mountain bikes: Review: Orbea Rallon M-Team 19: Wolf in wolf's clothing!

Test: With 150 or 160mm of spring travel, potent Fox Factory suspension and downhill-oriented geometry, the Orbea Rallon seems more enduro than all-mountain on paper - thanks to the very well-functioning rear end and a coherent overall concept, however, it doesn't just feel comfortable as a shooting machine.

At the end of 2017, the Basques of Orbea presented the fifth generation of the Rallon. Previously, it clearly belonged in the “enduro drawer”, but the new Rallon not only got 29″ wheels for the first time, but also reduced the spring travel at the rear to 150mm – it’s still a whopping 160mm at the front, but the message is clear: The new Rallon should be more of an all-rounder than a pure racing car. Compared to its predecessors, it's not just the suspension travel and wheel size that have changed - the Spaniards are also breaking new ground with the frame material: the Orbea Rallon is only available with a carbon frame. The background is not necessarily the weight savings compared to aluminum, but the special, asymmetrical frame construction of the Rallon. which can simply be better realized with the carbon fiber material.

A very special offer from Orbea is hidden behind the "abbreviation" MyO: This is how the manufacturer describes its own customizing program, which allows buyers to match the color of the frame of the new bike to their own wishes. There is plenty to choose from – from restrained black and gray tones to cautious pastel tones to bright fluorescent colors, almost anything is possible here. The best thing about it: MyO doesn't cost a cent extra.

Orbea Rallon M-Team 19: Features

We chose the M-Team version of the Rallon as our test bike. We deliberately decided against the top-of-the-range LTD variant, although it would have also fit into our test field at just under 9.000 euros; it contains a Fox DHX2 coil damper, which pushes the entire bike quite a bit further in the direction of enduro - for many of course exactly what they want, in our all-mountain test field the M-Team version with Fox Factory suspension and X2 does the job However, air dampers at the rear are a bit better. Otherwise there is nothing to complain about in terms of the high-quality equipment: The 500% range of the Sram Eagle drive has now established itself as the standard in this range of spring travel and is also sufficient for steep climbs in the Alps - especially since Orbea has given the Rallon a 30-tooth blade on the Descendant carbon crank donated. We think it's a bit of a shame that the high-quality X01 variant is used for the rear derailleur and shifter, but the significantly heavier GX variant is used for the cassette.

The wheels come from DT Swiss and offer technology that has been tried and tested a thousand times over: This includes the durable toothed disc freewheel, the 30mm wide aluminum rims and the robust construction. Maxxis tires sit on it – the semi-slick Aggressor on the rear wheel, the trail all-rounder Minion DHF in front. The 2,5″ width of the tires comes into its own on the wide tires and the combination can be converted to tubeless within a few minutes.

A bit unusual, but installed on many mountain bikes in the 2019 season: the Crankbrothers Highline dropper post. While RockShox, Kind Shock and Fox used to dominate here, there has been more and more variety in the dropper post world in recent years. The Crankbrothers post is a high-quality representative with an ergonomic remote and was able to move up to the top of our list of the best. The XT M8020 4-piston brakes from Shimano are responsible for braking - appropriate for the spring travel with a large 203mm disc at the front.

Orbea Rallon M-Team 19: geometry and frame details

High-quality equipment or not: the star of the Orbea Rallon is undoubtedly the – there is no other way to put it – the beautiful carbon frame. Despite the asymmetrical damper mount, the whole bike looks like it was made from one piece, nice details like the high-quality and functional cable clamps of the internally routed cables and the integrated frame protectors on the chainstay and down tube show: Someone has put a lot of thought into the bike and its area of ​​use . There are few surprises by the standards used: Boost axles front and rear, a 230mm long metric shock with 60mm stroke and a Pressift bottom bracket. We were pleased that Orbea gave the Rallon a full ISCG05 mount, thanks to which full chain guides including the taco can also be mounted without any problems.

Modern, potent, but not extreme: This is probably the best way to summarize the geometry of the Orbea Rallon 2019. With an extremely slack steering angle and an all the more steep seat angle, the rider is placed centrally on the bike, whose main frame is almost a bit short by today's standards: 455mm reach and 611mm top tube in size L keep the wheelbase pleasantly compact, so off the bike no articulated lorry on the trail. However, the dimensions should also be put in relation to the very short seat tube: This measures only 444mm in size L or 485mm in size XL - so if you prefer to ride long frames, you can simply go up a frame size without too much problems to get a support that is too long. Speaking of frame size: A small downside to the Orbea's otherwise extremely well-rounded range is that the Rallon only comes in three sizes. Drivers that are particularly tall or particularly short should try it out before buying. By the way: The geometry can be changed a bit with a flip chip: To be more precise, you can use it to change the steering angle and the bottom bracket height. During our test, we were mostly in the "touring" setting with a slightly steeper steering angle and higher bottom bracket.

Orbea Rallon M-Team 19: On the trail

The Rallon should clearly have its strengths in the downhill, as the appearance and the equipment suggest. On the way to the start of the trail, one of the testers started to ponder: "It's actually an enduro, funny, I didn't tune the damper that tightly, but it doesn't wobble..." In fact, the rear end rocks very little or very little, depending on how it's set up . The Rallon climbs quite willingly for a bike that should also work in the bike park or in enduro races. In the test field, which is quite mixed and despite the fact that the steering angle tends to be steep, we had candidates who rose later. If it gets rather steep, you have to put some pressure on the front. The translation is not necessarily optimal for thousands of meters in altitude, here a smaller chain ring would not be wrong. Measured by what the Rallon shows for a face on the descent, their climbing properties are absolutely flawless.

As already mentioned, the geometry of the Rallon is not extreme, although it is certainly still "up to date". So all testers felt comfortable on the bike straight away. The decisive factor was the very comfortable seating position and the very balanced position of the rider on the bike, even on the downhill. You feel safe on steep climbs because you quickly put your weight back, but you can always put enough pressure on the front in corners exercise The handling was repeatedly described as intuitive. It is pleasant that the wheel does not rattle, it is rather quiet. The rear end and the fork make a good contribution to the good driving impression. Although the Fox 36 was the measure of all things at the front in the test, the rear end didn't quite keep up either. While the frame is already very close to the optimum with all the details and can be handled absolutely intuitively, you have to work on the rear end to adapt the chassis to your taste. With the many adjustment options of the Fox damper, a satisfactory result can really be achieved for almost everyone, but technology dyslexics despair. The fork also offers many adjustment options, but is a bit easier to tune.

All components work very well. The shifting is reliable, crisp and has a good range, even if a smaller chain ring would have been welcomed at the beginning of the season. The Shimano XT 4-piston brakes are very easy to dose and the power is always at least sufficient. The Crankbrothers dropper post could extend a bit faster, but the speed is enough. Better that way than other seat posts that try to suddenly intervene in child planning. Incidentally, the lever of the seat post can be adjusted in more ways than almost any other. The very good chassis cannot hide one thing: the grips are very thin and your hands get tired sooner than with other rubber grips. In our opinion, they are not optimal for medium to large hands. But the rest of the cockpit is great, thanks to the wide race-face handlebars and ergonomic control levers.