Orbea Wild FS Review

For our review of the Orbea Wild FS we travelled to the Basque country for two days of riding. We were told ‘the aim is to test you and the bike to the limit’. For us, that meant 130km of riding including 4500m of climbing, so enough time to really get a feel of the bike.

Having been completely redesigned for 2020 the Wild FS is now a much more capable electric mountain bike in every way. Every aspect has been upgraded. There are three models in the range with a choice of a carbon or alloy frame. Suspension travel has been increased to 160mm front rear and the wheel size has been increased too with 29” hoops across the range. Each bike features Bosch’s recently updated top of the line e bike motor.

*Wild FS M10 - Size X Large tested, without pedals

If you are familiar with any of the latest range from Orbea, then you will notice that the new Wild FS doesn’t really fit the mould. With a completely new frame design matched with a vertical shock position, it strays from their usual offerings, and is unrecognisable against last years Wild FS. 

Having the opportunity to chat to the frame engineers I had a better idea of why the bike being electric caused this change. Orbea initially played with their more iconic frame layout, making various prototypes and CAD models. The limitations of this design with the need to incorporate a motor and battery led them down a different path. The vertical shock position allowed them to get the perfect suspension kinematics and weight distribution with the motor and battery, whilst leaving easily enough space for a water bottle or a spare battery.

Weight wise, a lot of people seem obsessed with the weight of bikes, even to the detriment of performance. Although by no means the heaviest, Orbea haven’t gone featherweight with the Wild FS, opting for a more robust build kit so you have peace of mind hitting the most technical trails. You don’t feel the extra weight on the trails of course, with the bike feeling snappy and agile. There are three frame options for UK models. The M-ltd, M-Team and M10 have a full carbon frame, the M20 has a carbon front end with an alloy rear triangle and all the H Models have a full aluminium alloy frame. All the bikes share the same dialled geometry.

The Wild FS has 160mm of suspension travel front and rear. This gives these bikes the capabilities to take on rough and challenging terrain especially considering the hard-hitting forks and shocks that are fitted. Progressive suspension kinematics give you that ideal mix of small bump sensitivity and big hit capabilities. With the dialled suspension platform, It didn’t feel like it lost grip on the loose rocky trails, but you could still manoeuvre the bike where you wanted it to go.

When fitted to a regular MTB 160mm can be a bit of an overkill on mellow trails as it makes the bikes sluggish on climbs and traverses. You don’t get this problem on an e bike as the motor gives you quick acceleration whenever you need it, so the Wild FS would be great at trail centres.

The M-Team we tested and the other M series bikes have a the very capable Fox 36 Float fork. This fork offers very assured performance on rough trails and is paired with a Fox shock on each bike. On the M-Team you get the choice between a coil or an air shock. Teh H series bikes  also get Fox Shocks combined with either a Fox 36 or a RockShox 35 Gold RL fork. While not offering the same levels of performance as the Fox 36 35 Gold the 35 is still a very capable suspension unit. The damping on all the forks has been optimized specifically for e bikes.

The bike is fitted with the latest series 4 Performance CX Cruise motor from Bosch who were the pioneers of e bike motors. This new motor takes things to the next level. This motor is the lightest, and smallest that they have ever made. Every time I was amazed at how the Bosch motor gave you just the right amount of power to keep traction, and get you up even the techiest and steepest of climbs.

All the rides we did were all on varied terrain with steep punchy technical climbs and longer flowy singletrack. I kept the bike in EMTB mode, only switching to boost for particularly steep ascents. The main thing that I noticed was the control it gave you, unlike some other bikes I have ridden I never felt out of control due to the power, it felt like it predicted what you needed, the harder you pushed the more it gave you.

The motor is nice and compact which helped the designers to keep the chainstays relatively short. The progressive delivery means that you won’t ever feel like there is too much power but equally, you won’t feel under-gunned when you need full power on those very steep climbs.

One of the highlights of the Wild FS is the custom display mount. This allows you to mount the display in three different positions, so you can prioritise whether to have it in the most readable position or tucked to the side away from potential harm in a crash. The battery pack is neatly integrated into the frame. The M-Series bikes along with the H25 & H15  have a high capacity 625Wh battery pack while the rest of the bikes get a slightly smaller 500Wh battery. It is possible to attach a secondary power pack on top of the down tube to increase your range even further. Another neat touch is the battery release key which is stored under the stem top cap.