Big Dumb Animal
Hippo Nipples' #1 Fan
A little backstory before I begin my review. I started mountain biking on a hardtail lefty I picked up at Halters when @jdog was having his moving sale to Montgomery. I knew nothing about bikes then but @Pearl assured me it was a good bike. I rode that for a few years, getting more and more into mountain biking. The full suspension fever hit when I went to Ringwood to demo the Santa Cruz line and fell in love with the Tallboy. It could climb, it could descend. I really, really wanted an FS, but it was well above my budget at the time so I was stuck with my hardtail.
The time came after the first set of stimulus checks and staying home because of COVID, I was able to save more money. I went to J and he told me about the Occam. What the hell is Orbea, never heard of them. I want my tall boy. He let me ride the Occam around the parking lot. Ok, I love the look, it felt good, no bob, power straight to the pedals. Wait, the carbon version with better components then the Tall Boy, and it's cheaper? I left to do some research; watching review videos, hearing what people had to say. Box after box was checked off for me. Although I had only demo'ed Santa Cruz, people were making comparisons that I could relate to. That night I called J and put my order in for the Occam M30 Eagle. (shimano groupset was another few months waiting. It's my bike and I want it now!)
5 months later it arrived, looking purty as ever. First ride I was really blown away by the performance. 140mm of travel front and rear, 77 degree seat angle, 66 degree HTA. Of course it's not as light or nimble as my Lefty, especially with the new Lefty Ocho fork but it did surprise me on the hills. The rear tire stays planted over technical roots and rocks while the front tire stays on course without having to put a lot of weight over it. On the lefty I have to lean over pretty far so the wheel doesn't drift.
Holy hell the descending. I rode the Hightower the same day as the Tall boy, and with 150mm it felt like riding a Hummer through the woods. Everything was soaked up but I wanted more control, I wanted to know what I was going over. The Occam did exactly that. Where as I'm used to riding around bigger rocks, I could plow through them. Too big to roll over? The Occam is nimble enough to go around. I know my trails very well but I forgot about a log as I was having so much fun crushing the descent. I popped the front end over and leaped the log, still hurtling down the mountain. That was a log right? Damn this bike is responsive. Even on switch backs it goes up and down very well for the longer wheel base. The bike is very stable, feels natural with my body movements to where I don't have to muscle it too much to get what I want it to do.
Occam's razor basically means that the simplest solution is usually the correct one. While this bike isn't exactly as precise as a razor on the trail, I call it Occam's War Hammer. It can crush and cut on the trail; what you can't get over, you can get around.
So while not as light and quick as my XC hardtail, this bike does everything else, and that's exactly what I was looking for. I will have to swap out the seat and grips for something not so jarring but that's my personal preference. Thanks @jdog for hooking me up with another great bike that I didn't even know I'd love.
The time came after the first set of stimulus checks and staying home because of COVID, I was able to save more money. I went to J and he told me about the Occam. What the hell is Orbea, never heard of them. I want my tall boy. He let me ride the Occam around the parking lot. Ok, I love the look, it felt good, no bob, power straight to the pedals. Wait, the carbon version with better components then the Tall Boy, and it's cheaper? I left to do some research; watching review videos, hearing what people had to say. Box after box was checked off for me. Although I had only demo'ed Santa Cruz, people were making comparisons that I could relate to. That night I called J and put my order in for the Occam M30 Eagle. (shimano groupset was another few months waiting. It's my bike and I want it now!)
5 months later it arrived, looking purty as ever. First ride I was really blown away by the performance. 140mm of travel front and rear, 77 degree seat angle, 66 degree HTA. Of course it's not as light or nimble as my Lefty, especially with the new Lefty Ocho fork but it did surprise me on the hills. The rear tire stays planted over technical roots and rocks while the front tire stays on course without having to put a lot of weight over it. On the lefty I have to lean over pretty far so the wheel doesn't drift.
Holy hell the descending. I rode the Hightower the same day as the Tall boy, and with 150mm it felt like riding a Hummer through the woods. Everything was soaked up but I wanted more control, I wanted to know what I was going over. The Occam did exactly that. Where as I'm used to riding around bigger rocks, I could plow through them. Too big to roll over? The Occam is nimble enough to go around. I know my trails very well but I forgot about a log as I was having so much fun crushing the descent. I popped the front end over and leaped the log, still hurtling down the mountain. That was a log right? Damn this bike is responsive. Even on switch backs it goes up and down very well for the longer wheel base. The bike is very stable, feels natural with my body movements to where I don't have to muscle it too much to get what I want it to do.
Occam's razor basically means that the simplest solution is usually the correct one. While this bike isn't exactly as precise as a razor on the trail, I call it Occam's War Hammer. It can crush and cut on the trail; what you can't get over, you can get around.
So while not as light and quick as my XC hardtail, this bike does everything else, and that's exactly what I was looking for. I will have to swap out the seat and grips for something not so jarring but that's my personal preference. Thanks @jdog for hooking me up with another great bike that I didn't even know I'd love.
Last edited:
