Orbea Gain E-Road Bike

azlawyer said:
I found a couple shops online in the U.K. to order from claiming end of June shipping. I’ll be over there then so I may just pick it up in person.
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Well done. But isn't flying back with it going to be problematic?
 
Hello Groupe- My M20i LTD just arrived last Wed. and I took a maiden ~16 mile commute to work Thursday!
Super fun off the line, great handling on the downhill. I rode mostly in lowest assist accept for hills where I clicked it up one.
Still 3/4 and in the 'green'.

I'm hoping someone has a good recommendation for speed/cadence sensor for the M20i Gain?
With the crank/frame distance so small, is there even a sensor magnet that will fit?
Other options?
I'm connecting to a Garmin 1000.

Regards,
-Mike
 
Ge
lapy said:
Hello Groupe- My M20i LTD just arrived last Wed. and I took a maiden ~16 mile commute to work Thursday!
Super fun off the line, great handling on the downhill. I rode mostly in lowest assist accept for hills where I clicked it up one.
Still 3/4 and in the 'green'.

I'm hoping someone has a good recommendation for speed/cadence sensor for the M20i Gain?
With the crank/frame distance so small, is there even a sensor magnet that will fit?
Other options?
I'm connecting to a Garmin 1000.

Regards,
-Mike
Click to expand...
Get a small round magnet and apply it to pedal spindle. Use a heavy duty double sided tape, if you have like me titanium spindles. I'm using a Bryton speed cadence sensor.
 
lapy said:
Hello Groupe- My M20i LTD just arrived last Wed. and I took a maiden ~16 mile commute to work Thursday!
Super fun off the line, great handling on the downhill. I rode mostly in lowest assist accept for hills where I clicked it up one.
Still 3/4 and in the 'green'.

I'm hoping someone has a good recommendation for speed/cadence sensor for the M20i Gain?
With the crank/frame distance so small, is there even a sensor magnet that will fit?
Other options?
I'm connecting to a Garmin 1000.

Regards,
-Mike
Click to expand...
I'm using a Garmin GSC10 sensor with a magnet on the end of the pedal spindle.
 
Rincon said:
I test rode an Orbea Gain today. I rode both the classic road version and the gravel grinder All Road model. Both were bottom of the line bikes, but with the same motor and battery as the higher level models. They are all disappointingly limited to 20 mph. The local dealer was only allocated these two bikes.

Both bikes are exceedingly stealthy and sexy. It is impossible to tell they are ebikes other than the small illuminated control button on the top tube. It is the only control on the bike—a fatal shortcoming. More on that later. The motor is in the rear hub, which is discreet. There are no visible wires. The pleasing aesthetics are undeniable. The 250Wh battery is hidden away in the small down tube. On appearance alone these are sleek, standard road bikes.

The aluminum road model was fully charged but unfortunately the motor didn’t work. I rode it around the block, then the dealer took it out. It powered up, changed power levels, but never engaged the motor. Apparently it worked the day before.

The All Road model was outfitted with an off-road 1x crank and knobby tires. The motor worked. It is agile, lightweight at ~25 lbs, and fun to ride as far as it goes. Both come in aluminum and carbon fiber versions.

The problem starts with changing power levels. It reminds me of the original Specialized Turbo Levo eMTB. The power level button was located out of sight on the side of the down tube—dangerously requiring one hand off the handlebars to blindly change levels. Who would design that into a mountain bike?

Orbea takes reckless to the next level. On the Gain you change the power level by briefly pressing the top tube button, waiting for it to blink, then within two seconds pressing it again. So one hand off the handlebars and both eyes off the road.

This cycles through low, medium, and high one at a time. To go from high back to medium, say after cresting a hill, you repeat this process three times. From high mode you take one hand off the handlebars, both eyes off the road, press the button, watch to see if it is blinking, then press again to turn the motor off. That’s right, off follows high. You’ve just turned the motor off. Now repeat the process twice more to move from off to low and from low to medium. I found this completely unworkable and dangerous, having to look down at the top tube with one hand off the handlebar keying in an obscure sequence of push button Morse code.

Aside from the terrible user interface, the bike was underpowered. Orbea markets the bike for those who want to feel the road, essentially making a feature out of the lack of power. Does anyone buy an ebike and not want to feel the power? Maybe. No one I know. I found the Orbea Gain slow off the line, plodding on hills, and feeling lively only in a small cadence/speed sweet spot.

I’m not sure who will be happy with the Gain. Experienced ebikers demand safe, informative controls along with power which the Gain just does not deliver. Aging roadies with creaky knees will need usable power, not just stealth for their egos.

