Orbea Wild M-Team long-term review – initial report

Built from Orbea’s OMR high modulus carbon fibre, the latest Wild’s frame uses less material while retaining strength and rigidity.

Developed by OOLab – Orbea’s research division linking on-trail performance with lab-based theory – the frame’s been stiffened up compared to its equivalent non-assisted bike to handle the extra forces created by the extra eMTB weight.

Custom battery mounts enabled Orbea to tune the bike's mass distribution to improve its ride, without increasing the frame’s weight over the outgoing model.

All the usual details are present and correct; there’s SRAM’s UDH, plenty of chain slap protection, a bottle mount, and a spin block headset, that stops the fork crowns from hitting the down tube by over-rotating.

Suspension

With 170mm of rear-wheel travel, the Wild’s a big hitter.

It uses the brand’s split pivot suspension design. The seatstay and chainstay pivot is concentric with the rear axle, a design claimed to reduce the impact of braking forces on suspension performance.

Anti-rise is low, so the suspension should be more likely to extend than compress when the rear brake is applied. This means it has the chance to remain more active.

Orbea has increased overall progression by upping the starting leverage. This has lowered the finishing ratios of the suspension, equating to what it claims should be more compliance off the top and better bottom-out resistance.

Anti-squat sits over 100 per cent at sag, meaning the suspension should resist bob when you’re pedalling.

Motor and battery

Fitted with Bosch’s Gen 5 Performance Line CX motor, the Wild M-Team boasts 85Nm of torque and 600w of peak power.

This is powered by a 750Wh battery, although Bosch’s slimmer 600Wh could be specced instead. The 250Wh PowerMore range extender can also be fitted.

The in-built top tube controller displays battery life, but if you want more data, a Kiox 300 screen can be fitted.

Specifications

Sitting one rung down from the top tier M-Team LTD, the M-Team still has a luxurious spec.

I took advantage of Orbea’s MyO customisation, choosing a murdered-out matt black paintjob, DH-casing tyres and a cheeky Fox Transfer Factory dropper post upgrade.

Aside from that, the rest of the Wild’s spec is standard.

That means Factory-level dampers front and rear; there’s a 170mm travel GRIP X2 38 up front and the Float X2 out back.

Cost-free customisation options include the OC carbon bars – I opted for the 35mm rise – and a 40mm stem.

One note: eagle-eyed readers will spot an XTR derailleur and shifter. These aren’t on Orbea’s upgrade list, but I was informed they were fitted due to stock issues with the XT units it should come with – winner!

All-in, my size large Orbea Wild M-Team weighs 23.92kg without pedals. That’s light for a gravity sled.

The Wild is a faster, harder, go-further bike, and its demeanour lives up to its on-paper figures.

Big 29in wheels, 170mm front and rear travel, and enduro-focused geometry make a bike that wants to go fast downhill.

That suits me perfectly. While I’m not the world’s fastest nor most skilled rider, there’s something wonderful about riding downhill on a bike that’s well and truly up to the job – and my initial impressions highlight the Wild as just that.

The suspension’s taut, active and responsive; pushing, pumping and driving the wheels into the ground accelerates the Wild down the trail with high-speed precision.

It’s easy to exit a boring, flat section of trail with more spend than when you entered it, even without relying on the powerful Bosch motor.

But that doesn’t mean it’s lacking smoothness. Pummel over sharp, square-edged roots or unforgiving rock gardens and the rear end’s eager to move into its travel, absorbing all those destabilising bumps.

These two traits – support and smoothness – comfortably live side-by-side. The progressive suspension kinematics dish out each quality in spades.

Finding extra performance

I’ll concede, however, it’s not quite as stuck to the floor as Santa Cruz’s new Bullit.

The occasional step, hidden rock, root or other unspotted hard-hitting object can reverberate through its chassis, unable to be absorbed by the suspension.

Where the Bullit would simply gloss over this, the Wild generates more feedback.

I’ll admit I’m not comparing apples with apples here.

The Bullit’s got a Horst-link suspension layout, compared to the Wild’s split pivot / single pivot design, and the former is also running the latest Fox Float X2 shock, and the Wild is on the previous generation.

But my first few descents on the Wild were littered with PRs, so while there’s maybe some extra performance to be eked out, I’m not on the hunt yet.

Uphill comfort

Switch to the climbs and the Gen 5 Bosch Performance Line CX motor feels excellent.

It’s impressively smooth and is tuned to deliver more power the harder you pedal. It feels fantastic, despite no longer holding the crown as the most impressive motor on the market.

But battery life from the 750Wh unit is truly awesome.

Using just eMTB mode with a few short stints in Turbo, I managed to clock 1,790m of ascent (and descent) on a single charge, riding 34.23km in 2 hours 27 seconds – that’s seriously impressive.

The geometry plays its part here, too.

A steep seat tube angle and generously tall front-end frame this as the archetypal winch and plummet bike.

Your weight is focused through your sit bones rather than your hands, and long days in the saddle – or very quick, high intensity blasts – are dispatched without the bike breaking a sweat.

So far, the Wild’s an impressive machine and is living up to my expectations perfectly.