Orbea Gain review

An Orbea Gain M30 – that’s carbon with a 105 group-set. I’m impressed.

I am a little fitter than the average 65 year old but have never been an athlete. I’m 174cm and 76Kg. I ride because I like being out on my bike, I’m usually alone and I’m not interested in speed or competition. A typical ride would be 30km with 400m of elevation in a couple of hours on single lane tarmac in farming country here in the far north east of Scotland. 

I bought the Gain because I was finding the constant high winds were pushing me into 26/34 on the flat and making me feel old and knackered. Stomping the hills out of the saddle is but a memory.

Riding the Gain with the power off feels much like riding my old Dawes Galaxy tourer. It’s comfortable, competent but not sporty. Using the first level of power it still feels like an unassisted  bike but the headwinds vanish and long gradual hills seem like they are flat. It feels more like the old Specialized Epic I have ridden for years. 

The ebikemotion app shows the power used as 5-10% at the first level and the battery drain probably supports that. When I do find a hill, we have plenty of short ones of 15-25% around here, then hitting the highest assistance level means I can go up them with a few gear cogs to spare. I have to work, but it’s still like riding a bike. Other e-bikes I have ridden are more like mopeds. If thats what you want then frankly for the money a 125cc motor bike is a much better deal! 

So far I’m unimpressed with the ebikemotion app, changing the power profile for each level did not appear to have any affect. The navigation is a basic sat nav but I use an app called View ranger with OS maps and always know exactly where I am. It can track a ride with elevation, time etc and OS maps are the best. Switching from Ebikemotion to another app closes it and I had to reload the bike every time when I reopened it. I would use it to show remaining battery especially as the single button control on the Orbea is not ideal. Using the button, which is on the top tube, you cycle through the modes to get the level you want, it’s a pain, you need to think ahead and you do take your eyes off the road. However you get used to it and it’s the way of all things electronic nowadays, oh for a rotating switch.

My typical ride 2 hour ride uses 15% of the battery. Using the highest assistance rapidly discharges it. I think you could do a 100km/1000m ride and still have enough juice to turn it up when your tired 10km from home after running at the first level for most of the ride.

I have fitted the bike with flat pedals, pump, bomb proof tyres and slime tubes, phone mount, mudguards, old farts saddle and seat bag, it now weighs 12.5 KG

I see a lot of forum posts complaining about the 25km/hr limit. If you can still maintain 25km/hr then why do you want an e-bike? It’s never going to be as pure a ride as an unassisted bike. You would also need a bigger battery so it would be much heavier.

The only drawback for me is the crazy price, I’m lucky I can afford it. It should keep me motivated to get out as I get older.