The Orbea Gain is a self-loathing e-road bike v1.0. It is the victim of roadie navel gazing, deep philosophizing about stealth, fretting over the 28 mph speed limit, and justifying low power by purporting to put “you” into the ebike. In reality the Gain’s frustrating design won’t please anyone looking for a fun way to combine the freedom of ebike speed, range, and acceleration with a light weight and agile road bike. Roadie bike manufacturers need to get over themselves and uncork a full fledged e-road bike that isn’t ashamed of its genetics. Specialized did it with the Turbo Levo v2. I went to the bike shop today to buy an Orbea Gain. Instead I’ll wait for v2.
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Not my experience! I've had my Orbea Gain D130 (2018 model) for about a month and it's great. Loads of power (big hills where we live in s. France) and, so far, I haven't needed to go above the lowest power level. I use assistance only on hard climbs and can't imagine why anyone would need the motor to go any faster! I've easily gone well over 50 kph (downhill, obviously) and am riding uphill as fast as I want - which means not making my OH on his Cannondale wait for me at the top of each climb. In fact, he has to work to keep up sometimes.
I don't need to look at the button to turn the motor on or off and, when I tried the next level of power to see what would happen, I didn't need to look at it, either. I love the way it rolls, how the gears change, how it feels, how it looks, how fast it charges and how long the battery lasts. The price is more than reasonable. I have only a tiny complaint - my right foot brushes the frame on the outside of the hub, but I've got used to keeping it slightly further out.
 
Languedoc cyclist said:
Not my experience! I've had my Orbea Gain D130 (2018 model) for about a month and it's great. Loads of power (big hills where we live in s. France) and, so far, I haven't needed to go above the lowest power level. I use assistance only on hard climbs and can't imagine why anyone would need the motor to go any faster! I've easily gone well over 50 kph (downhill, obviously) and am riding uphill as fast as I want - which means not making my OH on his Cannondale wait for me at the top of each climb. In fact, he has to work to keep up sometimes.
I don't need to look at the button to turn the motor on or off and, when I tried the next level of power to see what would happen, I didn't need to look at it, either. I love the way it rolls, how the gears change, how it feels, how it looks, how fast it charges and how long the battery lasts. The price is more than reasonable. I have only a tiny complaint - my right foot brushes the frame on the outside of the hub, but I've got used to keeping it slightly further out.
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As posted previously my experience also. Interesting about your right foot. Have same experience. I have been attributing to a messed up right knee and foot/leg alignment. Enjoy.
 
Zeek48 said:
As posted previously my experience also. Interesting about your right foot. Have same experience. I have been attributing to a messed up right knee and foot/leg alignment. Enjoy.
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I have the same problem. There is minimal clearance between the crank and the chainstays as compared to other bikes I own. I adjusted my cleats to prevent my heels from hitting the chainstays.
 
Languedoc cyclist said:
Not my experience! I've had my Orbea Gain D130 (2018 model) for about a month and it's great. Loads of power (big hills where we live in s. France) and, so far, I haven't needed to go above the lowest power level. I use assistance only on hard climbs and can't imagine why anyone would need the motor to go any faster! I've easily gone well over 50 kph (downhill, obviously) and am riding uphill as fast as I want - which means not making my OH on his Cannondale wait for me at the top of each climb. In fact, he has to work to keep up sometimes.
I don't need to look at the button to turn the motor on or off and, when I tried the next level of power to see what would happen, I didn't need to look at it, either. I love the way it rolls, how the gears change, how it feels, how it looks, how fast it charges and how long the battery lasts. The price is more than reasonable. I have only a tiny complaint - my right foot brushes the frame on the outside of the hub, but I've got used to keeping it slightly further out.
Click to expand...

I had same issue. Put a washer between pedal spindle and crank arm. Problem solved.
 
I can actually understand both points of view. I'm buying a Gain because I bike mainly for exercise and fun. I don't want the bike doing most of the work for me, I want to sweat, and to me the ebike part is more of a back-up since I have health issues. I like the feel and handling of a lighter bike and don't want a 50 pound bike or "fat" tires so the Gain sounds perfect. But I know there are lots of other people who want to go 28 mph or above, seem to like the feel of a heavy bike, and either can't or don't want to do a heavy workout - and a Gain type bike would be a horrible choice for them. The way I see it either choice beats having people driving huge SUVs while they text on their phone and pull into bike lanes, it's just a matter of people thinking about what's important to them.
 
MikeDee said:
I bought an M30 a few days ago and have a couple of rides on it. I rode 38 miles today and averaged 2 mph faster over the same ride I did last week on my road bike. Most of the ride was in the eco mode. Some of the hills were in the mid power mode, and the system was in no assist mode for a few miles too. At the end I was at 43% battery life; not too bad over a ride with rolling hills. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the bottle battery when it becomes available.

The speed at which the power assist cuts off is 20 mph; not 15 as reported above. This is in the US. In the EU it's 25 kph (15.5 mph). The power cutoff is not abrupt and it's difficult to tell at what speed above 20 mph it's actually occurring.

