Orbea now has a carbon frame for everyone.  Its ’06 line-up includes: (1) the comfortable and fun to ride Onix; (2) the hyper-light Orca with its super light fork that serves perfectly as an all around racing bike for lighter and less powerful riders; (3) the superbly stiff Opal with its stiffer fork for big and powerful riders; and (4) the bewitchingly beautiful and aerodynamic Ordu for Time Trials and Triathlons.  Top this off with great looks, customer service and prices and its no surprise that Orbea is continuing to grow in the US and is one of the largest modern bike manufacturers in the world.  Incredibly, all of its bikes are still made in Europe. 

The Opal follows Orbea's traditional carbon manufacturing process of using a one-piece monocoque front triangle with bonded stays for easy replacement.  The 51cm Opal I’m riding weighs in a 1050g for the frameset.  While it’s slightly lighter than the Orca (by approximately 20g), the Opal is mated with the FCM fork as opposed to the FCM SL.  The FCM is a stiffer fork and is, therefore, more appropriate for bigger, more powerful riders.  The forks weigh in at 320g for the FCM SL and 400g for the FCM.  Therefore, the Orca frameset actually weighs 60g less than the Opal.

One slight on the Orca’s popular character is the fact that both the frame and fork are too flexible laterally.  While this slight flex increases the overall comfort of the bike and makes it a little more exciting to ride for lighter and less powerful riders, it may reduce cornering tightness and sprinting speed for bigger riders. Since I’m a lighter/less powerful rider, I thoroughly enjoyed the feel and responsiveness of the Orca - see review here.  For me, the additional stiffness of the Opal leads to a somewhat dull sensation when you first start out.  After a while, you begin to enjoy the ride, as it just requires a little more input to get the response you're after.  The Opal constantly prods you to ride it as hard as you can.

The corning ability of this bike is exemplary – I’ve never felt as confident in high-speed turns.  In fact, the overall ability of this frameset is so far above my personal abilities that I can’t find any fault with its performance.  This bike is clearly one for the pros to quibble about.  That is, of course, if their elevated abilities actually reveal some weakness in the frame.

For me, the Opal climbs, sprints, accelerates, holds speed, corners and handles as good or better than any bike I’ve tried.  The only negative, which is due to my lack of size and strength, is that it seems, at times, somewhat boring.  It's certainly not dead, this bike is full of life, it’s just made for the big and powerful rider to race.  If that’s what you want or need, you must try this bike.  You definitely owe it to yourself to see it in person.  The Opal is the best looking bike Orbea makes and is one of the best looking I’ve ever seen on the road. 

Since I know this bike will never marginalize my performance, climbs like an F18, is perfectly comfortable to ride long distances (my first ride was 92 miles) and looks this good, I may just keep it.

KDG

P.S.  All of our reviews are meant to compliment the general information available from the manufacturer's web site.  If you're interested in reading more about the Opal's design, tube shapes and composition, geometry, etc., then please use this link http://orbea-usa.com/.   Our task is to simply let you know what the bike looks and feels like in person from an enthusiast’s perspective.