First Experience: 2023 Orbea Oiz consolidates 10kg 120mm XC Race MTB

The 2023 Orbea Oiz XC Bike might appear like a mere refinement of its predecessor, however a better look reveals a extra thorough rework. It nonetheless appears to be like just like the cross-country racing weapon it’s, however the newest evolution comes with some key geometry alterations on a platform that’s devoted to 120mm of rear wheel journey. Aluminum, OMR Carbon and OMX Carbon choices ship a large worth vary from € 2,799, proper as much as €9,999. 

The pinnacle angle drops 2 levels to 67° and the bike stretches out accordingly with a 450mm attain in measurement medium. Regardless of the increase in journey numbers, the Orbea Oiz nonetheless manages to weigh in beneath 10kg, all whereas enhancing stiffness to advertise climbing effectivity so you may keep on the fuel for longer.

We have been invited to the Basque Nation to get pleasure from two days of flat-out lung-busting driving (ahem, I imply attractive, flowing, Spanish singletrack) to see what the 2023 Orbea Oiz is all about. Under, you can see our First Experience Evaluation, in addition to a complete overview of the bike’s new body particulars, geometry, precise weights, and naturally pricing on all eleven new fashions introduced at this time.

All photographs are credited to Ross Bell

2023 Orbea Oiz

These acquainted with the Oiz will recall {that a} 120mm journey possibility has been accessible since 2021; although the earlier body was designed principally round 100mm rear wheel journey, the choice remained to run 120mm journey with an extended stroke shock, and an extended journey fork. Certainly, plenty of Orbea’s XC athletes most well-liked having extra journey within the rear, together with Isla Brief who spent a season on the Manufacturing unit crew. 

Listening to suggestions from the Orbea KMC Manufacturing unit Group athletes, Orbea has redesigned the Oiz particularly round 120mm whereas going to nice lengths to restrict the load penatly related to it. Extremely, the body weight hasn’t modified in any respect; a medium body produced from Orbea’s top-end OMX Carbon weighs 1739.3 g, with the shock. That’s the painted weight, but it surely doesn’t embody a rear axle, seat publish clamp, headset or bottle bosses, of which there are 4 as a result of this body can accomodate two water bottles throughout the entrance triangle (hooray).

And weight for the entire bike? Nicely, Product Supervisor Ander Corall’s bike weighed in at 9.98 kg with pedals, water bottle and laptop mount. His is the Orbea Oiz M-LTD with the brand new Oquo MP30 LTD Carbon Wheelset, which itself weighs simply 1,350g with rim tape.

Right here’s the necessity to know info:

• Bike: 2023 Orbea Oiz 
• Intention: XC, Marathon and Gentle Path
• Fork Journey: 120mm
• Rear Wheel Journey: 120mm
• Head Angle: 67°
• Attain: 450mm (Medium)
• Chainstay Size: 432mm
• Precise Weight: 9.98 kg (ML-LTD in Medium)
• Body Materials: OMX Carbon, OMR Carbon or Aluminum
• Pricing of top-end mannequin: € 9,999 / $10,499 / £10,499 (M-LTD)

2023 Orbea Oiz Geometry

Cross-country mountain biking has not been resistant to the lengthy, low, slack geometry remedy that has rolled out nearly ubiquitously throughout off-road classes. The 2023 Orbea Oiz isn’t immune both. Whereas the model has steered away from venturing too far into downcountry territory, it has slackened its out-and-out XC bike by a not-insignificant 2°. Now, a 120mm journey fork sits at 67°, paired with an efficient seat tube angle of 76.5°.

Attain has grown throughout the S-XL body sizes, coming in at 450mm in a measurement medium; that’s 15mm longer than the earlier iteration in its XC configuration (100mm journey), and a whopping 25mm longer than the earlier bike in its TR configuration (120mm journey). The chainstay size grows barely to 432mm, constant throughout the body sizes, and the underside bracket drops to a peak of 333mm.

The Oiz’s stack peak is stored to a minimal, coming in at 596mm in a measurement medium because of its 90mm head tube. Minus 10° stems throughout all sizes and fashions assist hold the rider in that low, head-down racing place with loads of weight over the entrance wheel.

Eight of the eleven new fashions introduced at this time are carbon, whereas the opposite three rock hydroformed aluminum frames. Whereas their geometries are nearly equivalent, of notice is the longer chainstay size of the alloy fashions; all sizes are 4mm longer in wheelbase on account of a 436mm chainstay size.

Oiz Body Particulars

Orbea is releasing the 2023 Oiz XC Bike with three completely different body varieties. Whereas they share the identical geometry (excluding the alloy’s chainstay size), they differ of their supplies. The highest-end frameset is Orbea’s OMX Carbon that includes Fiberlink know-how. In a measurement medium, with its Fox Float DPS i-Line shock, it weighs 1739.3 g (precise). 

