Orbea Gain, love it!
I have been riding for 12 years, started late at 56 through racing triathlons. For the last 5 years my ride has been a Fuji gran fondo 1.3, carbon, ultegra Di2. I ride every week once or twice, sometimes more. The problemis that my wife is a stronger rider, 9 years younger, super athletic and 40lbs lighter than me, therefore when we climb she is much faster, I suffer to keep un and end up not enjoying the climbs. After a lot or research just bought the Orbea Gain, carbon Di2. We live in the SM Mountains, and we are surrounded by iconic rides, Piuma, Latigo, Stunt, Rockstore, to get out and ride you need to climb something. Of the bat, the first day I rode, badly fit and with the saddle that came with the bike we went on a 22 miles ride, part of it was going up Stunt which is a steady hard climb of 4 miles. Normally I do it in about 45 minutes, this time it took me 33. I was able to keep with my wife and pass her if I wanted to. I am using ONLY the lowest assist power, green level. My interest is range rather than power, I do not want to power up the mountain, for that I have a motorcycle, I want a road bike that looks like a road bike and helps me climb. After a couple of rides took it to a bike store and got fitted. I shortened the stem and changed the saddle to an ISM I am comfortable on. Yesterday we went on our long ride so far (with the Gain). Using only the green level we did 42 miles with an elevation gain of 3,300’. When we got back my phone app showed still 53% of battery left, which means that I can go on an 80 miles ride, climb over 6,000 feet, and still get home with some juice left.
The gain is just like a nice regular road bike, sleek and pretty. I love the disk brakes and going downhill handles exceptionally well, the rear tire does not bounce, and the bike feels quick and responsive. The humming g of the motor is very low, when you hear it is because it is helping you climb, and I do not mind the help at all. I love the fact that does not come with a cockpit of lights and switches, one button controls everything and you cycle between the levels of assistance, I have my phone holder on my handlebar and the app tells me speed, level of assistance and power being generated and more.
My only problem is that the motor shuts off at 15 miles and not at 20 as advertised. I have contacted Orbea and it seems that I need to take it to an Orbea dealer for a firmware upgrade. I will follow up with how that goes, but otherwise, my challenging rides have become much more fun.
