While we had the chance to visit and ride the new Orcas & Avant in the hills around Orbea’s Basque home base, we also got a sneak peek at the new gravel bike that the company has been working on for some time. Dubbed the Terra, it is the culmination of few years of development after they hadn’t produced a cyclocross bike. It brings back that cross name, but hopes to bridge over to the rapidly growing gravel side as well. They way Orbea saw it, most people who were riding their previous cross bikes were putting in a lot of saddle time away from CX courses, so they wanted to develop a bike that would bridge that gap better. They’ve already taken the race-ready Orca and given it disc brakes and improved tire clearance for a bit of rougher surface riding. They’d already taken the race geometry of the Orca and adapted it for longer days in the saddle and a bit more comfort in the Avant. Now it was time to take those lessons further off-road while keeping that quick Orbea ride and stiff power transfer…
It has been about three years since the Terra name was last seen on Orbea’s canti-equipped carbon cross bike, being raced by the women’s Luna pro team. Orbea stopped production to focus on other segments, but with a crossover to gravel has chosen to reenter the fray with this all-new bike.
The new Terra is making its debut today as the doors open on Interbike in Vegas, but we had a chance to have a quick look at this disguised bike ahead of the show. The bike was developed around the idea of versatility, and you can sense that when Orbea talks about the bike. They call it a gravel bike, but gave it a carryover cyclocross bike’s name. They’ve told us that they will offer it in at least a few different complete build configurations that will tailor it to more specific styles of riding, and expect to see customers race cyclocross on it, cruise gravel road races, and even head out on mixed surface adventure rides.
The Terra will be built with Orbea’s second-tier OMP high modulus carbon fiber tech. That’s the same as their top endurance bike, the Avant, and Orbea says that it offers the best balance of stiffness and durability for any bike that will spend time off the asphalt. Based on the improvements they’ve made building that endurance bike, the Terra frame would be expected to come in just about 1000g before paint.