2021 Orbea

RALLON M LTD

rbea The new Orbea Rallon will be ripping it up on the EWS circuit this year piloted by Martin Maes. We swung a leg over it to see how it stacks up against the best enduro bikes on sale now. Need to know Updated Rallon platform has moved with the times. Longer, lower and slacker. Geometry designed around a 170mm fork. Rear suspension delivers 160mm, where the progression rate has been increased to work with coil shock and larger volume air shocks like the Fox Float X2 Internal downtube storage has been added Three 29er options and one Mullet, but with MyO personalization it’s easy to customise your build Now available in four frame sizes Evolution of the Orbea Rallon It’s October 2013, and I’m wandering around Finale Ligure, Italy, in a daze. I can’t for the life of me remember why I was there. All I recall is Steve Jones from Dirt magazine asking me if I was attending the Orbea launch. I replied no, as MBR hadn’t been invited. I promptly became his plus one and the party got underway. The reason for the end of season festivities? Everyone was gathered to celebrate the launch of the new Rallon R4, a 160mm travel enduro bike with a revised suspension layout and 27.5in wheels. Well, it was almost 10 years ago. Well, it was almost 10 years ago Two things really struck me about that bike. The first was how good the low BB height felt as it increased stability and confidence. The second was how effective the suspension was – the combination of the custom tuned Bos Kirk shock, concentric rear axle pivot and longer shock link giving the bike unparalleled tracking and control. I left Finale impressed that the more traditional XC brand for the Basque country had produced such a formidable enduro race bike. Fast forward to 2017 and Orbea launched the next round of revisions, updates that include the switch to 29in wheels, a side-arm frame design, similar to, but not a copy of a Specialized, and a much shorter rocker link to actuate the shock. The low and lower BB heights remained, but the suspension feel had changed a lot on the Rallon R5, the bike less planted and plush, with a greater emphasis on pedalling performance. Obviously I wasn’t the only one that noticed the difference as Orbea then followed that up in 2019 with the Rally On linkage that boosted travel on the rear by 10mm to 160mm, and increased the progression rate from 8% to 20%. Frame and geometry So what’s new about the 2022 Rallon R6? The biggest differences are the updates that Orbea has made to the sizing and geometry. As such the BB height is a hair lower still, the reach numbers have grown on all four frame sizes and the seat tube heights have shrunk. In fact, Orbea has added 30mm to the reach on the size L, which brings it pretty much inline with the XL …Continue reading »

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Concentric Boost 2 Pivot is what Orbea call their suspension layout, but it's similar to Split Pivot where the chain and seat stay co-rotate around the rear axle to balance the pedalling and braking forces.

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One of the most refined, playful, and even-handed long-travel bikes we've tested—and it's packed with features. The Rallon should not be overlooked.

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