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“The many faces of joy” is the tagline Orbea came up with for its last e-road platform, the Gain. It’s an e-bike suited to those of us who prefer the smoother stuff, and when I tested it, I found it a superb machine out on the roads. But it’s not this new Orbea Denna gravel e-bike.
The Orbea Gain is an e-road bike that I highly rate. Its Mahle X20 motor has seen some tinkering with by the good folks at Orbea; they have tuned it to how they think it should perform, and it has impressed. It has a smooth, snappy, and natural feel. It doesn’t fault or confuse under a burst of solid effort. It also surprised me that when you go above the legal assisted speed, you don’t feel that cut-off drag that you can with many e-bike motors.
When launched, the Gain offered a few build options that leaned toward gravel. It was not a true out-and-out gravel machine, but it came with gravel tires and gearing for pavé and dusty roads. In that iteration, I found it to fumble with power delivery on the gravel due to the choppy nature you apply when riding on gravel. It was good, but it didn’t scream e-gravel; it was more a canal path, dusty road, and broken tarmac bike.
But things have changed at Orbea; that Gain with the gravel-ish build isn’t what you’d be looking at now if you want to tackle the dirt. Instead, Orbea has launched an all-new bike, the Denna, a bike designed from the ground up to be Orbea’s thoroughbred e-gravel bike.
When Orbea invited me to its new e-gravel launch, I was expecting a Gain with a few gravel updates. Maybe a new Mahle motor tweaked to take on the gravel, or a frame with a touch more clearance — you know, an update rather than an overhaul. But was I wrong?
The Denna is a new machine from the ground up, and from first inspections, it looks like Orbea has put in the hard work. Orbea has borrowed tech from its e-MTBs and lessons learned from both the e-road and e-MTB platforms. Let’s delve in.
Build details
Let us start with the motor, arguably the heart of an e-bike. Instead of partnering with Mahle as it did for the Gain, Orbea decided to have a mid-mount motor and, on this occasion, partnered with Shimano.
It’s not a straight-from-the-box Shimano EP8 motor, however. Instead, it’s been tuned by Orbea. It’s classed as the Shimano RS Gen2 RC, a motor it has previously used on their Rise MTB model. Much like Gain’s Mahle X20 motor, Orbea has tweaked how it performs to deliver a ride feel that it thinks fits with the terrain it believes this bike will be taken on.
Orbea is using the Shimano mid-mount motor over the Mahle hub-based motor this time due to the increased number of sensors it packs in, something that should help eliminate the stuttery power transfer issue I found the Gain had with riding on gravel.
There are two pre-configured profiles: GR and GR Plus. GR offers the most natural ride feel and the longest range (more on this in a moment). It’s designed to work best on smoother surfaces where maintaining a higher cadence is possible. Then there is the GR Plus profile, which Orbea says for looser surfaces, offering more torque at a lower cadence. Each of these profiles has three different levels of assistance: Eco, Trail, and Boost.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, here’s the breakdown of the motor name jargon: the RS stands for rider Synergy. The Gen 2 part is what you’d expect: the second generation of the RS firmware. RC is short for Rider Control.
The output speed differs for each territory (EU 25kph / UK 20mph / USA 28mph ), but the motor offers up to 85 Nm of assistance across the board with a peak power of 350 watts.
Something I love about the Gain is the smooth power cut-off that is nearly unnoticeable once you surpass the assisted speed. Let’s hope the Shimano motor and tuning work as well as the Mahle X20 did in this regard.
Orbea claims that the Denna’s battery offers the most punch for its weight. In other words, its claim to fame is the most energy-dense per gram on the market, a claimed 16% more than others. The battery sits in the down tube, weighs 1.95kg, and offers 420Wh. The range is calculated in meters climbed, and Orbea claims you’ll get 3,500 meters out of the battery.
If that isn’t enough for you, there is also a range extender. This offers an extra 210Wh, weighs 1.05kg, and is smaller than a standard water bottle. Though it does have a proprietary cage, there’s no worry about losing its function if you don’t carry the battery, as it still holds a standard water bottle. Phew!
Charging is via a weather-sealed port above the bottom bracket.
To control all this, and with the motor coming from the MTB side of the cycling world, there is unfortunately no drop bar specific shifter, so it’s not the sleekest of controls on the bars. But fear not; if you opt for the Shimano Ultegra Di2 or Dura-Ace Di2 build, you’ll be able to control the motor and its functions from the left-hand STI shifter.
