Orbea rise rear end flex h30, Anyone else experience this?

[Kseven4]

Hi All
I have a 22 H30 rise that is great and I really enjoy riding but the swing arm flex is bad, I’m a ex DH rider and love to rip turns but the amount the rear tyre rubs on the frame is worrying. Is anyone else experiencing this?
it’s not the wheel flexing as the wheel is strong and tensioned correctly and I have tried different wheels even Carbon wheels to eliminate this, if you hold the main frame and push pull on the wheel you can see the swing arm stays flexing at the shock yoke. the bearings are fine and the preload on the link is set correctly.
My wife has a carbon M frame and it isn’t nearly as flexy.
Does anyone have any suggestions to fix it?

 

[theremotejuggernaut]

I noticed a lot of tyre rub on the inside of my chainstay today while investigating a different problem. I'm fairly light and ride a lot of natural stuff where there aren't berms etc to rail, it must just be flex in the rear end. It suprised me to be honest.

What to do about it? No idea. I cant see a way to eliminate it when it's obviously a 'feature' of the design.

I guess some spacers/braces could be added between the bearings in the rocker arms but I think they make contact with the seat tube which rules that idea out.

Maybe a rear wheel with less stiffness would help. Allow the wheel to flex rather than putting all the strain into the linkage.

 

[TimC7]

Sorry can't help, but it does seem to be something that others comment on. My H15 also has more flex than I expected but doesn't cause me any issues. Not seen a solution anywhere either.

 

[cykelk]

Not the Rise, but I have a 2020 Occam M10 which is a very similar design. I ride aggressively in the US Pacific Northwest and have the same experience on that bike: carbon frame and WeAreOne Union wheels, I still get quite a bit of rubbing. Not aware of any solutions, in my case I concluded I was pushing the bike beyond its intended use (for a combo of reasons, this being one of them) and got a different one.

Does the 2023 linkage fit the previous MY bikes? Perhaps it could help.

 

[Rod B.]

Hi All
I have a 22 H30 rise that is great and I really enjoy riding but the swing arm flex is bad, I’m a ex DH rider and love to rip turns but the amount the rear tyre rubs on the frame is worrying. Is anyone else experiencing this?
it’s not the wheel flexing as the wheel is strong and tensioned correctly and I have tried different wheels even Carbon wheels to eliminate this, if you hold the main frame and push pull on the wheel you can see the swing arm stays flexing at the shock yoke. the bearings are fine and the preload on the link is set correctly.
My wife has a carbon M frame and it isn’t nearly as flexy.
Does anyone have any suggestions to fix it?
View attachment 125409

Kseven4,

The rear end on the Rise has always been prone to a bit of flexing under really hard turns. I think it's the nature of Orbea's two piece rear triangles.

It looks like you've checked most everything I would check. You don't mention what tire size you are running? The Rise has a really narrow chain stay. I tried 2.5 and 2.6 tires on my Rise, but they rubbed under hard turns. Ultimately, I was forced to run 2.4 wide tires to avoid tire rubbing on the chain stays.

I think I would literally tear the whole rear triangle apart, i.e. chain and seat stays, rear hub, freehub, upper and lower axles, etc. I would slowly go through everything and check axle tolerances and bearings. Leave no stone unturned sort of thing.

Here's something you may want to look at. The weak link in Orbea's rear triangle design is the pinch bolt clamp on the linkage arms. Under hard turning, the linkage arms tend to flex a bit and open up. There's a company called Cascade Components that has developed a new linkage arm for the Orbea Rise. The linkage arm increases rear travel from 140mm to 150mm. You can use your stock rear shock (210mm x 55mm) with Cascade's design.

The cool thing about Cascade's linkage arm design is that they have developed a secondary linkage arm clamping system that prevents the linkage arms from opening up and shifting on the upper axle. Hopefully no more locking compound, setting pre-load or dealing with creaking from a slipped axle. My thought is the clamp may also help stiffen the linkage arm assembly.

Rise Link (2020-2022) | US | Cascade Components

You asked (quite a lot) and here it finally is! This link is designed to increase travel to 150mm while significantly boosting progression. If you're wondering what this might be similar to, think Stumpjumper Evo link. The increase in progression allows you to keep a super light and active off...

cascadecomponents.bike

The picture does not show bearings. New Max bearings come with the linkage.

I really like this preload kit made by Cascade. It's made to work with the linkage arms shown above. Makes you wonder if a person could adapt it to work with the stock Rise linkage arms.

For those reading this post, you should routinely check your rear hub bearings, especially your freehub bearings. The torque from the EP8 motor or any eBike motor for that matter, tends to be really hard on the small freehub bearings, especially the outer free hub bearing which takes most of the abuse from the motor.

