Orbea redesigns Rallon enduro bike with new frame, updated suspension and progressive geometry

Orbea has redesigned the Rallon enduro rig with a new frame – in turn revamping the geometry and suspension – to evolve what was already one of the best enduro bikes out there.

The Rallon has been a staple of the Basque brand's fleet since 2003 and we previously reviewed the Orbea Rallon M10 back in 2019. This latest model is its sixth iteration.

Orbea says it hasn’t just modified the old frame but has re-worked the bike from the ground up, for enduro racers and fast shredders alike.

With enduro racing evolving as a discipline and the courses becoming steeper, rougher and gnarlier, with more of a focus on descending over distance, Orbea has studied the changing course profiles of the Enduro World Series to build a bike ideal for its intended use.

As a result, plenty of changes have been made to the bike, although the new frame still retains a distinctly Rallon silhouette.

The new frame design has also had some serious input from product manager Markel Uriarte, an enduro racer himself, and Orbea’s Factory enduro race team, and Orbea says you can see these influences in the bike's features.

Let's dive into the tech details – or read to the end for my first ride impressions.

Orbea Rallon frame and suspension details

This new Rallon has a carbon front triangle and stays, pumps out 160mm of rear-wheel travel and is paired with a 170mm fork. Orbea uses its stronger OMR carbon fibres for maximum durability and claims a larger frame with hardware weighs 2.3kg.

Orbea tells us the frame features 'precision tracking’ related to the bike’s stiffness and carbon layup. The brand's enduro team was used to test prototype frames with lots of compliance and frames that were incredibly stiff, to find the sweet spot between comfort and performance.

The bikes are sold with two yokes, meaning you can run the new Rallon as a full 29er or as a mullet bike setup (29in wheel on the front and 27.5in wheel on the rear). You'll need to source the correct size back wheel if you want to make the change, though.

The 29er yoke gives the bike a ‘low’ and ‘lower’ geometry position, while the mullet yoke offers just one setting, providing similar geometry to the 29er's ‘lower’ position.

Features-wise, the frame comes with a few neat tricks, including Orbea’s Lockr system for internal storage in the down tube – two sleeves allow you to fill the space in the frame by the bottom bracket and slide spares up inside the down tube.

There’s also a small multi-tool inside the rocker pivot and an additional 6mm Allen Key and valve core tightener that doubles up as a rear axle lever.

Orbea has gone all out to make the bike as quiet as possible, with plenty of frame protection from the chain as well as additional protection on the cables and secure cable entry and exit points to prevent rattling.

The frame bearings have additional seals to help prevent water and dirt ingress and, of course, there’s space for a water bottle inside the front triangle.

The engineers tweaked the suspension kinematics by changing the pivot locations in the frame. The main pivot has been moved forward 20mm so the rear axle path offers a more rearward movement to absorb bumps better and has a straighter arc for more consistent feeling suspension.

The overall progressivity has been increased with a suppler initial stroke and extra support at the end of the travel. The anti-squat has been lowered to improve bump compliance, but it stays above 100 per cent at sag for decent pedalling.

The anti-rise has also been reduced to help the bike remain more active under braking.

Orbea Rallon geometry details

The geometry has been completely overhauled too, following the latest trends for longer, lower and slacker bikes, and is steeper in all the right places. There are now four sizes rather than three, ranging from small to extra-large.

The reach has grown by 30mm for a size large and now measures 485mm, which puts it bang on-trend for modern enduro bikes. Reach numbers come in at 435mm (small), 460mm (medium) and 510mm (extra-large) in the bike's lower setting. The chainstays measure a moderate 440mm across all sizes.

The seat tube is one of the most significant updates and benefits from Orbea’s ‘steep and deep’ concept. The seat tube is straight and uninterrupted on every size, so there’s enough insertion depth to fit a long 200mm dropper post on the size small.

In addition, the 77-degree effective seat-tube angle in the bike's lower setting means a seated pedalling position should be efficient.

With this, and the fact standover heights have been kept to a minimum, Orbea says some riders will be able to choose between three sizes, depending on their reach number preferences. This should mean riders can decide if they want a smaller, more agile bike or a longer, more stable platform.

The head tube angle in the lower setting is now an aggressive 64 degrees, but changing the flip-clip in the yoke to the low position steepens the head tube angle and effective seat-tube angle by 0.5 degrees.

The Rallon is now one of the lowest-slung enduro bikes out there, with a bottom bracket drop of 35mm in the lower position and 28mm in low.

As I mentioned before, if you fit the 650b compatible yoke, the geometry is the same as the 29er setting in its lower position.

Orbea Rallon 29er

Orbea Rallon mullet setup

Orbea Rallon range, pricing and MyO customisation

Along with the four sizes, four Rallon models are available, all of which use the same carbon frame.

Orbea also offers its customising service, MyO, which not only lets you choose between thousands of different paint combinations at no extra cost (just an increased waiting time) but also lets you choose upgraded parts by just paying the difference. So, for example, you can select the base model bike but upgrade to Fox Factory level suspension.

Here are the details for the four stock models, though.