The OMR Carbon frameset with its barely heavier carbon layup weighs a claimed 1,950 g, whereas the hydroformed aluminum body weighs a claimed 2.7 kg. 

Key updates to the Oiz body are seen on the hyperlink that drives the shock, and within the form and floor space of the seat stays. The hyperlink is revised as it’s now driving an extended stroke size shock to ship 120mm of rear wheel journey, however it is usually refined it’s form to enhance stiffness with out conceding a weight penatly.

This and the brand new form and elevated floor space of the Oiz’s seat stays has resulted in a not-insignificant 12% improve in rear-end stiffness. The brand new design reinforces Orbea’s thought of a “energy backbone”, whereby translation of the rider’s inputs into ahead propulsion are maximized.

Sticking with a linkage-driven single-pivot suspension platform with flexing seatstays, Orbea is once more leaning on the 3-position Squid Lock distant and i-Line routing to present riders on-the-fly management over how the bike manages its 120mm journey. It’s designed to work with Fox push-to-unlock suspension, i.e., forks and shocks which might be locked out of their default setting. Within the case of the Orbea Oiz, that’s the Fox 34 Step-Solid fork with FIT 4 Damper, and the Fox Float DPS i-Line Shock.

There are two levers (properly, three in the event you depend the dropper); the decrease one determines the fork and shock setting, whereas the higher one serves to easily revert all settings again to the firmest setting, with the fork and shock successfully locked out. On the primary push of the decrease lever, the Squid Lock distant strikes the shock from locked-out to path mode, whereas opening the compression damping of the fork from locked. Then, on the second push of the decrease lever, the Squid Lock distant places the shock in open mode, whereas the fork stays in open mode.

Although we are able to’t say we have been overjoyed to see the cables routed internally by way of the headset, we’ve to confess it does make what-would-be a really cluttered cockpit a complete lot neater and, it does appear to make most sense on a slick-looking cross-country race bike. Additionally, its design may definitely be quite a bit worse. The headset spacers are of a two-piece design; they arrive aside, so don’t have to be slid on or off the steerer when adjusting stack peak. Which means you don’t have to take the entire thing aside, slicing cables and hoses and re-bleeding brakes for some easy ride-height fettling, or if you wish to swap out the stem for one thing with a extra aggressive detrimental offset.

The cables enter the headset through the uppermost headset spacer the place they’re routed into the downtube or prime tube through custom-made insert.

The custom-made Acros headset, named the SIC System, additionally incorporates a steering limiter known as Block Lock – a function you could recall from the Alma hardtail. It limits rotation of the bar to a most of 164°. For those who’re uncertain what which means in actual phrases, know that you just’re most likely heading out the entrance door in the event you ever end up turning the bar to that angle on the path (low cost in case your title is Danny MacAskill). The aim of the Block Lock is to forestall injury to the body’s prime tube that might happen if the controls have been allowed to smash into it throughout a crash.

First Experience: 2023 Orbea Oiz 

Orbea flew us into Bilbao to check out the 2023 Oiz. Doug, of Basque MTB (a former Bikerumor contributor) led us out of the Arinzano Vineyard on two 40 km rides by way of some beautiful Corsican pine forests. Terrain diverse from fast-flowing singletrack, to flat-out sections of clean gravel, to chunky flat-out wide-open descents, in addition to steep and slender ones that required cautious consideration. There was a wholesome dose of technical climbing on supply, too.

To deal with the lot, I used to be handed the 2023 Orbea Oiz M-Group. Spotlight parts embody the Fox 34 Step Solid Fork with FIT4 Damper, Fox DPS i-Line Shock (with Squid Lock Distant), a Shimano XTR Group, OC Mountain Efficiency Carbon Bar, and the Oquo MP30 Group Carbon Wheelset, fitted with Maxxis Rekon Race 2.4″ tires. In its inventory configuration, with no bottle bosses, it weighed 10.4 kg.

The S-XL body measurement vary accommodates riders from 155cm to 198cm tall. At 163cm, I opted for the small body with a 425mm attain and a 60mm stem. It will get 170mm cranks and a 760mm bar, and its 380mm seat tube has a 100mm dropper publish put in. The match was nice. If it have been mine, although, i’d have left the steerer a bit of longer and elevated the trip peak with some spacers beneath the stem, and likewise lower the bar all the way down to 740mm. I like a spot of XC driving however i’m not a racer; I want a extra upright driving place for extra consolation on longer days within the saddle. 

Ruiz from Fox was available to make some suspension setup ideas. Sag on the rear shock was set to 26%, with sag on the fork set to 23% with 1 quantity spacer. I weigh 60kg in driving equipment; it was Ruiz’s suggestion to run the suspension a bit of on the softer facet to make sure I may squeeze as a lot journey out of the air springs as doable.

