Issue 01 03 Summary and editorial. 05 Review. 08 From here to...Routes. 12 Pedaling. On the cover. 16 Inside. 18 Making of. 20 Interesting. mag. Summary and editorial 3 mag. 03 Summary and editorial. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Thanks to all the Orbea family for bulding / Jon Fernández. A tribute to values. the stories that we have been able to capture in the first edition of the Orbea 05 Review. Magazine. / When watts talk. COVER PHOTO. 08 From here to... Routes. Iñaki Azanza www.zikliamatore.com / Jaizkibel. 12 Pedaling. On the cover. © 2014 Orbea S. Coop. / Cheering on from the roadside. Polígono Industrial Goitondo s/n 48269, Mallabia (Bizkaia). Spain 16 Inside. T: +34 943 17 19 50 F: +34 943 17 43 97 / Xabi Narbaiza. 18 Making of. / Orbea pictures. 20 Interesting. / News. EDITORIAL In times when the pace of communication is frantic, A TRIBUTE a new magazine could be seen as just one more TO VALUES communication action by a brand. Jon Fernández, CEO at Orbea But this goes well beyond that – or at least at Orbea we want it to. This classic yet innovative format is a window to special messages we want to share. So we want this magazine to be viewed not just a communication tool, but as a meeting point. A place where we connect to our roots and draw the map of our future. A place where we project our identity and share ideas with the greater Orbea community. A place where we can talk about many things, es- pecially cycling. From the first, hesitant pedal stroke to the road that leads . wherever you want. We want our new Orbea Magazine to be a tribute to those of you who identify with, and feel part of what we’ve been doing for the past 175 years. That is to say, all of you. Review 4 WHEN WATTS TALK A few months ago, we began testing the earliest prototypes of the Orca 2015 on the road. But it was only recently that I joined my usual cycling group with the latest prototype. Beyond the design, which is what first catches everyone’s atten- tion, there emerged the three magic words you can hear or read most frequently in connection with road bikes: aerodynamics, weight and stiffness. Joseba Arizaga Road Product manager. I insisted that they can’t be taken separately, of road chatter, and reducing the power you “THE BEST RACING BIKE IS THE for great bicycles, it’s not solely the difference need to move forward. of a few grams in weight, the level of stiffness, MOST EFFICIENT RACING BIKE, the construction methods, or the shape of the Also, on the typical mountain descent, a bike that THE ONE THAT GOES FASTER WITH tubes that make the difference - it’s all these is too light or too stiff is more difficult to control, THE SAME WATTS, ALLOWS FOR things mixed together that translate the watts we even when you’re an experienced rider. This apply during our pedaling strokes, into maximum makes going downhill a far more stressful event. GREATER HANDLING CONTROL speed. So what we should really be talking about AND SAVES SECONDS IN EVERY is efficiency. BEND, CLIMB OR FAST DESCENT.” EFFICIENCY: WATTS RULE. The best racing bike is the most efficient racing bike, the one that goes faster with the same watts, allows for greater handling control and saves seconds in every bend, climb or fast descent. In conjunction with this, in our search for efficiency we also look to the concept of ‘ride quality’; that is, a bike that gives us positive feedback and makes us feel we’re in control. Ride quality isn’t just about lighter weight or higher stiffness, but just the right combination of both, enabling the rider to manoeuver and the bicycle to respond when you need it to, under a wide variety of circumstances and over variable terrain. Bikes with only the right degree of stiffness will be good in very specific situations. On rugged terrain, speed is more difficult to maintain, as anyone who rides a bike will know, as the rebound effect reduces momentum. Designing a structure, which delivers adequate torsional stiffness and a high degree of vibration absorption results in the bike ‘floating’ on the road, lessening significantly the retarding effect Review 5 IN WATTS WE TRUST LIGHTEST OR STIFFEST ISN´T THE FASTEST It’s quite obvious that the lighter your bike, the faster it’ll be with the same force applied in climbs. When racing, a lighter bike saves energy, which you can use to launch an attack or change the pace. However, this energy will only be effective if your bike is stiff enough: a light bike is useless if it doesn’t respond when you need it to, or if too much of your pedaling energy WEIGHT is being absorbed in bending the frame and not to propel you