Orbea Gain M20i Review and Video

[yungleen]

Hello everyone,

After not being able to ride my new bike for 6+ weeks due to a broken foot, I have been going out on the bike almost every day and have put over 100 miles on so far. Overall I love the bike. I am getting 10wh/mi or better from the battery. I get just over 10wh/mi on a ride up a mountain with over 2,000 feet of elevation gain using the max power assist level the whole time on a 15 mile ride. When I mix in time with level 1, I am doing even better. So I think the battery life is pretty impressive. I am still getting a good workout and as my foot feels better, I am going to try to stay mostly in level 1. The bike has been great to keep pressure off of my foot as I recover.

My speed has increased by 50% on all rides so far. On the 15 mile ride up the mountain and back, I did 15mph where I normally do 10mph. On a more normal ride without the mountain, I am doing 18mph vs 12mp previously. That is on max assist.

I like the geometry of the bike and it is a comfortable ride. I find it easy to change the assist level while riding and I don't change it often anyway. This is my first carbon bike, e-bike, and bike w di2 shifting.

A couple things I don't like. I would prefer rim brakes just for the simplicity. I don't see a huge difference using disc brakes anyway and just find them a hassle. When the motor cuts out while coasting it sort of brakes the bike. I just try to keep the pedals spinning more but it is slightly annoying. Also would prefer a mid drive motor I think so easier to take on and off tires but then the bike wouldn't look so good I suppose.

Here is a video of me riding the bike up and down the local mountain. I am getting a squeaking sound that sounds like it is from the front wheel. Anyone know what that could be?

 

[TouchingCloth]

Great video, great views. I am pretty sure the squeak from the front is the pads just catching the disc. Mine did this from new and took me a while to adjust out completely. Still returns occasionally after a heavy breaking session. As pads wear you get more clearance, though the brake pistons take up most of this automatically.
I needed to manually align the brake caliper for optimum clearance, rather than the recommended loosen the caliper, apply the brake and tighten the caliper.
Ther was a fraction more travel on one piston more than the other,so I compensated for this by using a set feeler gauges to slightly offset the pads and ensurevthey applied pressure evenly.

I also notice a little drag when coasting, its more prominent for me when dropping from high to no, or level 1 assistance. Ist like the brakes are being gently applied. Its certainly not fatigue as some have suggested as extra effort has no effect.
There is no such feeling if the bike is ridden with the power completely off, but that said, the free wheel stops in seconds compared to a normal freewheel that would spin for quite some time.
Suggestions of back peddling etc. Don't cut the feeling of drag for me

 

[yungleen]

Great video, great views. I am pretty sure the squeak from the front is the pads just catching the disc. Mine did this from new and took me a while to adjust out completely. Still returns occasionally after a heavy breaking session. As pads wear you get more clearance, though the brake pistons take up most of this automatically.
I needed to manually align the brake caliper for optimum clearance, rather than the recommended loosen the caliper, apply the brake and tighten the caliper.
Ther was a fraction more travel on one piston more than the other,so I compensated for this by using a set feeler gauges to slightly offset the pads and ensurevthey applied pressure evenly.

I also notice a little drag when coasting, its more prominent for me when dropping from high to no, or level 1 assistance. Ist like the brakes are being gently applied. Its certainly not fatigue as some have suggested as extra effort has no effect.
There is no such feeling if the bike is ridden with the power completely off, but that said, the free wheel stops in seconds compared to a normal freewheel that would spin for quite some time.
Suggestions of back peddling etc. Don't cut the feeling of drag for me

Thanks. I have determined the sound is actually coming from the rear. It is either brake or motor. I wonder if I could do the loosen caliper trick w a business card on each side of the rotor when closing brakes so that it gives some more room?

Yes I only notice that braking when assist is on and more noticeable from max assist.

Could the squeaking be coming from the motor or rear hub or something?

 

[TouchingCloth]

OK, so I also had the same issue with the rear caliper too. Nailed it down to the brakes on mine due to the noise happening at the same points in the rotation, it was if the disc was slightly warped, though it appeared to run true to the naked eye.
Sound was a scuff when rotated by hand but a squeak when riding, often worse after heavy braking.

