Santa Cruz Vala

[whitymon]

I do not think you can compare the premium Santa Cruz vs fake-premium (sorry just my opinion) Orbea.

That said, they do not have the same travel entirely, vala is a bit less and with a smaller battery in upper configuration of the wild - don't think you can have a 750 on the vala at all.

Vala does not have a sh... headset in paper with integrated cables, frame and bearing are life guarantee (bearing can be replace indefinitely if I am not wrong, one per year?). Color are sh... to me.

On the other side the Wild is, looks burlier, warning on rear suspension you cannot mount whatever you want as there is not a lot of place (maybe this is solved by 2025 model). Colors are pretty sick!

Orbea frame is just a revamp for the Gen5, it works well, very sharp at the opposite the vala is completely new for the good/bad but apparently all people are.

If battery is not an issue or go with the 650 on both bike then, I would go with the vala even if the wild would have my preference with the 170mm this is not a total game changer - but I would pick the Fox38 package with the vala.

Now you know it is always hard to advice as it really depends on rider + trail.

 

[Suns_PSD]

I just read the other day (maybe on this site) about a guy with an Orbea Wild that had a certified Orbea dealer do bearing rebuilds at regular intervals, the frame wore out, and Orbea denied the warranty claiming lack of bearing maintenance.

On the other hand, I've known of some people that have gotten incredible warranty service from Santa Cruz.

So, unless the Wild is at least $4K less (not that you could even buy an e-bike frame for $4K) I'd take the Vala.

The amount of warranty horror stories that come from all the D2C brands is pretty frightening. Commencal, Orbea, YT, Canyon, etc. I've heard horror stories about all of them, some many times.

 

[whitymon]

Oh I forgot something I watch today, there is also nasty issue with the fork and the headset block on the Wild.

blabla, link is better than me trying to explain:

 

[whitymon]

The amount of warranty horror stories that come from all the D2C brands is pretty frightening. Commencal, Orbea, YT, Canyon, etc. I've heard horror stories about all of them, some many times.

You can add Propain too. From factory bike are really bad with barely enough grease.

- Propain tolerance on CF (even some AL part) are really one of the worst I have ever seen.
- Commencal, where I live, we have a lot of them and we break all frame - that does not mean other bike would have sustain but not a good publicity
- YT, I would have place them above the rest
- Canyon well, I have still 2 bike from them and they are awesome. Yes you need to regrease/adjust/trash headset day one. But it is okay.

The point is and where I would place a line on the sand, Canyon bikes are really $ for $ the best where Orbea feel still to me like a scam in comparison as there is no real reason.

I would agree to pay more a bike from Santa Cruz, Trek or Specialized as they just are the best in service after you buy a bike.
No need to argue, they want you happy, for an ebike where it is pretty expensive I still think it matters, at least to me it does a lot.

 

[TheMirrorVision]

Any rumours on when the next two colours for the Vala will come and what they would be?

Probably at least 1 year after the initial launch since that's Santa Cruz's typical approach with model year color updates when the frame isn't being updated.