Orbea Laufey LTD Review
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Cons:
Who it's for:
Who it's NOT for
More thoughts on the Orbea Laufey LTD (2020) Hardtail
what's up everybody on this episode of hardtail party I'm reviewing my wife's 2020 or Bay allow Fe H Ltd I'm super excited that Orbea updated their Lau fee for 2020 should be a great all-around trail Ripper let's take it out and see what it's like okay I this technical climb here
did that really well this bike has a great climbing position I really like it seat angle feels great yeah this has a super comfortable climbing position the stack feels just right the chainstay does not feel 435 long feels closer to 430 to me a balanced bike I think it's I like it a lot more than the old one I still like the old plow fee I wouldn't mind a higher engaging hub but that's pretty much every new bike I ride I don't normally like the maxis recons that this comes on they're doing okay they're slipping a little there all right being clipped in definitely helps on this time I am clipped in today this one's hard
got it
this is the tricky part Oh nope I did not have my balance try it one more time I'm finding the back wheels a little bit further back there than I'm used to I'm sure I'd get used to it with time so I'm getting everything second try but it is a little bit a little bit more awkward on really slow stuff then some with the shorter chain stick I have a feeling on the downs at speed though it's gonna make up for that I like this bike more than I thought I would
it's a good little package I feel like if I was on flat pedals it would feel more sluggish but with the clipless pedals it does well all right let's see if this bike is as stiff as it looks it looks super stiff it's got like boxed really stiff looking chain stays triangular seat stays that should be super stiff triangular down tube that should be super stiff and stiff is good when you're climbing but it's not good when you're descending it on a hard tail it just transfers all those bumps into you and you lose control or you get fatigued faster
brain feels like a typical aluminum frame a little bit stiff I'm glad it comes with 29 by 2.6 tires that helps take some of the sting out I wish the rims were a little bit wider for them then you could get a little less tire roll when you're running low pressures this bike wants to go fast I can feel it I've not even barely tested it yet
so good yeah I'd like a little more each
really over the bars at the moment but I appreciate that this saddle goes down all the way still have plenty of control I just don't feel confident letting it go yet thank you there's one more behind me
it carries its momentum well this bike definitely wants to go fast
yeah that's a real stiff bass ego the stiffer it gets this bike steers really well really well it likes to be lean that's how I like to steer steer with the feet not with the hands oh yeah real great in corners real great among one of the best cornering our tails I've written yeah all that rear tire was believable super stiff
well this bike is so fast on slow little manual but it takes a lot to get there
man is this corner well manuals take a good bit of effort not quite as playful as some of my other hard tails yeah we got tractor up it Wow such as well
hello oh that recon is spinning but I got it one thing I want to say this frame is stiff but when you're running 2.6 tires and in my preference even 20 75 by 2.8 or 3.0 you can lower the tire pressure and a lot of that stiffness doesn't transfer to your body until you hit a lot of it a bunch of stairs just repeated hits just boom boo-boom boo-boom that's when you start to feel it but the average Rock or route it smoothes it out with the wider tires this bike is like the complete opposite end of the spectrum that's my wife's tv9 even though the dv9 now has a 65 and a half degree head angle so they have very close to the same geometry actually that angle I am scaling they're totally different bikes they have totally different attitudes I would dare say the db9 is slightly more comfortable on the downs than this that carbon flex is a little more but this bike I feel wants to charge harder faint corners oh well
the dv9 I have to take an awful line into a climb and right out of it no problem
this one I'm finding slightly awkward on these slow techie climbs I just find myself coming around an obstacle and not able to deal with it whereas with most other hard deals I can just see the line I want go for it and get right over it this one's a little more of a struggle for some reason oh yeah so good let's see if this bike likes to party I'd say so
there are a couple scary moments on some of those sappy steep stuff where my front wheel would kind of get sucked in the hole and it got hung up and didn't want to push through it it just kind of stopped on it's the jump it's hard to get the front wheel up on bunny hops with the back wheel comes right up yeah it takes a lot of body English to get this into a manual for me so playfulness it's not as playful as if some of the shorter chain say bikes
these brakes are just fine
