Orro Terra C 105 Hydro

First published 3rd December 2017

The new Orro Terra C 105 Hydro is a stable carbon bike that's quick on the road, with the strength and confident handling required for heading on to gravel and other hard-packed trails with the appropriate tyres. Mudguard and rack mounts make this a versatile option that can cope with everything from commuting to adventure biking.

• Pros: Excellent handling, stable, versatile
• Cons: Not 650B compatible, tyres aren't tubeless compatible

The Terra C is available in four different flavours, the other three being the snappily titled Terra C 105 with TRP Cable Disc Brakes (£1,799.99), which has a Shimano 105 groupset and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes, the Terra C Ultegra (£2,499.99), with a Shimano Ultegra groupset, and the Terra C Adventure (£2,099.99) with a Shimano 105 groupset and, it won't surprise you to learn, adventure-focused features such as an FSA Omega Adventure chainset (with 48-tooth and 32-tooth chainrings), an FSA Adventure compact bar, Fulcrum R700 DB wheels and semi-slick 38mm-wide Hutchinson Overide tyres.

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The Terra C 105 Hydro that we have here is the same price as the Adventure model (£2,099.99) and it, too, is built up with a Shimano 105 groupset and Fulcrum R700 DB wheels. This time, though, you get a compact chainset (with 50-tooth and 34-tooth chainrings) and an 11-28t cassette (rather than 11-32), a Deda Zero 1 handlebar with a round drop, and smooth Continental Grand Sport Race tyres in a 32mm width.

That's a lot of detail to hit you with early on but I thought I'd better let you know exactly what type of bike we're talking about. Orro has certainly retained plenty of road-friendly features while making something that's also capable of tackling bridleways, tracks and trails.

Orro first added Terra gravel/go anywhere bikes to its range three years ago, the initial models being alloy (these are still available). The new Terra C is very different. For a start, it's carbon fibre with a layup that includes Innegra.

You what?

Innegra is a material from Runcorn-based composites specialist Sigmatex, a company that already supplies the spread tow carbon technology used in Orro's Gold STC bikes.

'Innegra is a high modulus polypropylene fibre that can be used independently or in conjunction with other fibres to provide weight reduction, excellent levels of impact resistance and damage tolerance,' says Sigmatex. 'Innegra also has a very low density and is hydrophobic meaning it is an excellent choice for the leisure market.'

That's the official line. The Terra C uses Innegra shielding under the bottom bracket and inside the chainstays and fork blades, the idea being to minimise the chance of failure caused by stones that ping up from the road or trail surface. The Innegra doesn't affect the character of the ride, it's just designed to add extra resistance to damage. It's the third layer so you wouldn't get to see it but for the fact that Orro has put a little window on the underside of the down tube, just to show you that it's actually in there.

I can't really take a ball peen hammer to a loaned bike to check the Innegra's effectiveness. The frame is still in perfect nick several weeks in, but I can't say any other review bike has ever failed on me either – touch wood – so I'm not sure that proves a lot.

Geometry tweaks

The Terra C doesn't simply involve a change of materials, the geometry has been tweaked too, which is one of the reasons why this frame has been a long time in development, the Orro team racking up the miles mainly on the South Downs. All sizes have a 72mm bottom bracket drop and a slackened 71-degree head angle that has been combined with a 50mm fork rake, the idea being to maintain responsiveness in the steering.

Orro has also introduced frame-size-specific chainstay lengths to minimise the possibility of heel rub and balance the weight distribution of larger riders. I've been riding the large sized model with 422.5mm chainstays and a lengthy 1052mm wheelbase.

This bike has an effective top tube of 581mm, a seat tube of 545mm and a head tube of 192mm. The stack is 612mm and the reach is 397mm. If you're coming from a standard road bike that'll feel like an upright riding position (and bear in mind the generous crown to dropout distance of the Orro Gravel Lite fork) but it's not as upright as a similarly sized Specialized Diverge, for example.

If you want to hunker down on the drops you can get yourself into a riding position that'll have you bowling along efficiently on the tarmac. As mentioned, this version of the Terra C comes with a compact chainset and 32mm wide Continental Grand Sport Race tyres, and these allow you to crank out the road miles at a decent clip – you might well be surprised. Matched up to the 11-28t cassette, that chainset gives you a reasonably wide spread of gears for both getting up the hills and pressing on down the other side. For comparison, the Terra C Adventure I mentioned has a lower low gear (32x32 as opposed to 34x28) that'll help out on steep climbs, and also a lower high gear (48x11 as opposed to 50x11) so you'll spin out sooner on faster descents. Horses for courses.

