Orbea Orca B M10 road bike

Orbea's Orca B M10 is a very capable road bike, despite being far from having the snappiest name. It offers a resounding turn of speed and crisp handling that will cater for the demands of any cyclist planning a summer of sportives or road races this year. Add in the latest Shimano Ultegra Di2 11-speed groupset, a direct descendent from Dura-Ace, and there's a lot going for the Orca.

Ride: Quick and fast handling, but not very smooth

The Orca is impressively quick when applying power through the pedals. It handles corners and bends with grace, and a well balanced handling that sharpens the harder you push the bike.

The geometry is a little shorter than the racier Orca models higher up the range. The most significant change is the shorter front end, so the bars are less of a stretch; I found the Ultegra hoods fitted perfectly in my hands. The racey DNA is exhibited in the short 16.5cm head tube and short wheelbase, which combine to produce fast handling and a bike that positively wants to be slung along a challenging road full of dips, rises, sweeping bends and tight hairpins.

There is plenty of stiffness to exploit. Racers will revel in its power transfer and the immediate way it responds to pedalling inputs. It feels laterally very taut, a trait most displayed on fast descents. Its stiffness is apparent when hustling the bike along the road. Show it a hill, and that 8.1kg weight doesn't serve to blunt the bike's speed as much as I feared it might at the beginning of the test. It rides faster than the weight might suggest. Just goes to show that you should never judge a bike until you've ridden it.

For all its composure and inspired handling, the Orca comes unstuck in its dealings with rough road surfaces. Despite Orbea's clear intention to tame some of the vibration in the shaping of the frame, it doesn't handle imperfections in the surface very well. The result is, at times, quite a harsh ride. It can be a bit tiring towards the end of a long stint in the saddle. Which is a shame because everything else about the bike is lovely. I just wish it was a little smoother.

Get it on a crit circuit and I'm absolutely confident it would be a flawless performer. The handling, stiffness and way it delivers speed would see it being well suited to the fast and frantic world of crit racing. Away from the track and on regular roads, while it's not a bad choice, there are smoother rides.

Frame: Distinctive carbon features

It's a distinctive looking frame, is the Orca. This is a bike you could recognise simply from its silhouette. It's a very similar frame to the new top-end Orca introduced at the Tour de France last year, and raced by the now defunct Euskaltel-Euskadi team. But there are some differences.

The most significant is the grade of carbon used, and it's this factor that probably reveals itself in the ride character. Orbea don't go into much details about the specifics of the carbon, instead they have their own labelling system, splitting the range up into those using 'performance' carbon and, like the Orca here, 'evolution' carbon.

The frame doesn't have the same level of integration as the top-end Orca, but it does have main tubes that have been shaped in a wind tunnel. It seems no bike can escape the clutches of an aerodynamicist these days. Orbea have what they call AIZoneE (aerodynamics investigation zone) and it is the shaping of the main tubes and the head tube. The head tube is noticeably pinched in at the middle to produce a smaller frontal area to meet the air. The down tube is clearly an aero shape, with a round leading edge and tapered trailing edge. The trailing edge is flattened at the bottle cage mount.

That aero down tube is massive, and blends into a huge bottom bracket junction. There's a press fit bottom bracket, naturally. A pair of chunky chainstays branch off it and the and the seat tube is slightly ovalised with a hint of a cutaway close to the rear wheel. The top half of the frame is split 50:50 between the oversized front end of the head tube, and the thin seat stays.

The frame is Di2 compatible, but the redundant cable stops are an ugly reminder of the frame's age. However, the battery is smartly located on the non-driveside chainstay, a better location than the down tube or bottom bracket in my opinion.

I'm not a huge fan of internal cable routing, and the Orca didn't do much to win me over. The rear brake cable is routed through the top tube, entering and exiting on the same side. This causes the cable to rattle against the inside of the tube. It's noisy, and exaggerated by the rigidity of the frame. It really takes the shine of the bike when it's constantly making a noise. I'm not sure what the solution is, other than arranging the routing so the cable passes diagonally through the top tube.

Build: Faultless Shimano Ultegra Di2 electronic shifting

This Orca frame is available from just £1,349 with Shimano Sora, and tops out with this £2,999 model. Above this price the range switches to the more expensive Orca carbon frame and goes all the way to £8,699.

Yes, £3,000 is a lot of money, but there are few manufacturers offering the new Ultegra Di2 6870 11-speed groupset on a carbon frame at this price, given the higher price of the electronic groupset over its mechanical counterpart. A quick look around revealed a similarly specced bike from most manufacturers would set you back another £200-500 at least.

The new groupset is hugely impressive. I'm a big fan. The hood shape has been tweaked a bit. I find my fingers wrap around the lower section of the hood much more easily than the mechanical version, that makes them for more far more comfortable than mechanical.

Shifting, well it's instant, sharp and quiet, as anyone who regularly uses Di2 will be well used to. The groupset is much nicer looking than its predecessor as well, the rear mech in particular. They've reduced the bulk of the motor and given it a smart, shiny finish. Unlike Dura-Ace, the brake levers are aluminium rather than carbon, to save a bit of money. The junction box sits below the stem, attached with a narrow rubber band. It's a bit more fiddly to fit a computer over the top of the stem, but not impossible.

Wheels are Mavic's entry-level Askiums, shod with the French company's own 23mm tyres. These wheels are a popular choice on lots of bikes at the more affordable end of the spectrum, and it's clear getting the Di2 groupset onto a bike costing under £3,000 has impacted the wheel choice. That said, there are few bikes with Ultegra Di2 at this price that you can walk into a shop and purchase. The Orbea website lets you upgrade to Mavic's Ksyrium Equipe WTS wheels for an extra £157.50, which might be a good choice if you want to invest in the future with slightly lighter wheels.

There's nothing radical or fancy about the Orbea branded finishing components. The alloy stem, compact handlebars and carbon seatpost might lack the pizazz of more expensive parts, but they work reliably. The handlebar proved a nice shape, the bend giving a generous reach and drop. The Selle Italia SL Flow looks the part, but wasn't my cup of tea comfort wise.

Verdict

A fast and stiff frame packing the latest Ultegra Di2 11-speed group, but slightly let down by its lack of smoothness. Racers will love it.