As night follows day, so the prototype bikes spotted at the Dauphiné (no, sorry… I mean the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) are released just before the Tour de France, all within a few days, and each swallowed up by the next.
We’ve already had a brand new Look 795 Blade RS for Cofidis, a new Tarmac SL9 for Red Bull and Soudal (plus a new Specialized TT bike in prototype form for Remco Evenepoel), plus a rogue couple of gravel bikes from Giant this week, but today it’s the turn of Orbea to set its latest machine out into the wild: the new, updated and heavily overhauled Orca Aero, ready to race under the Lotto-Intermarché riders.
The headline figures, for those of you either short on time, or breathless from the cadence of pre-Tour news and in need of a sit down: 37mm tyre clearance (plus 5mm safety clearance, so it’ll swallow a 40mm as measured without too much trouble, we’d have thought), a very low 78mm bottom bracket drop, and 5.1 watts of drag benefit versus the old model at 50kph, though there are more wattage claims to go over.
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I’ve covered a lot of bike launches, and BB drop as a selling point is a rarity. (Image credit: Orbea)What’s new?
Before we dive into the changes, fans of the old Orca Aero will be pleased to know the aero storage box on the downtube remains, though it will not be used by the Lotto riders for reasons of UCI compliance. It’s not clear whether the wattage figures contained herein are with or without the box, but we do at least hope that Orbea has been consistent. The box itself is worth 1.1 watts, we presume at 50kph.
A new head tube and fork aim to reduce the frontal area without making the hose routing prohibitively complex. The new fork especially has been designed with acres of space at the crown to accommodate really very large tyres indeed. While 35mm is the current progressive end for aero bikes at present, Orbea is really pushing it with 37mm quoted, and with the 5mm either side you will most likely be able to run 40mm rubber if you so wish, as long as you don’t try and do it in a UCI road event. This larger capacity leads to a claimed saving of 6-7 watts alone on cobbles at 40kph, though it isn’t clear between which sizes this comparison was taken. It’s also assumed the maximum clearance can only be realised by running a 1x setup.
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There’s a wider down tube to “manage airflow more efficiently”, while at the rear end things look slimmer in keeping with modern trends of aero at the front, lightweight at the back, A slimmer seat tube and seat post, as well as slimmer seat stays help to shed weight. The frame is quoted as 900g (size and paint unknown), which is allegedly worth 2 watts on an 8% gradient at 17kph.
(Image credit: Orbea)
The bottom bracket is, unusually, a real talking point. The bottom bracket drop (the distance from the height of the centre of each wheel axle to the centre of the bottom bracket spindle) is 78mm, which is a good few millimetres more than most modern bikes. It is suspected this was partially done to offset the increased ride height that comes with fitting higher volume tyres, but for racers still kicking about primarily on 28mm or 30mm tyres it will slightly reduce the frontal area as you sit more ‘in’ the bike. There’s also a ‘keel’ under the BB shell, which also claims to improve airflow.
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Interestingly the lower BB also positions the end of the cranks closer to the ground, increasing the risk of pedal strike if you pedal through hard corners. When I asked Orbea whether this would be offset with shorter cranks across the range I was told these can be specced in the MyO builder at point of sale.
The new machine, with the help of some aero bottle cages, offers up 5.1 watts of benefit versus the old model, which Orbea claims is “consistent at all speeds and, crucially, across all wind yaw angles”. We’ll give it the benefit of the doubt here and assume it means the aero benefit scales consistently with speed, and that the bike performs similarly across a yaw sweep.
The lower bottom bracket, along with 13 cockpit options and the ability to run 40mm of spacers all contribute to “a more stable and aerodynamic rider”, which Orbea quantifies as offering a 14-watt saving at 50kph on flat terrain. Add that to the 5 watts for the hardware alone and there is just shy of 20 watts on the table at 50kph, though it must be said that ‘making the rider more aerodynamic’ is a classic line from many a bike launch.
As to be expected, it’s electronic only, but Orbea looks to be offering everything from Shimano 105 (€5,699/£4,999/$6,284) up to the usual SRAM Red / Shimano Dura-Ace (€10,999/£9,999/$12,127) in six stock colours and the custom MyO paint options.
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(Image credit: Orbea)
(Image credit: Orbea)
(Image credit: Orbea)
(Image credit: Orbea)