honestly I can't tell a huge difference between these and my ex TR brings out my cross-country pipe what would I upgrade on this fly I love wider rims like those ibis 34 mil inner rims especially for a two point six retire I'd love a better hub and apart from that I'd change this saddle I think that's about it oh okay so if it's smooth and you can just let off the brakes this bike slides its when it gets bumpy that things get a little out of control
get my rim a few times okay so smooth flowy stuff you can let off the brakes and this thing rips and to be truthful this is where hard tails really come alive and where hard tail is almost always better than a full suspension is in smooth flow and there's a lot of smooth flow across the country I live in Sedona one of the worst places to ride a hardtail just because it's so chunky but a lot of hard tails are doing well let's jump you lately
I feel the weight there when I get out of the saddle to just sprint up a little uphill just a little sluggish this bike loves to dance on the smooth ribbon of singletrack yeah this bike loves to be turned with the feet which I love
yeah I don't think I'd want to run any narrower tires on this unless I had perfect flow trails with no rocks or roots you need all two point six inches of cushion on this I love to try it with a 20 75 by 2.8 I think you take out a lot of that harshness
it's a little bit nervous one that's gifts chunky after a lot of people why get a hardtail if you're on chunky terrain check out how the light is hitting that one red branch that's so cool alright let's wrap this thing up what do I think of this bike this is a good bike at lots of things it's I wouldn't say it's my favorite at anything except maybe cornering it's a fantastic corner but this is a bike I would feel comfortable for the people that ask me what bike should I get and they don't want to do any research they don't want to tell me what kind of trails they ride they don't want to tell me how long they've been riding they just want a one-word answer the or bailout fee would be a great answer it's a great bike for so many things it's probably not the right bike for light riders young kids small people that are gonna be put off by the weight it's a little bit heavy but adult riders that are over 140 pounds are gonna have no problem riding this around but it does tend to favor more aggressive riding so if you do more XC spins 20 30 40 mile days you're gonna feel the weight and it's gonna get to you if you want a rowdy hardtail that will fly on float rails or steep downhills or you just want to see how fast you can go on the downs on a hardtail this is a really cool contender and I think you should think about it for climbing I'm gonna give this an 8 out of 10 not bad at all but it just didn't have that zip that the dv9 has or some other heart seals that I've ridden it would feel a little bit awkward and you'd come around a corner there'd be an obstacle and if you hadn't fully mentally prepared for it known what was coming you can't just push through it I'd get I got hung up quite a few times for descending this bike wants to be a 10 out of 10 but I'm gonna give it a 9 out of 10 it wants to be pushed so hard but the only place I feel like I can really really push it is on really smooth trails because once it gets rocks and stuff in the trails it starts skipping across and transferring a lot of that to the rider and you have this out-of-control moment which is unnerving I've ridden other aluminum bikes similar to this that are way more composed in the chunky stuff and they just want to keep going so this bike wants to fly but I it's a little bit like a wild horse I'm not quite ready to let it off the reins unless I know the trail really well and that and it's smooth for playfulness I'm gonna give it probably seven and a half out of ten that long chainstay tracks really well it makes it great for corners but it's harder to get that front end up it bunny hops okay it the front end feels heavy it's hard to lift it it doesn't feel like a dirt jumper with a dropper like some hard tails do it feels like this bike was designed to descend it climbs quite well but when you get a pointed downhill it wakes up and comes alive and you start going and it just says faster faster faster until you're going faster than you should be on it and you're got yourself in trouble it's a fun bike like I said I would feel comfortable recommending this bike to somebody looking for a hardtail that's gonna be ridden fast and if you're not doing a lot of XC stuff if you don't want to do your research and figure out if you want a long chain stay or a short chain stay or a little bit longer reach anything like that if you just want a one-word answer onto what would be a good bike to buy for the price this is a good bike to buy what are some things that would change I feel like the reach is a little bit short and I feel like the rims are narrow for two sixes they should be I would like to see 35 mill rims the tires always felt too soft even when they were pumped up a lot they rolled a lot on the rim and I hit had a lot of rim strikes as well so I'd like to see a wider rim on that the 12 speed worked just fine I would love to see an XT shifter just to get that second click in there but I'm nitpicking here I didn't have any paddle strikes the bottom bracket felt plenty low this thing corners like a dream and I usually feel that way on the longer wheelbase bikes with longer chain States they just get into that corner mode and you just carry that speed through and it's so beautiful this has been fun to review if you want to see other reviews that I've done click here and here and as always there's a party in the mountain and you're invited
