The Orbea Wild M20 is a playful enduro e-MTB, which promises to punch well above its weight in the price bracket.
They’ve teamed up with the crew at Bosch in the electrics department, which always gets our attention.
Meanwhile, the team at Orbea claims it can take on the big boys when it comes to descending.
The early signs certainly sound impressive and for middle of the road price, that’s definitely worth a deeper look.
Time to get stuck in to our Orbea Wild FS M20 review…
Our Verdict
The Orbea Wild M20 is a playful and reliable enduro bike, which can also take on some of the rougher terrain thanks to its longer travel suspension.
It sings in the electrics department, with a good top range and a powerful motor.
It handles well, is fun to ride, and feels comfortable both ascending and descending.
We aren’t happy with the lack of display and the brakes and drivetrain could be improved – but then you’d be facing a higher bill.
We think this is a bit of a bargain and that’s why it got a spot in our guide of the top electric mountain bikes of 2023.
Peaks:👍
- Excellent battery
- Good range
- Powerful motor
- Handling
- Manoeuvrability
- Intelligent power delivery
- Price
Troughs:👎
- Weight not the lightest
- Brake performance
- Drivetrain could be improved
- No proper display fitted as standard
Orbea Wild M20 Review
Price: $7,299
Weight/Frame
The Orbea Wild M20 is a carbon-framed enduro bike, which is designed to descend adeptly, but also climb efficiently.
Due to its descending capabilities, it comes with a reasonably aggressive geometry and it handles playfully on the trails.
It’s easy to manipulate and fun to ride, but without feeling too uncomfortable over a longer distance.
That opens it up to being ridden by lots of different abilities and moderately experienced riders won’t feel overfaced by the positioning on the bike.
Despite its playfulness, the Orbea Wild M20 weight isn’t the lightest at 23.27kg, and that means it can sometimes fall behind lighter bikes on the climbs and it may see you rinse the battery stores more quickly.
The e-MTB performs well in a trail and enduro setting and it comes in four frame sizes – small, medium, large, and extra large.
ℹ️ We’ve reviewed the standard Wild M20 in this blog, but there are many added extras and upgrades you can introduce at the point of purchase to try and reduce the overall weight and increase the playfulness.
Battery
The Orbea Wild M20 is fitted with the excellent Bosch PowerTube battery, with a 750Wh installed on the standard model.
We think it’s one of the best batteries out there at the moment and it provides you with an impressive range of more than 110km on flatter terrain.
When you ramp up the climbing the range falls below 100km, but it performs conservatively in both settings and provides you with hours of riding regardless.
The large battery explains the extra weight that the bike comes with, however, it makes the bike accessible to varying levels of rider – super light enduro bikes often only appeal to a very fit or experienced rider, due to their reduced battery sizes.
The battery takes under 2 and a half hours to charge up to 50% from empty and takes around 6 hours to reach 100%.
It’s a beautiful battery, providing reliability and range in one package.
Motor
The Orbea Wild M20 comes with another Bosch product in the motor department.
It’s fitted with the Performance Line CX motor, which is absolutely faultless, just like the battery.
It’s immensely powerful, offering 85Nm of torque, which takes the edge off the bike’s heavy (ish) weight and still makes the bike a proficient climber.
When combined with the playful geometry, the motor actually feels nimble on technical climbs, along with long straight drags uphill.
The motor operates intelligently too, allowing you to feel in charge of your power output, without any mechanical jerk.
The bike feels well balanced and you never feel out of control when it comes to the bike’s power output.
It comes with 4 modes of assist – Sport, E-MTB, Tour & Tour+.
Motor Display
The Orbea Wild M20 comes with the Bosch System Controller as standard.
It’s an incredibly limited device, which sits on the bike’s top tube, offering up and down buttons to flick between the modes of assist and 10 LED lights to indicate 10% of battery charge.
That’s all you get and you have to pay extra to get a proper handlebar display installed.
We think that’s a bit of a cop-out from the team at Orbea and unless you invest further, you won’t have a proper dialled-in ride experience or overview.