Hurtling out of the vineyard on a quick gravel highway, the photographers and guides who have been driving eMTBs had a job to maintain tempo with our group. In its locked-out place, the bike does certainly trip like a hardtail, and producing and sustaining velocity was easy. Granted, the fast-rolling Maxxis Rekon Race tires might have had one thing to do with that.

As we have been funneled into clean singletrack and the gradient picked up, I used to be pleased sufficient to depart the suspension locked-out. Because it obtained steeper and extra technical, nevertheless, the bike undoubtedly benefited from a much less agency setup. The Squid Lock distant provided that on the push of a lever, opening up compression damping on the rear shock to path mode for improved traction, and unlocking the fork. The key profit right here was the decrease trip peak that the softer fork permitted, making it a lot simpler to maintain the light-weight entrance finish from lifting beneath energy.

Although I would’ve most well-liked the next stack peak for improved consolation on longer rides, it could’ve accomplished me no favors in technical climbing situations. As ever, there’s a steadiness to be struck. The aluminum body with its barely longer chainstays would possible higher resist entrance wheel elevate on steep and technical climbs.

All that stated, the Oiz does pedal supremely effectively. It makes you need to push tougher and tougher, even when you’ve gotten nearly nothing left within the tank. In path mode, the bike is in a position to withstand squat beneath energy, gratefully translating efforts into meters gained.  

It’s honest to say {that a} portion of the descending simply fell into the “gentle path” class, and use of a for much longer journey bike may’ve simply been justified. That stated, I used to be very happy to cost down most sections throwing little warning to the wind. The 67° head angle is definitely slack for an XC bike, but it surely was greater than welcome on among the steeper, rockier descents, as I’m certain it could be on the more and more gnarlier World Cup Cross-Nation programs we’re seeing year-on-year.

Below braking, the rear-end does tend to skip because the suspension corporations up. That stated, it posed no actual drama on the path. Its suppleness could be very spectacular when off the brakes; right here, it does have a sure calmness to it, and bestows loads of confidence to push on at excessive speeds by way of flowing sections of path. It’s not tremendous quiet, although. The chain may be heard slapping off the chainstay protector that appears to supply little in the way in which of damping. There isn’t any body safety on the drive-side seat keep, although I noticed no proof of the chain having hit it throughout driving.

The (efficient) 485mm attain (425mm + 60mm stem) made for a pleasant, central feeling whereas descending, giving me confidence to get off the brakes and let the suspension do its factor. It got here alive on the smoother, movement sections and was a pure pleasure to trip. For me, the bike’s descending capabilities have been held again not by the body’s geometry or journey numbers, however by the facility of the Shimano XTR 2-piston brakes (I’m extra accustomed to the late braking permitted by 4-piston brakes).

The Rekon Race tires have been acceptable for the dry and dusty singletrack of the Basque Nation, although i’d suggest folks driving and racing in wetter components of the world to benefit from the choice to improve to the Maxxis Dissector/Rekon pairing provided by Orbea.

Over the course of or two day’s driving I did alter the bike’s setup barely. Having descended some quick and tough tracks, I used to be but to make full use of the fork’s 120mm journey. I eliminated its single quantity spacer in a bid to entry the ultimate 20mm of journey, however ended up having to drop the stress by 4 PSI. Even then I used to be lacking out on usable journey, and sure would have benefited from dropping the stress even additional.

On the rear, I used to be capable of push by way of nearly all of shock’s stroke size to entry the bike’s 120mm of rear wheel journey. Judging by the o-ring I had approached bottom-out, however having not felt any metal-on-metal collisions, I reckon I by no means fairly made it.

Nearing the tip of the second day’s driving, I (unwittingly) obtained to check out the Oiz’s Block Lock for actual. I dropped right into a singletrack descent having unknowingly flicked the Squid Lock distant again into Lock-Out mode. This realization got here mere moments earlier than washing the entrance wheel on a free flat flip, leading to my hitting the deck pretty onerous. I used to be high quality, and so was the bike; the bar had rotated through the crash, but it surely had maxed out on the 164° permitted by the Block Lock.

Precise Weight of 2023 Orbea Oiz M-Group in Measurement Small

10.4 kg!

Pricing & Availability

For full particulars on pricing and spec lists, head to the Orbea web site.

2023 Orbea Oiz Mannequin	Euro (€)	USD ($)	GBP (£)
Carbon
M-LTD	9,999	10,499	10,499
M-Group	7,999	8,599	8,399
M-PRO AXS	6,999	7,399	7,299
M-PRO	6,299	6,799	6,599
M-10	5,699	5,999	5,999
M11-AXS	5,499	5,699	5,799
M20	4,799	4,999	4,999
M30	3,999	4,399	4,399
Hydroformed Aluminum
H10	3,699	3,999	3,999
H20	3,299	3,599	3,499
H30	2,799	3,299	2,999

Orbea.com