Orbea Occam vs Occam LT vs Rise Compared & Why We Love Them

I'm super attracted to the concept of the "quiver-killer" trail bike — one bike that can competently handle every type of trail riding from fast flow trails, to techy gnar, to the occasional downhill bike park trip. In general, I think a mid-travel (120-140mm) trail bike is the ideal tool for this type of riding. It has enough travel to get sendy, but not so much that you avoid doing long-distance epics. 

I've experimented with a lot of different quiver-killer options over the years, but my go-to recommendation for customers and friends is the Orbea Occam. It's super versatile, super capable, super good-looking, and a great value. If you need a bit more downhill capability, there's even a long-travel Occam LT. And if you need a bit of boost uphill, I've been recommending the lightweight Orbea Rise E-MTB. Let's take a closer look at why I these bikes have become some of our best-selling trail bikes:

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Why the Orbea Occam/Rise?

I've been a huge fan of Orbea ever since I bought my first Orca road bike (which has won Olympic gold) way back in 2008. I also spent many of my formative XC years racing on the Alma hardtail (which has also won Olympic gold). And when I got into enduro racing, the big-travel Rallon is what I picked to do many of my earliest enduro races. Needless to say, Orbea bikes have always impressed me. 

Though I've never owned an Occam, I've ridden it plenty of times because four of my co-workers own or have owned one. Again, I've been impressed, and I truly think the standard Occam is potentially the perfect quiver-killer. It's efficient enough that I wouldn't hesitate to take it on an 8-hour cross-country epic. But it's capable and confidence-inspiring enough for me to let go of the brakes on steep and gnarly DH tracks. 

Since its 2020 redesign, the Occam has slotted well into the mid-travel, do-it-all category, competing with bikes like the Santa Cruz Hightower, Yeti SB130/140, and Specialized Stumpjumper. But I feel it often gets overlooked, simply because Orbea isn't a household name (yet). 

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What has impressed me the most is the aluminum version of the Occam. It comes with either an aluminum or carbon frame (H = Aluminum frame, M = Carbon frame). The aluminum models are incredibly well priced, and actually not that much heavier than their carbon counterparts. The frame is also incredibly well finished. Unless you look for the welds near the rear suspension pivots, it's actually hard to tell it's aluminum. 

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If your riding ambitions are a bit more gravity oriented, the "LT" or long-travel version of the Occam might be the ticket. It bumps up the fork to 150mm (you get the beefier Fox 36 and coil or air shock options) and a longer stroke shock increases the rear travel to 150mm as well. This slacks out the head angle half-a-degree too, giving you just a touch more stability and confidence on the steep stuff. You also get a bigger front brake rotor for just a bit more stopping power. 

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While the Orbea Rise isn't technically an electrified Occam, that's basically how I see it. It has the same travel (with a 140mm or 150mm fork option), same geometry, and having ridden both, I think both have very similar ride characteristics. The Rise fits into a newer class of "lightweight" E-MTBs. It sheds pounds with a smaller motor and battery. In fact, the Shimano EP8-RS motor was designed specifically for this bike. It has less torque (60 Nm), so it's less intrusive on the trail. This means the Rise can still help you up tough climbs, but it feels a lot more like pedaling a "normal" trail bike, especially when going downhill. 

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