The company has gone with the top tube controller to try and keep the bike looking clean and tidy, with no unnecessary clutter – and it does achieve that, but we would prefer a display too.
Suspension
The Orbea Wild M20 comes with a decent suspension set-up in terms of spec and you get 160mm of travel at both the front and rear.
The bike can take a beating on the trails and although it can’t stretch into the wildest of downhill or jump park routes, it can handle everything else.
It’s a balanced set-up for an enduro-orientated bike, capable of taking some chunky lumps and bumps, but without feeling overly spongey uphill.
It’s fitted with RockShox 35 Silver TK forks and FOX Float DPS Performance shocks – they aren’t the highest-spec options out there, but they do the trick for most trails.
A more experienced rider might notice the rebound isn’t quite as silky smooth as some higher-spec suspension components, but most riders won’t notice.
In general, we’re impressed by how well it performs and enjoyed riding it in our Orbea Wild FS M20 test.
For an extra $579 you can upgrade both the shocks and the forks to higher-spec options.
Wheels/Tires
The Orbea Wild M20 is fitted with a pair of 29-inch wheels, which provide a decent level of grounding on the trail.
They’re supplied by Race Face, with their A30s proving to be durable over longer distances and able to soak up impacts impressively.
They’re coated in a pair of Maxxis Minion DH tires, which offer a toothy bite into the dirt and work hard when descending and while moving at pace through the trees.
The wheels and tires are a reliable accompaniment to a fast-moving enduro bike.
Brakes
Orbea have made a bit of a saving when it comes to the brakes and the bike is fitted with SRAM DB8s.
They’re a middle-of-the-road spec option in the SRAM arsenal and they don’t necessarily offer the high level of stopping power you need from an enduro bike capable of flying hard and fast.
We would have liked to have seen a higher spec option on the bike – we found them a little slow to act at times and didn’t find them as well polished as some other models.
For an extra $159 you can go for an upgraded Shimano XT M8120 brake set-up, which we would recommend.
Drivetrain
The same applies in the drivetrain department.
The Orbea Wild M20 comes with a 12-speed Shimano CS-M7100 drivetrain, which is ok, without excelling.
It doesn’t offer the most responsive shifting capabilities and when you’re riding at a high level it can be left behind rivals.
Price - $7,299
The Orbea Wild M20 is a good enduro e-MTB, which has some admirable qualities – both descending and climbing proficiently.
You have an excellent electrics package on there and a playful geometry, but there are areas on the bike that could be improved.
The bike doesn’t profess to be a market leader and the price reflects that fairly.
There are certainly a lot of aspects to admire though and in our eyes that makes it a good buy at this price.
Orbea Wild M20 Facts & figures
Geometry configurations
| GEOMETRY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRAME SIZE | S | M | L | XL |
| SEAT TUBE (C-T) | 415 | 415 | 435 | 460 |
| TOP TUBE (EFF) | 573 | 595 | 622 | 649 |
| HEAD TUBE | 110 | 120 | 130 | 140 |
| CHAINSTAY | 448 | 448 | 448 | 448 |
| BB HEIGHT | 353 | 353 | 353 | 353 |
| BB DROP | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| WHEELBASE | 1223 | 1247 | 1277 | 1306 |
| HEAD ANGLE | 64º | 64º | 64º | 64º |
| SEAT ANGLE | 77.5º | 77.5º | 77.5º | 77.5º |
| STANDOVER | 700 | 700 | 700 | 700 |
| REACH | 435 | 455 | 480 | 505 |
| STACK | 621 | 630 | 639 | 648 |
| FORK LENGTH | 575 | 575 | 575 | 575 |
| RAKE | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
Full Specs
| FRAMESET | ||
|---|---|---|
| Frame | Rear Shock | Suspension Fork |