Orbea Rallon M-LTD

• Frame and shock: Orbea OMR carbon 160mm (6.3in) travel / Fox DHX2 Factory
• Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip 2, 170mm (6.7in) travel
• Drivetrain: Shimano XTR M9100 (12s) with RaceFace Next R cranks
• Brakes: Shimano XTR M9120 (200/180mm rotors)
• Wheels: RaceFace Next-R31 TLR
• Tyres: Maxxis Assegai 29×2.5in WT 3C Maxxterra Exo+ TR front / Maxxis Minion DHR II 29×2.4in WT 3C Maxxterra EXO+ TR rear
• Bar and stem: RaceFace Next R 35 (800mm), RaceFace Turbine R 35
• Dropper post and saddle: Fox Transfer Factory, Fizik Taiga Kium rail
• Price: £8,999 / $9,999 / €8,999

Orbea Rallon M-TEAM (mullet bike)

• Frame and shock: Orbea OMR carbon 160mm (6.3in) travel / Fox Float X2 Factory
• Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip 2, 170mm (6.7in) travel
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT M8100 (12s), Shimano SLX M7100 chain, with RaceFace Next R cranks
• Brakes: Shimano XT M8120, (200/180mm rotors)
• Wheels: RaceFace Turbine -R30 TLR IS (29in front, 650b rear)
• Tyres: Maxxis Assegai 29×2.5in WT 3C Maxxterra Exo+ TR front / Maxxis Minion DHR II 27.5×2.4in WT 3C Maxxterra EXO+ TR rear
• Bar and stem: RaceFace Next R 35 (800mm), RaceFace Turbine R 35
• Dropper post and saddle: Fox Transfer Factory, Fizik Taiga Kium rail
• Price: £6,599 / $7,299 / €6,599

Orbea Rallon M10

• Frame and shock: Orbea OMR carbon 160mm (6.3in) travel / Fox Float X Performance
• Fork: Fox 38 Performance Grip, 170mm (6.7in) travel
• Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle, 10-52 cassette
• Brakes: Shimano XT M8120, (200/180mm rotors)
• Wheels: RaceFace Turbine R30 TLR IS
• Tyres: Maxxis Assegai 29×2.5in WT 3C Maxxterra Exo+ TR front / Maxxis Minion DHR II 29×2.4in WT 3C Maxxterra EXO+ TR rear
• Bar and stem: RaceFace Aeffect 35 (780mm), RaceFace Aeffect 35
• Dropper post and saddle: OC2 Dropper, Fizik Taiga S-alloy rail
• Price: £5,299 / $5,999 / €5,299

Orbea Rallon M20

• Frame and shock: Orbea OMR carbon 160mm (6.3in) travel / Fox Float X Performance
• Fork: Fox 38 Performance Grip, 170mm (6.7in) travel
• Drivetrain: Shimano SLX M7100, Shimano Deore M6100 chain, RaceFace Aeffect cranks
• Brakes: Shimano Deore M6120, (200/180mm rotors)
• Wheels: RaceFace AR 30c tubeless-ready
• Tyres: Maxxis Assegai 29×2.5in WT 3C Maxxterra Exo+ TR front / Maxxis Minion DHR II 29×2.4in WT 3C Maxxterra EXO+ TR rear
• Bar and stem: OC1 35 (780mm), OC1 3D 35
• Dropper post and saddle: OC2 Dropper, Fizik Taiga S-alloy rail
• Price: £4,299 / $4,999 / €4,299

Orbea Rallon first ride impressions

With Orbea managing to get a sample Rallon to me the weekend before launch, I was able to squeeze in an afternoon at some of South Wales's finest dry and dusty trails for a quick spin on the new bike.

These are just my initial impression but lookout for a full review later down the line. I’m 173cm / 5ft 8in and rode the Rallon M-LTD spec with a Fox Float X2 Factory shock in a size medium.

The seated pedalling position on the bike is excellent, thanks to the steep effective seat-tube angle. That made for a comfortable pedal up gentle fire roads, steeper double-track grinds and sections of singletrack.

The suspension platform was stable for pedalling too, and on the easy fire road climbs, I never felt the need to use the shock's lever to firm up the suspension.

However, I did use it on steeper climbs to help keep the bike from sitting into its sag and maintain a better climbing geometry to give me as much efficiency as possible.

Orbea has focused the Rallon's attentions on descending performance, and it hits the spot. My first thought was that it’s an incredibly easy bike to ride with no odd quirks in the suspension. My weight distribution between the wheels was good, too, so I felt comfortable on it immediately.

The 460mm reach and 440mm chainstays meant I didn’t have to shift my weight around much to remain centred on the bike. That, and the low bottom bracket height, gave me confidence in the turns, which helped me feel relaxed on the loose dirt, which is always a bonus.

I ran between 30 per cent and 35 per cent sag and the bike still had enough progression to prevent me from using full travel. The suspension sat into the mid-stoke nicely to help isolate me from trail chatter.

However, I thought the Fox shock was overdamped and ran the compression settings fully open (as I did on the fork). While sensitivity from the Rallon was good, I think the shock could be tuned to improve this even more.

The Rallon’s climbing performance has impressed so far, too. This model comes with exceptionally light and expensive parts, but not the stickiest tyres out there, although I could happily pedal this bike all day.

For a first ride, the new Rallon impressed and I'll be back with a more detailed review soon.