The bike is tubeless ready, but comes with tubes installed. It has room for 40mm wide tires and comes with 28mm wide tubeless tires. I'm thinking of getting wider tires to ride gravel and soften the ride. The wheels and tires are Mavic tubeless ready UST. This is about the best engineered tubeless system as the tires can be mounted and removed without tools and can be aired up without an air compressor.

The groupset is Shimano 105 11 speed mechanical with 105 disc brakes with 160mm rotors front and rear. It shifts and stops nicely. Gearing is 50x34 front and 11-32 rear. There's plenty of gearing over a wide range, even when you run out of electric power.

One thing I don't like is the chainstays are wide at the back. I'm duck footed so my heels hit the chainstays now and then. I'm going to have to adjust my cleats to prevent that. I can hear a little brake rotor rub on occasion when pedaling out of the saddle.

The motor is seamlessly integrated and very quiet. I could only hear it on climbs. I can detect no motor drag when power assistance is off, however the rear wheel doesn't spin as freely as an unpowered bike if you pick up the back of the bike and give the wheel a spin by hand. I haven't used the iPhone app much, other than to check the power level at the end of the ride. I'm thinking of getting a bar mount for my phone but I have a Garmin and it would probably drain my phone battery pretty quickly if there's a lot of screen time. From reading the information on the EVmotion website, the battery is supposed to have a USB output. It would be nice if Orbea would provide a way to tap into that to power a cell phone. The iOS app is impressive and sophisticated, but unfortunately currently not useful while riding without an external power source and holder for the phone.

I didn't have much problem with the power button out on the road changing power modes. It's not something that I need to do often. I'm sure I'll get more adept at it. I think I fumbled with it once when I was trying to cycle through several modes to go from moderate back to eco mode.

The bike has a thru axle at the front and nuts at the rear wheels. Make sure you carry a multi tool and it fits these fasteners so you can repair a flat out on the road.

The bike weighs about 25 pounds which means it pedals easily when the power assist is off or you run out of battery. It also handles like a regular road bike as it's not too heavy. It has endurance geometry and rides and handles nicely and has no toe overlap (I have the large sized frame).

As Greg LeMond once said, "It doesn't get any easier, you just go faster." That about sums up my experience. If you're looking for an easy ride, maybe a Class 3 bike would be better. But if you're looking for an ebike that's similar in weight and handling to your current road bike and that makes the climbs a lot easier, then this bike is a good choice.

Update 1/29/19. I've ridden the bike on a number of rides. I love it. Looking forward to getting the bottle battery so I can do longer rides. I find I'm using powered assistance on the flats as well as climbs; great for headwinds.
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I agree - I work almost as hard, but go a lot faster. My OH is a strong rider and he’s thrilled that I can now go as fast as he does. I LOVE my Orbea D30!
 
Solom01 said:
I can actually understand both points of view. I'm buying a Gain because I bike mainly for exercise and fun. I don't want the bike doing most of the work for me, I want to sweat, and to me the ebike part is more of a back-up since I have health issues. I like the feel and handling of a lighter bike and don't want a 50 pound bike or "fat" tires so the Gain sounds perfect. But I know there are lots of other people who want to go 28 mph or above, seem to like the feel of a heavy bike, and either can't or don't want to do a heavy workout - and a Gain type bike would be a horrible choice for them. The way I see it either choice beats having people driving huge SUVs while they text on their phone and pull into bike lanes, it's just a matter of people thinking about what's important to them.
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Well said!
 
Solom01 said:
Thanks guys. MikeDee, there are multiple places that will ship them on-line. Of course if something goes wrong I'll be hosed since there aren't any dealers anywhere near here. I actually rode one at a dealer when I was visiting someone in Atlanta, but they didn't really have the ability to ship it. Younggoldbloke, you're probably right. Since I'm in the US I don't think that he other brands are an option - it seems like most ebikes sold here tend to lean towards heavy, higher powered models which don't interest me. To be honest the model I test rode was a higher end model, I just liked the "feel" much better then the eGlide, but of course since it cost 3x as much it's hardly a fair comparison. Since there's a budget involved I was thinking that the cheaper models would maintain some of that feel and the fact that there's gearing as opposed to my single speed would allow me to find a sweet spot in terms of cadence. The problem with the eGlide for me is that the first level of assist is too low but the second and third levels are too high. But what you say makes sense. If the F30-D40 are only going to be fractionally lighter I'm probably better off just not bothering. I would be buying with the hope of eventually buying the water bottle battery if needed for longer rides - and I can't really count on that since they've been talking about it since 2018 with no product available yet.
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I bought my M20i from Glory cycles in Greenville SC - https://glorycycles.com/ Very good pricing and shipped to me in VA. Very easy assembly - just put on front wheel and mount bars onto stem. Talk with Clive or Andy
 
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