They say you should never change a winning horse, so the Orbea Rallon M-LTD sees only minor improvement to the details instead. A new rocker arm in the rear linkage is said to improve the performance of the suspension, and even better, it’s available separately as an upgrade for the previous model. But how does the bike fare in direct comparison to the competition?
Orbea Rallon M-LTD | 170/160 mm | 14.04 kg | € 7,381
The Orbea Rallon is a bike for individualists. You can customise the paint job however you want with Orbea’s MyO online configurator – giving you several million options, for free! But the Rallon already looks great in Orbea’s preconfigured colour scheme. The asymmetric frame with its clean lines is a feast for the eyes. The build spec can also be configured online. We chose the flagship configuration but opted against the ENVE wheelset which we found to be too stiff in previous reviews. Instead we choose the reliable DT swiss EX1501 wheels. That also saves a cool € 1,499. We also swapped the DHX2 coil shock for a FOX X2 Factory air shock. In this configuration, the Rallon comes in at € 7,381, which is fair given the extent of customisation options and the otherwise excellent build, leaving little to be desired. The spec list of the Rallon M-LTD includes a 170 mm FOX 36 FLOAT Factory GRIP2 fork and a Shimano XTR drivetrain with a Race Face Next R crankset. Thanks to the relatively short seat tube, riders should generally be able to choose between two frame sizes. We received the bike in size L for our test (our riders are all about 180 cm tall), but we’ve also ridden a size XL in the past, which felt slightly too long.
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