Frame
On to the frame. What first jumps out is the fact that Orbea isn’t using its highest-end carbon, OMX, on any of the Denna models. From the €9,999 offering right down to the base model, they share the OMR carbon. We’re told that Orbea feels that the OMR carbon provides the right level of comfort for a gravel bike, whereas the OMX is more race/performance-oriented. From riding several different Orbea road bikes in both the OMX layup and OMR layup, I can understand why Orbea has gone down this route.
Though the OMR carbon is heavier, it’s not going to be a deal-breaker. I wouldn’t have thought; after all, this is an e-bike; they are not the lightest machines on the market. Along with using mid-range carbon for its “comfort” qualities, the frame has a bunch of curves and swoops built into the frame.
Just look at it; it’s nearing Pinarello-level curviness for “absorption points.”
These are there to help soak up the lateral hits on the rougher roads it’ll be taken on, but they shouldn’t hinder vertical stiffness. It’s something I loathe to write about in any bike review. In today’s age, where we’re generations into carbon layups and frame shapes, I’m expecting what Orbea claims. We will find out once I throw a leg over it.
As for weight, this obviously depends on the size and build, but we’re looking at a range of 13.3kg to 16kg.
Tire clearance is a healthy 50c, plus an extra 5mm for mud clearance, so if you ride on dry yet un-tameable surfaces, I’m sure you can push that clearance just a little.
As for cable routing, I’ll either upset people here or not because, as you’d expect in today’s day and age, it is indeed fully internally routed. From personal experience Orbea’s ICR routing is one of the better ones on the market for when you need to tinker with a bit of maintenance.
Mounting points are a must for any self-respecting gravel bike, and the Deena has a healthy dose of bosses for both fenders and bottles. There are no rack mounts on the fork, but you do get two bottle cage mounts and bosses under the top tube for a bag.
Geometry
Geometry isn’t anything wild. I think we’ve hit a sweet spot with what the customers expect now, and the Denna fits into that camp. The now rather standard long top tube and short stem set are present, with a low standover height. The bottom bracket height is 284.5 or 286.5mm, depending on the size.
Chainstay length is 425mm for all sizes, and with a 74.5 to 73-degree seat angle, again dependent on size, there is also a size-tuned fork trail. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it looks well thought out for the job at hand.
Build options
In total, there are six models available, and as mentioned, they all share the same frameset. The lowest-priced option is the M30 which comes with the Shimano Cues / GRX RX610 group, Orbea’s in-house Oquo Road Control RC25PR wheels and has a retail price of €5,499 / $5,599 / £5,199.
M20 comes with a full Shimano GRX RX820 group set, bar the Shimano Steps EM600 cranks that each of these bikes comes equipped with. It has Oquo Road Control RC25PRO wheels and a retail price of €5,899 / $5,999 / £5,699
The M31e is built using SRAM Rival AXS XPLR. It shares the same wheels as the M20 and M30 and costs €6,999 / $6,999 / £6,399.
The M20i is your Shimano Ultegra Di2 option, with a Shimano XT Di2 M8150 12s SGS Shadow Plus rear derailleur. The wheels are the Oquo Road Control RC25TEAM. Price: €7,599 / $7,599 / £7,299.
The M11e is the top-of-the-range SRAM build, using SRAM’s red AXS XPLR groupset and, again, Oquo Road Control RC25TEAM wheels. It costs €9,999 / $9,999 / £8,999.
Lastly, the top option for Shimano fans is also €9,999 /$9,999 / £8,999. It has a Shimano Dura-Ace/ XT Di2 build and Oquo Road Control RC25TEAM wheels.
There are six sizes available in total, and like many of Orbea’s bikes, the Denna is available through Orbea’s custom program, MyO, where you can chop and change parts as well as customize the paint scheme. Just be warned, you’ll spend more time than necessary playing about with the myriad color options.
There’s one in my garage
If you’ve got this far and are expecting a first-ride review, I’m going to disappoint you. Unfortunately, I fell ill prior to the presentation for this bike (blame the kids; they’re like Petri dishes once they head to school), so there’s no first ride review yet. That said, I have received the bike and will have an extensive review coming shortly.
Even with my limited time, my first impressions are positive. It looks like a clean, well-thought-out bike with nothing to really dislike about it. We will only find out if the claims that Orbea makes about it are true once I get out and give it some power.
Gallery
