Bicycles

On test: Orbea Alma Gold Team

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Parent Category: Bicycles

Category: Orbea

Published on Monday, 23 May 2011 07:29

Written by Luca Salvatelli

One of the best XC bike

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Orbea Alma Gold Team is the top range of Orbea XC for the highest level, the bike of the champion Julien Absalon. Introduced last year it received updates for the 2011 season. The monocoque frame is made of high modulus carbon (in the version we tested, the Gold, while high modulus in the Silver version). The pipe section of the frame is sharp and with an accentuated sloping. Technology 4x4 (frame with 4 vertices) characterizes the aesthetics of the bike, very personal. The definition section of the tubes, allowed to obtain a high rigidity without increasing the weight of the same, while the particular shape of the rear triangle allows a high driving comfort without compromising the power transmission. The head tube is very short and contains bearings to 1 inch and 1/8. Large section of the tube that connects to a BB30 bottom bracket. The tube has a generous section and a sharp profile, as the rear triangle, with pipes from the generous section. The vertical pipe has a seatpost of 31.6 mm diameter. Very well done the wiring, called DCR, which allows for greater fluidity of the controls. The frame has a declared weight of 1050 grams and is provided in four sizes and two colours (blue and red). Each size has its own design, to improve and have a constant stiffness to weight ratio. The Gold Team Orca bike is then assembled with the group Sram XX complete with controls, brakes, crank 26/39, 11-36 sprockets, chain, front and rear derailleur. The fork is Rock Shox Sid XX, fully adjustable. Stem, aluminium, handlebar and seatpost, carbon fiber, are Orbea OC-III, while the saddle is Selle Italia SLR XC Gel Flow. The wheels are Mavic Crossmax SLR tubeless tires complete with Hutchinson Python Light 26x2 Tl. The pedals are Time Attack XS Carbon. Missing bottle cage. The so assembled in the size M bike weighs 8.8kg without pedals, as occurred with our instrumentation. From here you can customize the assembly using the "My Orbea" and even stem, crank length and width of the handlebars are differentiated according to size.