Following hot on the heels of the carbon fibre Terra gravel and adventure bike (first look here) Orbea has just launched an aluminium version of the bike. There are three models priced from £1,399 to £1,799.
- Unboxing Orbea’s new Terra gravel and adventure bike
The new Terra Hydro carries all the key features of the carbon version, so you’re looking at clearance for up to 40mm tyres and hidden mudguard eyelets for added versatility.
The Basque company bills the Terra as an ‘All Road’ bike designed for tackling any terrain, from gravel to road and even cyclocross. It developed ‘All Road Geometry’ which follows similar lines to other bikes in this category, and largely splits the difference between endurance and cyclocross bikes, with a slacker and longer stance to provide more stability on rough and loose terrain.
Orbea doesn’t share much detail about the aluminium frame it has designed. It has utilised the same Dynamic Structure it uses on the carbon model to provide the desired stiffness in the lower half of the frame and a bit of compliance in the top half.
The rear stays are small in profile and it says it has optimised the shape for compliance and comfort, and it’s “lighter than elastomer inserts” which we’re presuming is a reference to other bike companies approach to providing a smooth riding frame.
Into the tapered head tube slots the same carbon fibre fork as found on the all-carbon Terra. It’s designed to provide a good balance of “torsional stiffness and bump compliance” according to Orbea.
There’s neat internal cable routing, the down tube used to house the gear cables and brake hoses. It’s disc brakes only, with flat mount callipers and 12mm thru-axles.
There are three models in the range to choose from. At the top is the Terra H31-D (£1,799) with a SRAM Rival 1 groupset and Kenda Flintridge 40mm tyres on Shimano RS170 wheels.
The Terra H30-D (£1,499) is specced with a Shimano 105 groupset with an 11-32t cassette and an FSA Omega Adventure 32/48 chainset (nice to see a sub-compact chainset) with the same Kenda tyres and RS170 wheels.
Propping up the range is the Terra H40-D (£1,399) with a Shimano Tiagra groupset but the same FSA Omega Adventure 32/48 chainset and Shimano RS170 wheels shod with Kenda Flintridge tyres.
More at www.orbea.com and we'll get our hands on a test bike for review soon.
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.