2014 Orbea Orca Bronze M30 Shimano Ultegra 48cm Carbon Anthracite MSRP $2800

This bike is still new in the box from 2016! We only have two and we are closing them out. If you love this bike as much as we do, you'd better hurry! GENERAL INFORMATION Orbea takes an unusual tack with their names. This is the Orbea Orca Bronze M30 bicycle with Shimano Ultegra 6800. The M stands for monocoque, so you know that it's a carbon-fiber frameset that came out of a mold. The 30 is for the second bike in the line. Bronze tells you that it has a slightly different geometry than their other road bikes. And Orca is for their road line. One look at the Orca Bronze and you know that aerodynamics played a part of the design. They came up with fast shapes through Aizone engineering. What's harder to see is that comfort plays an equally important part. This bike could have been more aero, but Orbea decided that they wanted to put a greater emphasis on compliance than they do with their other road bikes. While the tubes are shaped with the wind in mind, the sharp edges have been softened in order to eat up road vibrations. You see it in the way the downtube flattens by the bottom bracket and the top tube flattens by the seat tube juncture. You see it in their round 31.6 seat post. Most significantly, you see it in the splay of the seat stays. They call this Attraction, and the idea is that the shear action of the stays will absorb bumps. The M30 comes with mechanical Shimano Ultegra shifting, aka their eleven-speed 6800 line. Mechanical Ultegra might be the smartest buy in the Shimano lineup, with shaping and shifting that comes very, very close to the pro-level Dura-Ace, but at a workman's budget. The levers are sleek and comfortable, the shifting is light and crisp. The gearing is wide-ranging, with 50/34 rings and an 11-28 cassette. Where Orbea can, they specify their house brand parts. These are designed to compete with name-brand pieces, often come out of the same factory, but come in at a much better price. So you get a comfortable set of bars with a familiar anatomic bend. You get a light carbon-fiber seat post that helps with shock absorption. You get dual-pivot brakes that do an estimable job stopping. You get a solid set of aluminum-rimmed wheels that can take years of abuse. Orbea has also put some time and thought into future-proofing their bikes. This Orca comes with EC/DC cable routing. It stands for Electronic Circuit/Direct Cable, and it's how you can route either inside the frame and aren't stuck to one or the other. They also built the frame with the BB30 bottom bracket standard because everyone should have the option of 30mm thru-axle cranks (and you're not held back by the adapters employed with Shimano cranks; they're still lighter). And they back their framesets with a lifetime warranty. The Orbea Orca Bronze M30 with mechanical Shimano Ultegra is a mouthful to say, but a pleasure to ride. FRAME: Orbea Monocoque Evolution Carbon FORK: ORBEA ORCA BRONZE CRANKSET: Shimano Ultegra 6800 34x50t BC4748XQ