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Future of British bike brand Orro secured by investment company promising to "continue its tradition of producing world-class bicycles"

Following parent company i-ride’s collapse last month, the popular Sussex-based bike brand has been saved following the acquisition by a capital and investment group

British bike brand Orro has been saved from collapse, capital and investment company Baaj Capital LLP having just announced its acquisition.

Come on! The British bike industry could do with some good news right now so it’s a huge relief that one of the most interesting brands of the past few years will continue.

We reported last month that i-ride, the major UK cycling distributor behind Orro Bikes, had entered administration after an investor pulled out of a deal at the last minute. However, there was always hope that Orro would be bought and that has now happened, Orro's managing director sharing the details with road.cc this afternoon.

2024 road bike vs gravel bike orro gold stc

Has Baaj Capital LLP just stepped in to buy a name with kudos and squeeze some juice out of it? No, that really doesn’t appear to be the case.

Baaj Capital LLP says that it “aims to continue with the brand’s strong growth within the UK IBD [independent bike dealer] network and continue to offer a bespoke UK-built product”.

> “We are proud to design and build our bikes in Britain”: Orro on reshoring its assembly, innovation, and plans to go international 

It also says that it is “dedicated to preserving Orro Bikes’ rich heritage and continuing its tradition of producing world-class bicycles”, and will “invest in research and development to introduce cutting-edge technologies and innovative designs to the Orro Bikes product line.”

Jas Singh, CEO of Baaj Capital LLP, says that the company can offer opportunities for the growth of Orro Bikes while increasing its investment in manufacturing and particularly the UK bike industry.

Orro’s Paul Butler says, “We are delighted to be working with the Baaj Capital group to secure Orro’s future as a leading British bicycle manufacturer and are excited to continue the brand’s growth and development. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with our IBD network.”

2023 Orro product development - 2.jpeg

What’s interesting about Orro is that the bikes are designed and assembled In Britain. That’s the whole point. These aren’t just generic bikes picked out of a Far Eastern catalogue and embellished with the Orro name.

Orro has introduced many excellent bikes since it was launched in Sussex back in 2014. The Venturi aero bike, for example, has been a huge success over the past few years, designed around 28mm tyres before most other brands had cottoned on to the whole 28mm thing.

2024 Orro Venturi STC SRAM Force eTap Tailor Made - 2.jpg

When Stu Kerton reviewed the Orro Venturi STC SRAM Force eTap Tailor Made here on road.cc in March, he said, “Real-world aerodynamics and well-designed geometry create an excellent bike that is fast and easy to ride”.

Orro Gold STC Force D2 Etap AXS Tailormade

The Orro Gold STC Force D2 Etap AXS Tailormade road bike got a stonking nine out of 10 last year – and finished 4th overall in our Bikes of the Year, up against every bike of every genre that we reviewed in 2023 – and we’ve been impressed by the zillion (I’m rounding up) Orro Terra gravel bikes that we’ve reviewed. According to our reviewers, these guys definitely know what they’re doing.

More news as we get it.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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21 comments

Avatar
james-o | 1 week ago
1 like

"What’s interesting about Orro is that the bikes are designed and assembled In Britain."

Maybe oversensitive pedantry on my part but the frames and forks are maide in Asia, right? 'Assembled' means the parts being built onto the bikes? 

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Veloism | 1 week ago
1 like

Lol at this article. The only reason Orro are well reviewed by roadcc is because they're all mates. This brand has zero "kudos" or a good reputation and certainly no heritage.

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PRSboy | 1 week ago
2 likes

Good news indeed, and good luck to the team. 

I've had a Venturi for a year now and I've been absolutely delighted with it.  I know there are mumbly grumblers online and youtube but I can only speak as I find and its a great frame to ride.

I've not looked inside the frame, but equally I've not taken my car to bits to see how that's built either.

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Nagai74 replied to PRSboy | 1 week ago
2 likes

Same here, except I bought the frameset and built it up myself, and didn't see any issues with the frame at all, and I did have a good nose around at the internals that I could see. Completely happy with it!

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Jaijai replied to Nagai74 | 1 week ago
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I'm surprised ,the ones I've seen 8n and built have all needed paint overspray pretty much all areas ,including headtube ,brake mount areas wheel axle areas .Small voids in carbon and loose furry fibres in headtubes and BB areas.

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Nagai74 replied to Jaijai | 1 week ago
2 likes

I can only speak about my frame.

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jpj84 | 1 week ago
1 like

Rich heritage? I'd never heard of them till about 5 years ago: was it a niche brand that suddenly broke into my consciousness?

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Wingguy replied to jpj84 | 1 week ago
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jpj84 wrote:

Rich heritage? I'd never heard of them till about 5 years ago: was it a niche brand that suddenly broke into my consciousness?

It is in the article... "Orro has introduced many excellent bikes since it was launched in Sussex back in 2014." Orro was an in-house project of import/distribution company I-Ride, which they launched 10 years ago.

The article is being quite charitable about their 'forward thinking' design with 28mm tyres though. As just one example the last Venge was launched 6 months after the Venturi and cleared 32mm tyres, and there have been two new generations of Spesh race bike since while Orro are still building the same 28mm clearance Venturi, making it an absolute dinosaur in the market.

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PRSboy replied to Wingguy | 1 week ago
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It was designed around 28mm tyres but there's lots of clearance and could certainly take bigger tyres. 
 

 

 

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Jaijai | 1 week ago
0 likes

As someone in the industry I've seen inside these bikes .They arnt that well made ,I had enough apart to see the same things .They look good but when you get into the bones of them like Dolan they are terrible .

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Runtilyoudrop | 1 week ago
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Does this mean they will answer my emails and give my money back?

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Jaijai replied to Runtilyoudrop | 1 week ago
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Most likly not ,they will go as a new concern they won't take on liability for the old company

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galibiervelo | 1 week ago
1 like

That is class news. Super bikes and vision.  Bet there will be no stand at the Taiwan bike show next year! Big luck to all the team

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Jaijai replied to galibiervelo | 1 week ago
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The vision couldn't have been that good ,they went bankrupt.

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dolly | 1 week ago
0 likes

"and we’ve been impressed by the zillion (I’m rounding up) Orro Terra gravel bikes that we’ve reviewed."

Well... you haven't reviewed the steel version. 

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captain_slog replied to dolly | 1 week ago
3 likes

dolly wrote:

Well... you haven't reviewed the steel version. 

Zillion is lighter and stronger. So I've heard.

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richliv | 1 week ago
13 likes

Glad to see you back after your bike accident @Matt Brett.

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Mat Brett replied to richliv | 1 week ago
6 likes

Thank you so much, richliv. I appreciate that. Genuinely.

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mark1a | 1 week ago
3 likes

This is the same organisation that funded the rescue of Planet X. Interesting. 

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Jack Sexty replied to mark1a | 1 week ago
0 likes

Correct, that story is here for anyone interested: https://road.cc/content/news/future-planet-x-secured-cycling-retailer-so...

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Secret_squirrel replied to Jack Sexty | 1 week ago
0 likes

List of their investments here :

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/458560-00

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