did that really well this bike has a great climbing position I really like it seat angle feels great yeah this has a super comfortable climbing position the stack feels just right the chainstay does not feel 435 long feels closer to 430 to me a balanced bike I think it's I like it a lot more than the old one I still like the old plow fee I wouldn't mind a higher engaging hub but that's pretty much every new bike I ride I don't normally like the maxis recons that this comes on they're doing okay they're slipping a little there all right being clipped in definitely helps on this time I am clipped in today this one's hard
got it
this is the tricky part Oh nope I did not have my balance try it one more time I'm finding the back wheels a little bit further back there than I'm used to I'm sure I'd get used to it with time so I'm getting everything second try but it is a little bit a little bit more awkward on really slow stuff then some with the shorter chain stick I have a feeling on the downs at speed though it's gonna make up for that I like this bike more than I thought I would
it's a good little package I feel like if I was on flat pedals it would feel more sluggish but with the clipless pedals it does well all right let's see if this bike is as stiff as it looks it looks super stiff it's got like boxed really stiff looking chain stays triangular seat stays that should be super stiff triangular down tube that should be super stiff and stiff is good when you're climbing but it's not good when you're descending it on a hard tail it just transfers all those bumps into you and you lose control or you get fatigued faster
brain feels like a typical aluminum frame a little bit stiff I'm glad it comes with 29 by 2.6 tires that helps take some of the sting out I wish the rims were a little bit wider for them then you could get a little less tire roll when you're running low pressures this bike wants to go fast I can feel it I've not even barely tested it yet
so good yeah I'd like a little more each
really over the bars at the moment but I appreciate that this saddle goes down all the way still have plenty of control I just don't feel confident letting it go yet thank you there's one more behind me
it carries its momentum well this bike definitely wants to go fast
yeah that's a real stiff bass ego the stiffer it gets this bike steers really well really well it likes to be lean that's how I like to steer steer with the feet not with the hands oh yeah real great in corners real great among one of the best cornering our tails I've written yeah all that rear tire was believable super stiff
well this bike is so fast on slow little manual but it takes a lot to get there
man is this corner well manuals take a good bit of effort not quite as playful as some of my other hard tails yeah we got tractor up it Wow such as well
hello oh that recon is spinning but I got it one thing I want to say this frame is stiff but when you're running 2.6 tires and in my preference even 20 75 by 2.8 or 3.0 you can lower the tire pressure and a lot of that stiffness doesn't transfer to your body until you hit a lot of it a bunch of stairs just repeated hits just boom boo-boom boo-boom that's when you start to feel it but the average Rock or route it smoothes it out with the wider tires this bike is like the complete opposite end of the spectrum that's my wife's tv9 even though the dv9 now has a 65 and a half degree head angle so they have very close to the same geometry actually that angle I am scaling they're totally different bikes they have totally different attitudes I would dare say the db9 is slightly more comfortable on the downs than this that carbon flex is a little more but this bike I feel wants to charge harder faint corners oh well
the dv9 I have to take an awful line into a climb and right out of it no problem
this one I'm finding slightly awkward on these slow techie climbs I just find myself coming around an obstacle and not able to deal with it whereas with most other hard deals I can just see the line I want go for it and get right over it this one's a little more of a struggle for some reason oh yeah so good let's see if this bike likes to party I'd say so
there are a couple scary moments on some of those sappy steep stuff where my front wheel would kind of get sucked in the hole and it got hung up and didn't want to push through it it just kind of stopped on it's the jump it's hard to get the front wheel up on bunny hops with the back wheel comes right up yeah it takes a lot of body English to get this into a manual for me so playfulness it's not as playful as if some of the shorter chain say bikes
these brakes are just fine
honestly I can't tell a huge difference between these and my ex TR brings out my cross-country pipe what would I upgrade on this fly I love wider rims like those ibis 34 mil inner rims especially for a two point six retire I'd love a better hub and apart from that I'd change this saddle I think that's about it oh okay so if it's smooth and you can just let off the brakes this bike slides its when it gets bumpy that things get a little out of control