forward. Aerodynamics is concerned with the motion of air and its interaction with a solid object. When you ride a bike, approximately the 75% of the air resistance AERODY- comes from the rider’s body rather than the bicycle. Therefore, the riding position is much more relevant than tube shapes when it comes to improving aerodynamic performance. This is why pros work so hard on their position on NAMICS the bike, studying flexibility and performing wind tunnel tests. Stiffness is the rigidity of an object, the extent movement. The stiffer the bottom bracket, the you can regulate depending on the type of bike to which it resists deformation in response to an better optimization of your efforts on the bike and, you want. applied force. We tend to believe the stiffer the therefore, the greater the acceleration and speed. Finally, vertical stiffness is your bicycle’s resistance bike is, the better, but this isn’t always so. There to vertical forces, as in a pothole. A bike with are multiple stiffness points in a frame. They can be As for torsional or lateral stiffness, it has to do with high vertical stiffness doesn’t neutralize potholes grouped into three standard types: bottom bracket bicycle stability in descents or at high speed. With and hurdles adequately. This makes riding more stiffness, vertical stiffness and torsional stiffness. adequate torsional stiffness, your bike won’t flex, uncomfortable and inefficient. keeping its balance. On the other hand, it’ll be Bottom bracket stiffness has to do with the force very responsive, which means you’ll need greater STIFFNESS you apply for pedaling to transform itself into handling control. So torsional stiffness is a factor STIFFNESS + AERODYNAMICS + WEIGHT = RIDING QUALITY CONTROLLED POWER From here to... 6 From here to... 7 FROM HERE TO… JAIZKIBEL Text and pictures by Douglas McDonald, BasqueMTB (www.basquemtb.com) The Basque coast is a wild and beautiful place, bordered by the incredibly green mountains and the wild blue Atlantic Ocean and filled with perfect singletrack which just begs to be explored by mountain bike. This coast is also special geologically; it is a book whose pages were formed from sediment on the bed of an ancient sea and then spread open when the Iberian and Euroasiatic tectonic plates collided, leaving 60 million pages of history open for reading . That same massively violent, yet incredibly slow collision formed the Pyrenees, the Picos de Europa and some of the Maritine Alps. All along the Basque Coast the layers of sedimentary mountain biking. There are multi day routes that rock on the sea bed were pushed up, forming ridge-li- can be done, linking up the traditional fishing vi- ke mountains running parallel with the sea. The types llages, or we can ride shuttles and spend the day of rocks and the angle they were pushed up varies descending down to the coast on perfect sandy, as you move along the coast, giving the coastline rocky singletrack. One of our favourite days is a huge variety and meaning that there breath-taking point to point ride along the coast linking Honda- view lurking around every corner. A personal favourite rribia to San Sebastian. mountain is Jaizkibel where the old sea bed is titled through a range of angles and juts up from the sea in There are lots of different ways to do this route, stunning stratified slabs reaching up to the summit at and we will keep some of the best ways secret 525m from the sea. for our guests, but one way of doing this trip is to follow the Camino de Santiago all along the The combination of the rugged, beautiful coastline coastline, and all you need to do is to keep the and this network of trails makes this area fantastic for sea to your right and you will find your way. From here to... 8 We start this trail in the beautiful fishing town open for grazing cattle and sheep. Vultures are “AFTER THE FANTASTIC of Hondarribia, a mini version of San Sebastian. a common sight and if you are lucky you might The food in Hondarribia is easily a match for San catch them feeding on a Pottoka or cow that has RIDGELINE SINGELTRACK, Sebastian and the historic walled part of the town missed its footing on the more exposed parts of AND A SHORT SECTION OF tells a chilling story of old wars through the battle these trails. Keep your wits about you and don’t CONCRETE YOU WILL ARRIVE scars in it’s ancient walls. On one side of Hondarri- make a mistake here or you might end up being bia the Bidadsoa estury meets the Atlantinc Ocean their next meal! TO PASAJES ON A SERIES OF and on the other side the ridgeline of Jaizkibel STEPS WHICH WILL BE BIG stands proud.