This was a little more difficult to resolve as there was not enough adjustment available to line up the pads equally. The problem was the rear caliper mounting holes would not let me get enough clearance on the wheel side. Pushing it as far as possible, one of the holes seemed offset from the other, not allowing me to line up the inside pad parallel to the disc. I ended up using a needle file to open up the slot to allow the caliper/pad to sit parallel with greater clearance that side.
May not be your issue of course but may help

 

[yungleen]

OK, so I also had the same issue with the rear caliper too. Nailed it down to the brakes on mine due to the noise happening at the same points in the rotation, it was if the disc was slightly warped, though it appeared to run true to the naked eye.
Sound was a scuff when rotated by hand but a squeak when riding, often worse after heavy braking.

This was a little more difficult to resolve as there was not enough adjustment available to line up the pads equally. The problem was the rear caliper mounting holes would not let me get enough clearance on the wheel side. Pushing it as far as possible, one of the holes seemed offset from the other, not allowing me to line up the inside pad parallel to the disc. I ended up using a needle file to open up the slot to allow the caliper/pad to sit parallel with greater clearance that side.
May not be your issue of course but may help

Oh geez. Hopefully I can figure out an easy fix or I may have to take to the shop.

 

[MikeC89]

Really enjoyed your video, that ride looks awesome, I need to find a nice one like that in the Bay Area.

I was also making some comparisons of your M20i to my M20i I just picked up, I was curious if there were any differences. I was pleasantly surprised when my bike came in that the shop installed the Di2 junction box in the bar end (you can see it on the left bar), I was expecting the box under stem but thought that was cool the shop did it this way. Out of habit I usually grab the stem when moving my bike so was glad about this. I guess they leave it to bike shop discretion as to how it'll be installed.

Also, I didn't get a clear shot of your stem but it looked different from mine, did you swap yours out? The steering tube on mine seems to be more aero for 2020, my 2019 M30 I traded in was different. You'll also notice in the pic that I'm using the out-front Garmin mount that came with the bike, I had the shop go ahead and install it but it's not very good in my opinion and I'm going to put my own back on. Orbea's mount sags down from the weight of the Garmin so it's not as easy to view, plus it wobbles, either the shop didn't install it right or it's just that bad. Either way I'm removing it and going back to my own mount.

As far as the bike computer they included with the bike, I'll probably leave it on as it does make switching assist modes a lot easier than using the iwoc, no need to look down at all. But that's all I use it for, since the Garmin does the rest as well as show bike battery life and assist mode I'm in.
Did you shoot video with GoPro (if so which one)?, my son just got the Hero8 and the hypersmooth is amazing, as if it's on a gimbal.

 

[yungleen]

Thanks, glad you liked the video. There must be lots of nice hilly rides out there right?

Ya, the junction box in the bar end is really cool. Maybe one day I will have that done when I replace bar tape or something, but for now doesn't bother me. I love the colors on your bike, it looks awesome.

My stem came with the bike when I bought it from jensonusa. I'll attach some pictures.

I use the gopro 7 black. The hypersmooth is great, and I think it is even better on the 8. If you look at the top of my stem, there is room there to mount the gopro and it captured the handlebars in the shot which I like. I also have a chest mount that would work but it would capture more of your arms in the shot. I use my garmin forerunner watch to track the ride. You can use the data from the ride with a free software, dashware, and add a speedometer and ride stats if you want. You can see it in my other video.

 

[cj3209]

Your Orbea Gain M20i looks really nice. Makes me a bit jealous as my Pinarello Dyodo Road has SRAM Force 22 which I don't like and would have paid more to get Ultegra Di2.

For me, the Dyodo seems a bit quieter from the video and I don't notice any drag whether the hub motor is on or off. I installed a small connector that increases the max mph speed to around 22 mph but the PLUS is really a decrease in the hub motor on/off feel which is a bit of a jolt for me and is a reminder that I'm on an eBike. Now, I don't notice the motor going on/off at all, especially at the max speeds.

Otherwise, the Dyodo is an amazing bike. I am having some rear disc rubbing and the business card alignment trick worked, for the most part although I may need additional adjustments.

Cheers!