| Orbea Wild OMR 2023, 160mm travel, 29" wheels, Concentric Boost 12x148 | FOX Float DPS Performance | RockShox 35 Silver TK |
| DRIVETRAIN | ||
| Rear Shifter | Rear Derailleur | Crankset |
| Shimano Deore M6100 I-Spec EV | Shimano SLX M7100 SGS Shadow Plus | e*thirteen Plus Alloy |
| Cassette | Chain | Chainring |
| Shimano CS-M7100 10-51t 12-Speed | Shimano M6100 | e*thirteen e*spec Direct Mount 34T Boost |
| Chainguide | ||
| e*thirteen Plus Bosch CX Gen4 32-38t | ||
| BRAKES | ||
| Brake | ||
| SRAM DB8 | ||
| COMPONENTS | ||
| Handlebar | Stem | Grips |
| OC Mountain Control MC30, Rise20, Width 800 | OC Mountain Control MC20, 0º | OC Lock On |
| Saddle | Headset | Computer Mount |
| Selle Royal Vivo Sport Men 145 x 269mm | Alloy 1-1/2", Black Oxidated Bearing | OC Computer Mount CM-05, Garmin/Sigma |
| Seatpost | Seatpost Lever | |
| OC Mountain Control MC21, 31.6mm, Dropper | Shimano SL-MT500 I-Spec EV | |
| WHEELS | ||
| Rims | Front Tire | Rear Tire |
| Race Face AR 30c Tubeless Ready | Maxxis Assegai 2.50" WT FB 120 TPI 3C Maxx Terra EXO+ TR | Maxxis Minion DHR II 2.40" WT FB 120 TPI 3C Maxx Terra Exo+ TR |
| ELECTRIC COMPONENTS | ||
| Motor | Battery | Range Extender |
| BOSCH Performance Line CX BDU3741 | BOSCH Powertube 750Wh Horizontal BBP3770 | n/a |
| Display | Charger | Remote |
| BOSCH System Controller BCR3100 | Bosch Charger 4A (230V) BPC3400 | BOSCH Mini Remote BRC3300 |
How Does it Compare?
The Obea Wild M20 made the cut in our Best Electric Bikes 2023 guide, so we thought it would be only fair to compare the bike to another enduro e-MTB that made the cut.
We’re going to compare our Orbea to the Pivot Shuttle SL Pro X01 – it’s a super lightweight e-MTB, so differs slightly from our Wild M20, but it’s a good alternative to look at.
Firstly, let’s look at the weight – our Orbea weighs in at 23.27kg, which is 4.57kg heavier than the 18.7kg Pivot.
It makes the Pivot far nimbler, with its featherlight handling putting our Orbea to shame (even though it handles well).
That does come at a cost for the Pivot though, you only get a 450Wh Fazua Ride battery, which provides a range far lower than our chunky 750Wh Bosch battery.
If you need a lot of assistance then the Pivot is already out of the question because it can’t offer it.
You only get 60Nm of torque in the Fazua motor too, which for a less fit rider means some climbs can become particularly tricky – that’s in comparison to 85Nm on our Orbea.
The Pivot is much quicker moving though, thanks to a reduced amount of travel in the forks and the shocks – you get 150mm at the front and 130mm at the rear, compared to 160mm at either end on our Orbea.
The Pivot is pacier and you have a higher level of traction, which makes it quicker to get up to speed on the flats.
The Pivot also has a far higher-spec brakes and drivetrain set-up, with a Shimano XT M1820 brakes pairing (which we can get on our Orbea for an extra fee) and a 12-speed SRAM Eagle X01 drivetrain.
Those higher spec features do though lump on extra cost – the Pivot comes in at $10,999, which is $3,700 more expensive than our Orbea.
Is it worth it? We don’t necessarily think so and for most riders, the Orbea would be a much better option.
Final Thoughts
The Orbea Wild M20 is a good enduro e-MTB, which can also venture into some rougher terrain thanks to the amount of travel in the suspension.
You get a wonderful electrics package, providing a strong amount of range and enough power to take on tricky climbs.
It’s a fun and playful e-MTB, which is easy to handle and versatile across a number of different settings.
There are some improvements that could be made – particularly with the drivetrain, brakes, and display, but most of the issues are manageable or easily fixable.
We’re impressed with the finished product and the price is enticing for the benefits you get.
That’s our opinion, time for you to take this baby for a ride.
