What a bike!  The Orbea Orca is a Spanish designed and built carbon monocoque frame with all carbon fork that is used by racing teams in practically every major domestic and European race – including the Tour de France.  It is extremely light and extremely stiff with blistering accelerations, yet it still maintains a lively and reasonably compliant ride.  At only $2,400 for the frameset, the Orca may be the most competent racing bike you can buy for the dollar.

I have read all of the other reviews praising the Orca over the past several years.  Statements like “Bike of the Year” and the like are usually reserved for the top of the line frameset from the company who spent the most on advertising that year.  Now that I have put well over 500 miles on this orange beauty, I can put any such thoughts about the Orca to rest.  There is simply no doubt that this frameset deserves all of the accolades I or anyone else can think up! Yes, it’s that good.

What makes it so good?  It's obvious that Orbea (a 70+ year old bike company) knows a little something about tube shapes, carbon fiber selection and lay-up and craftsmanship.  Take a close look at the incredibly complex shapes of the tubes and the sheer size of the headtube, bottom bracket and seat tube cluster.  Then consider the monocoque structure and you can easily understand and appreciate why this bike is so stiff laterally.  Typically, with these shapes in a super light monocoque carbon frame, you get a really rough ride at the saddle.  The only reasonable explanation why that is not so with the Orca is that Orbea spent much time and patience getting just the right lay-up with just the right grade of carbon to keep the ride perfectly acceptable even for sensitive riders like me.

As I rode this bike in my normal group rides, I listened to young, old, liberal and conservative compliment its good looks.  My response to numerous questions about the ride was that it does everything so well, I can't find anything to criticize; it's super light, reasonably comfortable, climbs better than just about any bike I've been on, handles extremely well, accelerates out of corners like a F1 car and is just plain fun to ride.  Moreover, I like the way it looks and am impressed by the very high quality of its construction and paint.  What really surprised me was when I got back on my steady ride, the special one I call my own, it wasn’t as great as I remembered.  That's the best evidence I have that the Orca is simply a superb bike.

Another aspect of the Orca I can’t criticize is the build up. Orbea sent us the frameset that we built with an existing full Dura Ace 10 kit, including wheelset, to build it just like the one pictured.  The frameset was in perfect condition and built up as easily as any bike ever.  Not even the most hypercritical mechanic could have found fault with the frameset.  This may be an Orbea trait, as opposed to just that of the Orca, since the Aletta we recently tested was incredibly easy to assemble and ride as well.

Another piece of the puzzle for any bike manufacturer, particularly those imported from other countries, is the quality of the importer/distributor.  While our contact with Orbea USA was limited to Justin Slarks, its Director of Marketing, it could not have been a more pleasant and professional experience.  I feel sure Justin is representative of a knowledgeable and well-run company.

If you prefer a road geometry bike for triathlons or want one bike for group rides and triathlons, after clipping on some aero bars and moving the saddle forward, this bike is as competent as any.  If you’re looking for an awesome road bike for fast training and racing purposes, the overall experience aboard the Orbea Orca is as good as or better than any bike I’ve had the pleasure of riding.

KDG