When the rear hub/free hub bearing(s) start to wear out, play will develop. The hub and or freehub bearing play will allow the rear hub to shift under hard turning despite the rear hub being clamped by the axle and drop outs. You can typically tell a hub or free hub bearing(s) is starting to wear when you hear the sound of your rear brake rotor rubbing on the rear caliper during a hard "Railing It" type of turn. Another clue will be a creaking/knocking sound while pedaling. The sound will start off soft. As the bearing wear worsens over time, the sound will gradually get louder and you'll swear the noise is coming from your motor. It'll be your rear hub bearings.

It's been my experience that the drive side rear hub and freehub bearing will wear first before the non-drive side hub bearing start to wear out. I've ran both D.T. Swiss and Industry Nine Hydra hubs on my Rise at one time or another. I typically had to replace the drive side rear hub bearings about every 800 to 1,000 miles. The bearings are cheap and you can replace them individually as they wear, however I like to replace everything instead of a single bearing.

To tell if you have a rear hub bearing going bad, place your bike in a stand. Spin the rear tire and place your hand on the chain stay as the wheel spins. You should feel absolute smoothness and no vibration at all. If you feel any hint of vibration or roughness transmitting through the chain stay to your finger tip, you have a rear hub bearing going bad. To check the free hub bearings requires removing the cassette or cassette and freehub and individually spin each bearing with your finger. The bearing should spin silky smooth. If the bearing feels notchy or rough, it needs to be replaced.

I hope this helps.

Be safe,
Rod

 

[czech99]

M10 owner here. Definitely noticed rear end flex laterally

 

[TimC7]

Do any other makes do this?

 

[Plummet]

If you are on ex dh racer and ride hard enough to flex the wheel/chainsray to wheel rub, the Rise is not for you. It's a light weight trail bike. It will flex. It's a light frame build for xc and trail riding.

You are taking past It's design limits. It will flex first then down the track you will break it.

Cut your losses now before you snap it, Sell it and buy something stiffer and stronger.

Orbea wild. Trek rail or similar.

 

[theremotejuggernaut]

Do any other makes do this?

Have flex on the rear triangle? Pretty much all of them. Even my hardtail flexes noticeable when pushed hard.

Some bikes flex more than others depending on how the frame and linkage is designed. The Rise is a bit on the spindly side but it's designed as a 'lightweight' trail bike so to a degree, it's to be expected that it'll flex if you push. It's a trail bike, not a park bike or an Enduro bike.

That doesn't mean it can't handle either of those things, it just means you got to be a bit more sensible on it than if you were riding an Enduro bike or whatever.

 

[Plummet]

Do any other makes do this?

Every bike that you take past it's design limits does this.

What I can't fathom is why do aggressive riders buy a bike like a Rise in the first place? It is clearly a light weight, trail bike not intended for aggressive riding.

I've seen multiple threads of Rise owners trying to make their bike into something it isn't or surprised ot can't handle the abuse or gnarlier track.

If you want a more capable bike in
the orbea range , buy a wild. It will handle the abuse.

 

[Kevlasultanpus]

Hi All
I have a 22 H30 rise that is great and I really enjoy riding but the swing arm flex is bad, I’m a ex DH rider and love to rip turns but the amount the rear tyre rubs on the frame is worrying. Is anyone else experiencing this?
it’s not the wheel flexing as the wheel is strong and tensioned correctly and I have tried different wheels even Carbon wheels to eliminate this, if you hold the main frame and push pull on the wheel you can see the swing arm stays flexing at the shock yoke. the bearings are fine and the preload on the link is set correctly.
My wife has a carbon M frame and it isn’t nearly as flexy.
Does anyone have any suggestions to fix it?
View attachment 125409

Lots of great responses here. My 10 cents worth
1. im sure very bike will have some 'flaw' once it gets many hours / mileage on the trails. My Focus Jam 2 squealed like a little piggy form the rear suspension. It took 6 months back and forth with LBS / Focus for a fix.
2. there is talk that the Rise may not be for 'enduro'. Many pundits reviewed the Rise as an enduro but now the Wild is out there, it probably is more suited to the 'trail' banner. Im tending to agree. Mine rips the trails but if i push the more downhill tech rock gardens etc at my local (Mt Stromlo) trails the flex is very noticeable,
3. Im about to do a full suspension service , so will let you know if there is any improvement post service. That said I constantly check shock / tyre pressures, check bolt/nut torques etc... Despite this there is always a bit of 'play' at the back end....but all my bike have had that.