The most unique element of Orbea is arguably the company and its structure, not the line of bike it makes, though the bikes are notable and shall be discussed below.
Orbea is a company domiciled in Spain's Basque region, in the Pyrenees close to the French border. Indeed, though it is Spain's largest manufacturer of bicycles, it sells as many in France as it does in Spain.
Orbea's origins were as a maker of arms and munitions prior in the first half of the 20th Century, but after the Spanish Civil War the factory was converted to the manufacture of bicycles. Spain's Civil war struck portions of the Basque region especially hard, and economic rejuvination was achieved through a cooperative model, where the employees enjoy ownership in the companies for which they work. Orbea is such a cooperative, and is part of the behemoth Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, one of the largest worldwide among worker cooperatives.
According to a CyclingNews article the cooperative model is not only a financial reality, but extends to product design. "Final design decisions are made by Orbea's Product Committee," according to the article, "a group which brings together Product Development, Production Management, Purchasing Management, Logistics, and the domestic and export Sales Managers." One can see how this approach might've been leveraged to generate the Ordu, a bike we'll discuss below.
Orbea is a mid-sized bike company, with worldwide sales reported by outside sources to be approaching $50 million. This makes it an eighth, or a tenth, the size of a Trek, Giant or Specialized, but somewhat larger than Felt, Litespeed, Cervelo or Serotta.
ALETTA
Orbea gives its dealers quite a bit to work with, starting at the bottom of the price category. The Aletta incorporates the typical Orbea mid-teen-priced road frame features: carbon fork, seat post and seat stays. Uncharacteristically the frame is made of Felt-like #7005 tubing instead of the 6000-series Columbus tubes one typically sees in its road geometry bikes.
The geometry is 76-degree seat angles throughout its size run, and this is reflective of the region and the market to which Orbea primarily sells. Spanish and French triathletes tend to ride shallower and more relaxed (that is, more like a road race set-up) than do North Americans or Northern Europeans. This makes the Aletta an easier sell in Orbea's major market, but a somewhat nuanced sell in its two biggest growth markets: the U.S. and Germany. The Aletta is similar to Felt's prior model, the S25, in both features and geometry. But Felt has since gone in a different direction and it will be interesting to see whether Orbea sticks to its guns or follows suit for its U.S. and German-speaking customers.
While the Aletta is geometrically a perfect fit for Mediterranean-based triathletes, it is spec'd much like a well-conceived North American tri bike. For $1800 you get an Ultegra drivetrain (105 chain and cogset) and Profile Design T2+ aero bars. The brakes and fork are Zeus, a component maker owned by Orbea. While Zeus is used as a house brand, like Bontrager and Real Design, it has a rich pedigree as Spain's native component maker. Think of a Spanish version of the German company Sachs, or the French company Huret.
For $1800 you get a lot with the Aletta, and Orbea should be satisfied with what it has accomplished making this bike.
ORA
The $3000-and-up complete carbon bike category is the hottest thing going in triathlon. The Ora competes with the QR Seduza, Cervelo P2C, Trek Equinox TTX 9.5, Giant Trinity A0, Felt B2, and others as well-equipped carbon complete bikes selling between $3000 and $3500.
The Ora is the same frame shape as the Ordu, but with a different grade of carbon laid into its molds, and two cosmetic schemes from which to choose. A 105-equipped version will sell complete for $3110, and with Ultegra for $3475. Wheelset, crankset, brake calipers, all get upgraded as well, so it's worth the extra scratch to take the upgrade.
As for the frame's geometry, it's the same as the Ordu, so find our comments in our discussion of that bike.
ORDU
Orbea does not make custom bikes. But they make the most customizable production bikes you'll find anywhere. On Orbea's Made to Order site you can "build" your bike online and see what it's going to look like, weigh, and cost before you order it. And it comes quickly. Sweet. The only hitch is that the tri bikes aren't part of it. (Yet.) You can still get the bike in any of three colors, and any of three groupkits, and you can see what the bike looks like in each of these three colors, but you can't see your choice of frame and color with your choice of groupkit.
The Ordu, and the Ora above, are unequivocally Mediterranean in their geometries. Should one look at the Euskaltel Euskadi team's time trial positions, these riders typically sit further back and more "roadlike" than, say, the CSC riders aboard their P3Cs. When "Product Development, Production Management, Purchasing Management, Logistics, and the domestic and export Sales Managers" all negotiate a design, it's probably not going to reflect the specific quirks of the North American triathlon market. Nor should it.
But if you are one of those quirky North Americans, you have to ask yourself whether the Ordu is your geometry or not. Consider that Cervelo remade its carbon seat post for the 2007 season because the P2C and P3C were not steep enough in their most forward available adjustments. The Ordu is on the other side of the gradient from shallow to steep, with front/center dimensions to match the 74 and 76 degree seat angle options (the bike comes with two available seat posts). That said, 70.3 world beater Craig Alexander rides this bike, and Heather Gollnick was seen aboard it as well, so it certainly functions nicely for the right style of rider.
The Ordu is available for $4500 to $5400 with its Ultegra or Dura Ace groupkit respectively. There is a $6500 version with Zipp 404s that's its cost-no-object bike, though it still has FSA cranks as the lone non-Dura Ace part (it's a DA chain, cassette and calipers as well). One likes a complete Dura Ace gruppo, I think, if one goes to the trouble of buying DA on every other available component, wheels excepted.
Not to beat this horse to death but the smart play, if you're going to buy a bike this nice, is to first consider your style of riding. If you're a Cancellara/Zabriskie nose-rider, you'll want a Cervelo, or a Felt, or a custom QR TiPhoon or Guru Crono, or something of that ilk. If you rider further back ala the Chrisses (Lieto, Legh and McCormack), you're perfect for an Ordu, a Look 496, or maybe a Time RXR. If you fall in the middle any of these bikes (plus a QR Lucero, a Kuota Kalibur, or a Scott Plasma) will work for you. After you've decided upon your riding style, then you're ready to make a wise choice.
And for the right rider this Ordu is a wise choice. It's a smart-looking, expertly made, well-equipped bike at the right price.
