the 55lb emtn bikes I had taken down this trail before. Those heavier bikes tended to kick out the rear tire in the loose rock/scree sections and the Rise kept on my intended track much better.
Bottom line, I need a new fork, probably a 37 or 38 beefy one. But I am not sure I want to slacken this thing much, definitely no angleset. I think I may get a Mezzer since those are easy to change travel between 150/160 with a little plastic spacer. I have one of those on my GG but not sure it's got enough steerer tube for the XL Rise.
Overall, I am really happy with the purchase. Yes, you could say I bought a frame/motor/battery kit and pretty much built a bike around that, discarding a ton of parts. It's true, but I couldnt find anything in the Rise line up that has the top end carbon wheels, X2 shock, MT5 Brakes, etc anywhere near what I am into the bike for now. And now I have a parts bin full of stuff for my 9 year old who is soon to move up from a 26" enduro bike and can use many of the parts I pulled from the Rise H30. View attachment Hahn.jpg
I settled on a size XL, I had read that Orbea's run a bit small and I am usually a L but absolutely hate having a short top tube so the dimensions of the XL were better. Overall the fit is pretty good, but the seat is a hair higher than I would like (frame is constructed to have a higher standover the seat height than it probably needs). Even stock, with the crummy front and rear suspension, I was pretty happy with the first ride down some steeps. I mean I could manage it, the only direction in terms of performance was up from there!
First step, new Fox Factory X2, wow... this makes the bike perform way better, especially for me at 230lbs. Then, new cockpit, bars and stem like what's on my GG to keep the feel familiar. Swapped some carbon wheels w 240 hubs and beefy tires. Next step, Magura T5 4 piston calipers and XT 2 finger levers. Immensely better stopping power, but wow does that Marzokes front suspension fork flex... gonna have to replace that ASAP.
But I decided to take a couple of hardcore enduro rides to do some thinking about what to put up front. One idea is just to put a 150 36-38mm up there to get rid of the flex, improve the suspension and slacken the thing out. More work would be a 9point5 1.5degree slackR kit and 160mm of travel.
This weekend I took the bike out to Palm Springs, CA and took it through the paces on some climbs and descents. What I found, that Dunn Rd climb to access the trails is steep. I have ridden it before with a full power bike and I did feel the lesser torque of the Rise, but it got me up. It did burn through 2 or 5 bars of battery to get up to the picnic benches where the 7 miles of flow and downhill starts. So to realistically lap at this particular ride spot, I'll need the range extender.
How about the flow and downhill performance? Well, I think it was such that I don't want to put an angleset on this bike and slacken it that much. It was really fun on the flow, although I found myself having to be careful about getting too far forward, my GG is just sticking forward so much more in the front and so the shorter trail bike that is the Orbea took a few turns to get used to. But once used to it, wow, this is a fun handing bike for the flow (the first half of the 7 miles down).
View attachment Hahn.jpg
There is a brief interlude where you kind of reverse flow, a nice open desert area that is inclined and I burned most of another bar of battery here, but had so much flying through these ups and downs and side to sides.
Then, the real fun, Cathedral Canyon DH, tons of chunk and "high consequences" riding. The initial couple hundred feet is a tough all rock section which I struggle with on a heavyweight emtn bike. The Rise threaded the needle and was nimble enough and powerful enough to rock me through this section. Then the downhill, I really was surprised how well it did. I had pumped the fork way up to avoid having the bike change geometry by having a fully compressed front end, so I was getting a harsh ride in the repeated drops. But I did like the way the bike was more nimble than my GG in the sharp (and very high consequences) switchbacks. For the first time I rode through all of those, again reminding me that maybe the HT angle on the Rise isnt bad even though it looks so on paper. The rear suspension, even though 20mm less than on my GG, was perfect. Probably my biggest gripe was the Marzochi fork bending under heavy front braking. At one point I wondered if I might just snap it!
Otherwise, I was really impressed with the handling of the 40lb Rise compared to the 55lb emtn bikes I had taken down this trail before. Those heavier bikes tended to kick out the rear tire in the loose rock/scree sections and the Rise kept on my intended track much better.
Bottom line, I need a new fork, probably a 37 or 38 beefy one. But I am not sure I want to slacken this thing much, definitely no angleset. I think I may get a Mezzer since those are easy to change travel between 150/160 with a little plastic spacer. I have one of those on my GG but not sure it's got enough steerer tube for the XL Rise.
Overall, I am really happy with the purchase. Yes, you could say I bought a frame/motor/battery kit and pretty much built a bike around that, discarding a ton of parts. It's true, but I couldnt find anything in the Rise line up that has the top end carbon wheels, X2 shock, MT5 Brakes, etc anywhere near what I am into the bike for now. And now I have a parts bin full of stuff for my 9 year old who is soon to move up from a 26" enduro bike and can use many of the parts I pulled from the Rise H30. View attachment Hahn.jpg
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