Take comfort

The wide-ish tyres (compared to those of a standard road bike) allow you to run low pressures for plenty of comfort. The wheels are actually tubeless compatible so you could go with even lower pressures without the danger of pinch flats, but not with these tyres. They aren't tubeless, so you'd need to switch them if you wanted to go down this route.

The Conti tyres are quick and grippy on the road and they're good on stuff like hard-packed towpaths. I've also ridden them happily on some firm-surfaced gravel/chalk tracks near me although there are no knobbles to dig into anything soft – they're not designed for that – and you have to remember that the cushion of air between you and the ground isn't as large as you get with something like the 38mm Hutchinson Overide tyres specced on the Terra C Adventure.

Being the sort of idiot who always likes to push things too far, I didn't remember that and got a pinch flat when I hit a pothole while gunning it down a stony descent. I have to take responsibility for that. The rougher the roads you're riding, the more you'll want chunkier tyres. If I owned this bike, I'd have a couple of sets of wheels shod and ready to go, one pair fitted with road tyres and the other fitted with something wider with a more aggressive tread.

More comfort comes via the Prologo Kappa RS saddle. It has quite a rounded profile and a generous depth of padding, but I'd say it's the amount of flex in the shell (which has a cutaway hole in the centre that isn't carried over into the upper) that makes the biggest contribution to the feel here. I'd have preferred more depth to the handlebar tape to make the front end feel equally smooth. When things got bumpy I found myself perfectly comfortable in the saddle, but more shaken up in the hands and forearms.

Stable ride

One of the most noticeable characteristics of the Orro Terra C 5800 Hydro is its stability, and that's apparent whether you're tackling uneven roads or negotiating busy traffic. I've been riding it a lot in both environments – for blasts out in the sticks and for commuting to the office – and it has a settled, confident feel with enough agility to handle more technical situations.

Speaking of control, Shimano's RS505 hydraulic disc brakes provide loads whatever the conditions. Acting on 160mm rotors, they're powerful and offer plenty of modulation well before the point that you lock up.

The dual control levers might not be pretty (arguably; I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder) but they work well.

If you want to fit mudguards, you get neatly positioned eyelets for the job front and rear, the top one at the rear positioned on the underside of the brake bridge (if we're still calling it that, what with the brake being positioned miles away), and you also get rack mounts at the back which will come in handy if you want to use a pannier for carrying your work stuff or fancy a night away somewhere.

You have enough clearance for 37mm-wide tyres with mudguards fitted or 42mm without. Unlike some bikes of this type, the Terra C isn't designed for 650B sized wheels and fatter tyres, Orro feeling that 700C is better suited to the brand's roadie background and the idea that this is a bike to push on with.

Value

The Orro offers lots for the money, especially if you think the Innegra technology sounds like a valuable asset for the riding you do. The Genesis Datum 10 that we reviewed back in May was £200 cheaper but that bike comes with a totally different spec list, including a Shimano Tiagra groupset rather than 105. The steel Bombtrack Hook EXT we reviewed was a little more expensive at £2,200, but that's a weighty bike at 11.2kg and it's equipped with a SRAM Rival 1 groupset.

> Buyer's Guide: 18 of the best 2017 gravel & adventure bikes

Both of those bikes are built up with quite a few in-house components whereas the only kit on the Orro that's not from a well-recognised brand is the aluminium seatpost. Oh, and the handlebar tape.

The fact that the Terra C can handle both town and country is one of its biggest strengths. Okay, there's no such thing as a bike that can do absolutely everything, but this is a bike that can do a lot of things well. If you like to mix it up – a bit of riding on the open road, a bit of track/trail, a bit of urban riding/commuting, maybe heading off for the weekend – this is a real contender. Some bikes that try to be versatile just end up being a bit of a compromise, but the Orro is adaptable, strong and stable, genuinely impressive across a range of different types of riding.

Verdict

Versatile bike that provides stable, confident handling on both tarmac and tracks