get my rim a few times okay so smooth flowy stuff you can let off the brakes and this thing rips and to be truthful this is where hard tails really come alive and where hard tail is almost always better than a full suspension is in smooth flow and there's a lot of smooth flow across the country I live in Sedona one of the worst places to ride a hardtail just because it's so chunky but a lot of hard tails are doing well let's jump you lately
I feel the weight there when I get out of the saddle to just sprint up a little uphill just a little sluggish this bike loves to dance on the smooth ribbon of singletrack yeah this bike loves to be turned with the feet which I love
yeah I don't think I'd want to run any narrower tires on this unless I had perfect flow trails with no rocks or roots you need all two point six inches of cushion on this I love to try it with a 20 75 by 2.8 I think you take out a lot of that harshness
it's a little bit nervous one that's gifts chunky after a lot of people why get a hardtail if you're on chunky terrain check out how the light is hitting that one red branch that's so cool alright let's wrap this thing up what do I think of this bike this is a good bike at lots of things it's I wouldn't say it's my favorite at anything except maybe cornering it's a fantastic corner but this is a bike I would feel comfortable for the people that ask me what bike should I get and they don't want to do any research they don't want to tell me what kind of trails they ride they don't want to tell me how long they've been riding they just want a one-word answer the or bailout fee would be a great answer it's a great bike for so many things it's probably not the right bike for light riders young kids small people that are gonna be put off by the weight it's a little bit heavy but adult riders that are over 140 pounds are gonna have no problem riding this around but it does tend to favor more aggressive riding so if you do more XC spins 20 30 40 mile days you're gonna feel the weight and it's gonna get to you if you want a rowdy hardtail that will fly on float rails or steep downhills or you just want to see how fast you can go on the downs on a hardtail this is a really cool contender and I think you should think about it for climbing I'm gonna give this an 8 out of 10 not bad at all but it just didn't have that zip that the dv9 has or some other heart seals that I've ridden it would feel a little bit awkward and you'd come around a corner there'd be an obstacle and if you hadn't fully mentally prepared for it known what was coming you can't just push through it I'd get I got hung up quite a few times for descending this bike wants to be a 10 out of 10 but I'm gonna give it a 9 out of 10 it wants to be pushed so hard but the only place I feel like I can really really push it is on really smooth trails because once it gets rocks and stuff in the trails it starts skipping across and transferring a lot of that to the rider and you have this out-of-control moment which is unnerving I've ridden other aluminum bikes similar to this that are way more composed in the chunky stuff and they just want to keep going so this bike wants to fly but I it's a little bit like a wild horse I'm not quite ready to let it off the reins unless I know the trail really well and that and it's smooth for playfulness I'm gonna give it probably seven and a half out of ten that long chainstay tracks really well it makes it great for corners but it's harder to get that front end up it bunny hops okay it the front end feels heavy it's hard to lift it it doesn't feel like a dirt jumper with a dropper like some hard tails do it feels like this bike was designed to descend it climbs quite well but when you get a pointed downhill it wakes up and comes alive and you start going and it just says faster faster faster until you're going faster than you should be on it and you're got yourself in trouble it's a fun bike like I said I would feel comfortable recommending this bike to somebody looking for a hardtail that's gonna be ridden fast and if you're not doing a lot of XC stuff if you don't want to do your research and figure out if you want a long chain stay or a short chain stay or a little bit longer reach anything like that if you just want a one-word answer onto what would be a good bike to buy for the price this is a good bike to buy what are some things that would change I feel like the reach is a little bit short and I feel like the rims are narrow for two sixes they should be I would like to see 35 mill rims the tires always felt too soft even when they were pumped up a lot they rolled a lot on the rim and I hit had a lot of rim strikes as well so I'd like to see a wider rim on that the 12 speed worked just fine I would love to see an XT shifter just to get that second click in there but I'm nitpicking here I didn't have any paddle strikes the bottom bracket felt plenty low this thing corners like a dream and I usually feel that way on the longer wheelbase bikes with longer chain States they just get into that corner mode and you just carry that speed through and it's so beautiful this has been fun to review if you want to see other reviews that I've done click here and here and as always there's a party in the mountain and you're invited
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