2024 Orbea Rallon
Wheel Size: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ or 29’’ rear
Travel: 167 mm rear / 170 mm front
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.5° / 64°
- Seat tube angle: 77° / 77.5°
- Reach: 480 / 485 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay length: 440 mm
Frame Material: Carbon fiber
Complete Bike Prices: $5,299 to $10,999
Intro
The Rallon has been in Orbea’s lineup for quite some time, serving as their longest-travel, most Enduro-oriented offering. We were big fans of the prior-generation bike but found it to be notably quick handling, lively, and less planted and stable than average for a modern Enduro bike. The last Rallon felt totally coherent in that niche — and there’s very much a place for that sort of versatile take on an Enduro bike. But now there’s a new version of the Rallon, and Orbea’s describing it as more stable, more composed at speed, and generally just “more bike.”
The tweaks that Orbea has made definitely look to push the Rallon in that direction, but they also look to be more of a modest refresh than a massive overhaul — so what exactly has Orbea changed, and what does the end result look like?
The Frame
The new Rallon frame has very similar lines to the outgoing model, and the general feature set is quite similar, too. The Rallon is offered only with a carbon fiber frame and uses Orbea’s typical suspension layout (a linkage-driven single pivot with the swingarm-seatstay pivot located concentric to the rear dropout, a-la Split Pivot and Trek’s ABP). In the new Rallon, it produces 167 mm of rear-wheel travel (up from 160 mm on the prior-generation bike) via a 230 x 62.5 mm shock. Two different shock extenders, both of which are included with the Rallon, toggle between the mixed wheel and full 29’’ configurations, with the 29er shock extender featuring a flip chip to tweak the geometry slightly; the mixed-wheel version forgoes the flip chip and produces geometry that’s nearly identical to the 29er configuration in the low setting (more on that in a minute).
The main features of the new Rallon mostly carry over from the previous version. Cable routing is fully internal (but not through the headset, in contrast to the new Occam SL and Occam LT), with guide tubes to direct it through the full length of the frame, including at the junction between the front and rear triangles. Orbea says they’ve updated the silicone seals at the cable ports to keep water and gunk out. The Rallon’s pivot bearings also feature secondary seals built into the pivot hardware to help keep things running smoothly.
The Rallon still gets Orbea’s “LOCKR” downtube storage and magnetically-stowed multi-tool (3, 4, and 5 mm Allen keys + a T25 Torx) in the rocker link, plus a 6 mm Allen and valve core tool in the rear axle handle. The bottom bracket shell is threaded, and the rear brake mount takes a 180 mm rotor directly. The geometry-adjusting flip chip (on the 29’’ shock extender) uses a single bolt to swap settings but unfortunately doesn’t get the slick new half-turn, no-disassembly version from the new Occam LT.
Orbea also (rightly) highlights the especially good seatpost insertion on the Rallon — its seat tube is straight and uninterrupted, which leaves room to bottom out a 200 mm dropper post to the collar in even the Small frame.
Fit & Geometry
The geometry of the new Rallon is very similar to that of the outgoing one — the headtube angle has been slackened by 0.5° and that’s about it as far as changes go. It’s offered in four sizes, Small through XL, all of which get 440 mm chainstays, a 63.5° headtube angle, 77° effective seat tube angle, and reach ranging from 430 to 505 mm in 25 mm increments. Those numbers are for the 29’’ wheel configuration in the low setting; going to the mixed-wheel configuration shortens the chainstays by a couple of millimeters but leaves everything else the same, and going to the 29’’ wheeled high position steepens both angles by 0.5° and adds about 5 mm to the reach while reducing the bottom bracket drop from 35 mm to 28 mm.
That may not be much of a change compared to the outgoing Rallon, but those are still nice, modern numbers for an Enduro race bike these days — Orbea doesn’t seem to be messing with a good thing too much, and we’re certainly not complaining. It is interesting how similar the Rallon’s numbers are to not just the prior-generation version, but also the new Occam LT that they launched last week — that bike’s numbers are nearly identical to those of the outgoing Rallon, so it makes sense that Orbea has slackened out the headtube angle on the new Rallon a little to better differentiate the two.
The Builds
Orbea offers the Rallon in five different builds, ranging from $5,299 to $10,999. As per usual for Orbea, they all feature Fox suspension but there are a couple of SRAM T-Type builds in the mix now, in contrast to the all-Shimano options on the prior-generation Rallon.
Orbea’s OC Mountain Control MC21 dropper post now comes with up to 230 mm of drop, and all the Rallon builds can be customized through Orbea’s MYO configurator to swap out different length seatposts and stems, and a variety of other upgrade options. The details vary based on the build tier you’re starting from; check out their website for the details. Custom paint is also available for an upcharge.
Here are the highlights for all the Rallon builds:
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX w/ Deore chain and Race Face Aeffect Crank
- Brakes: Shimano Deore 4-piston
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Wheels: Race Face AR30
- Dropper Post: OC Mountain Control MC21
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT w/ SLX chain and Race Face Turbine Crank
- Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Wheels: Oquo Mountain Control MC32 Team w/ DT Swiss 350 hubs
- Dropper Post: OC Mountain Control MC21
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Code Bronze
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Wheels: Oquo Mountain Control MC32 Team w/ DT Swiss 350 hubs
- Dropper Post: OC Mountain Control MC21
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT w/ SLX chain and Race Face Era crank
- Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory
- Shock: Fox Float X Factory
- Wheels: Oquo Mountain Control MC32 Team w/ DT Swiss 350 hubs
- Dropper Post: Fox Transfer Factory
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Code Ultimate
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory
- Shock: Fox Float X Factory
- Wheels: Oquo Mountain Control MC32 LTD carbon rims w/ DT Swiss 350 hubs
- Dropper Post: Fox Transfer Factory
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The prior-generation Rallon was an especially sharp-handling, lively take on a 160mm-travel Enduro bike. The tweaks Orbea has made to the new one look to make it more stable and composed at speed, but is that borne out on trail, and how different is the new bike from the version it replaces?
(2) As many Enduro bikes have gotten longer, slacker, and more stable in recent years, where does the new Rallon wind up on that spectrum, relative to its other competitors?
(3) And does the new Rallon stand out for its pedaling performance as thoroughly as the prior-generation bike did?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The new Orbea Rallon looks like a minor refinement of the outgoing model rather than a dramatic overhaul, but as big fans of the old one, we’re not complaining. We’d bet on the new Rallon still being a notably efficient, lively, sharp-handling take on a modern Enduro bike, just one that’s a touch more stable and planted than the prior-generation model, but we’ll have to get on one to find out.
Love mine (‘23 model) but would be curious to understand if they’ve addressed any of:
* General rattle and noise
* Wobbly LOCKR lid when loaded up with a water bottle – poss a source of noise, but also reported by some, to cause wear over time
* 28t chainring support
As far as I can see the only changes are the longer shock stroke, 60 to 62.5mm. The 2022/23 models were already 167mm compatible according to the blue paper.
I’m not sure how they’ve made the head angle slacker though, perhaps the shock yoke is slightly different or there’s some creative measuring going on?
I had the same thought, but Orbea says it really is a new frame — I specifically asked. They evidently didn’t feel the need to change all that much, but we really liked the prior-gen one and are certainly proponents of not fixing what isn’t broken.
Interesting that they confirmed it’s a new frame. I’ve just bought a 2023 m20 and keen to put a coil on it… Possibly with the longer stroke shock, I know it’s been done.