ORBEA RALLON

We have a fondness for bikes in the 150mm travel range. Perhaps it’s because we always come back to the postulate – what bike would we load for a mountain biking vacation if we could take only one? It would have to be stout, with a frame and components built for serious riding. We would want a bike that pedals up hills as well as it descends. It wouldn’t have to be as light as our cross-country hardtails, but we’d want it to respond efficiently when we’re really feeling like hammering down. These are all traits that describe the Orbea Rallon. And since it’s an alloy frame, you may have a few extra dollars left over for gas money to get you there.

The Rallon is the result of Orbea’s Advanced Dynamics modeling and research. The key element was that they designed the bike with the rider in mind, and their modeling and testing always included a virtual rider to exert forces on the frame the way you would as you ride the bike over all types of terrain.

The rear suspension relies on a swing link that hangs near the intersection of the top and seat tubes. The length of this linkage and placement of the pivots shapes a leverage rate curve that’s distinctly regressive at the top of the stroke and also at the very bottom. When charted on a graph, the rate curve looks like the Greek letter Lambda, hence its Lambda Link moniker. What you get at the saddle is a suspension that feels very much like a coil spring, with similar responsiveness to small bump input from the trail surface. As you bump through the middle of the stroke, the leverage rate becomes progressive. Coupled with the progressive spring rate curve in the Fox RP23 rear air shock, you’ll get a stiffer mid-stroke feel. It’s perfect for climbing up steep grades out of the saddle, and you’ll have its stability to depend on when you huck the Rallon off medium sized drops or as you push it hard into deep berms. As we said, the leverage rate regresses again towards bottom out, but here it works in contrast to the rapidly rising spring rate in the rear shock to soften the end of the stroke a bit and allow full travel over really big hits.

Orbea makes liberal use of advanced hydroforming technology to shape the triple-butted alloy tubes in the frame. And where their newer Occam uses carbon fiber, it’s a bike made for trail riding. The Rallon employs the TIG welded aluminum on the front triangle and for the rear suspension elements because it’s made to be a serious enduro bike. The durability and crash-proofness of the alloy frame is hard to dispute. And though it’s tough as nails, the butting process reduces the wall thickness away from the weld zones where the tubes can be thinner, and therefore lighter, to control the overall weight.

One place on the Rallon frame that remains inescapable to the eye is the front portion of the top tube and head tube. The aesthetic is the result of a drive towards steering stiffness. Since true enduro riding often pits a rider against the clock for timed downhill portions, the Rallon simply could not have a flexy, wandering front end. The upward arcing top tube increases the torsional stiffness of the front end, and the tapered head tube allows a larger lower bearing. This, in turn, creates room for a stiffer, tapered steerer on your fork. Orbea designed the Rallon to be perfectly compatible within a range of fork travel settings. If the goal is to build a lighter trail bike, use a 150mm fork with 32mm legs, and you’ll have a 68˚ head angle and steering that’s quick enough for even diehard XC folks. If you find yourself in burly terrain more often than not, use it with a 160mm fork and stiffer, 36mm legs. This way you’ll have the extra stability and inspiring feel of a 67˚ head angle.

Orbea ensures smooth suspension movement by using sealed cartridge bearings at every pivot location save for the point at which the seat stays attach to the dropouts. Here, bushings allow the small degree of angular rotation as the suspension compresses, yet they maintain absolute stiffness of the rear end as you stomp on the pedals. The Rallon uses a Fox RP23 XV rear air shock to tame the bumps out back. It’s been custom-valved by Fox to work in perfect harmony with the Lambda Link on the rear suspension.

The Orbea Rallon is available in four sizes from X-Small to Large, and it comes in two colors – Black/brown and White/black. The tapered head tube has an inside diameter of 44mm on top and 56mm on bottom. You’ll get an FSA tapered semi-integrated headset to match. It has an English threaded bottom bracket and ISCG ’05 tabs. It requires a 31.6mm seatpost and a 34.9mm high clamp/bottom pull front derailleur. Orbea designed it for use with full-length cable housing, and they run underneath the down tube through CNC machined aluminum clamps. The top tube features a routing option for a remote cable for a telescoping seatpost as well. The rear dropouts are configured here for a quick release rear wheel. All Orbea bicycle frames come with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defect.

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2012 Orbea Rallon Geometry