Any serious review about the recent Orbea Kemen ?
- Thread starter Yayabike
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Stefan Mikes
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- Mazovia, Poland
Very interesting e-bike. I wonder what the weight is.
The new Orbea Urrun, which I think has the same Orbea tweaked (RS) Shimano motor as the Rise, has a listed weight of 19.6kg but of course as a hardtail emtb it doesn't have the mudguards or rack the Kemen has. And I don't know if they adjusted the motor of the Kemen in the same way. They seem to release these new bikes with little fanfare, or maybe its that the full sus Rise got all the press. Agreed these new Orbea bikes look very interesting. I like that Orbea realised a lot of their emtb/ebike buyers didn't need all the powerful torque so they adjusted the motor on the Urrun to give less torque and to extend battery life making for an all day & lighter bike. or so they say.
First Look: The Orbea Urrun is a Long Range Electric Hardtail - Pinkbike
The Urrun could be the ticket for commuting during the week and off-road exploring on the weekend.
The SL area is getting very interesting suddenly with these Orbeas, the new Faze 60 motor and the - out of the blue - Trek/TQ motor. Competition is good. And the lighter, quieter motors we get as a result can only be a good thing. Just need a winning lottery ticket now.
antboy
Well-Known Member
There's not a lot of news about the Kemen or Urrun (I keep checking for reviews), but the Orbea specs say the Kemen is using the standard EP8, not their tuned down RS, and in the product photos, there's no additional RS badging on the motor.The new Orbea Urrun, which I think has the same Orbea tweaked (RS) Shimano motor as the Rise, has a listed weight of 19.6kg but of course as a hardtail emtb it doesn't have the mudguards or rack the Kemen has. And I don't know if they adjusted the motor of the Kemen in the same way. They seem to release these new bikes with little fanfare, or maybe its that the full sus Rise got all the press. Agreed these new Orbea bikes look very interesting. I like that Orbea realised a lot of their emtb/ebike buyers didn't need all the powerful torque so they adjusted the motor on the Urrun to give less torque and to extend battery life making for an all day & lighter bike. or so they say.
First Look: The Orbea Urrun is a Long Range Electric Hardtail - Pinkbike
The Urrun could be the ticket for commuting during the week and off-road exploring on the weekend.www.pinkbike.com
The SL area is getting very interesting suddenly with these Orbeas, the new Faze 60 motor and the - out of the blue - Trek/TQ motor. Competition is good. And the lighter, quieter motors we get as a result can only be a good thing. Just need a winning lottery ticket now.
I'm guessing that since they're pushing the Kemen as more of a "haul stuff" bike with racks and fenders, they decided to keep the full torque motor in there, whereas the Urrun is more nimble hardtail MTB.
I'm definitely interested in one or the other (dunno which, and trying to justify the cost since the Shimano E6100 is serving me well) but it's my understanding that the standard EP8 can be user adjusted to provide less power, though Orbea's firmware on the RS supposedly has other tweaks beyond limiting torque.
EMBN did a "battery range comparison" video, and the EP8-RS with a 360wh battery got slightly more range (on the same course) than a Canyon with the regular EP8 and a 630Wh battery.
Gotta say though, the Urrun is probably the sweetest e-bike I've seen in a long time. Clean lines, clean welds, and that simple burnt orange and black is my number 1 fave bike colour.
The orange Urrun is a looker alright, was practically drooling when I saw that review. But I think I'm lucky to not have the funds right now, think this is just the beginning. Seems the bike companies get the new tech into the full sus emtbs first, guessing they must be the big spenders, then it trickles down to the hardtails and commuters. That's how Orbea with the Rise first and Specialized with the Kenevo/Levo SLs seem to operate. Hoping by next summer when I might think of trading the vado SL, that there might be a selection of juicy lightweight & silent options. Though prices will probably keep creeping up and up : (
Stefan Mikes
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- Europe
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- Mazovia, Poland
I would not surrender Specialized connectivity though 
Rumours are an authorized Orbea dealership with a large showroom would start in Warsaw this November. We'll see.
Rumours are an authorized Orbea dealership with a large showroom would start in Warsaw this November. We'll see.
antboy
Well-Known Member
Reportedly around 43lbs, so not as light as a SL, but 5-10lbs lighter than most other bikes with a 540wh battery.
I'm intrigued by the Urrun in particular because my cocktail napkin math suggests that with more trekking type tires, and that battery/motor combo, over 200km per charge is doable, without making some of the range/power sacrifices of other true superlights.
It looks like a good starting base to build out something for longer rides.
I'm surprised Orbea didn't put the RS in the Kemen, since they put it in their trekking category, but the RS is way more efficient than the regular EP8.
Stefan Mikes
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- Europe
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- Mazovia, Poland
The great thing about the EP8 and Kemen are the 242 Wh Range Extenders. Combined with the main battery, it is really something.
antboy
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's why I was thinking it's odd that they didn't go with the RS model, given the range difference.
I'd really like to know how much power saving one gets on a regular EP8 that's been dialed back on the torque, compared to the EP8-RS. Maybe the RS has other firmware tweaks that are geared towards the MTB crowd?
Orbea seem pretty big. But maybe being Spanish their main market is there? In the way that the many German e bike manufacturers often go unheard or little fanfare in English speaking parts. I don't know where Orbea and Cube say, sit on the big bike companies league after Giant, Trek, Cannondale and Specialized and so on.
May be they don' t sell in north america and so they don't get reviewed there, and a large chunk of the youtube content is from north america. It may be also due to my own bias, i can only listen to english/spanihs/italian and french reviewers. And indeed I m always annoy when a bike get a lot of coverage in German and almost none in language i can understand, google automatic subtitle + translation is way too bad to understand a review.
I emailed Oreba. They said under 50lb.
I finally got a Synpase néo 2, and sold back my Orbéa Vibe,
The néo 2 is not that heavy, 19.5 kg with a rear carrier, and bikestand a litemove (200 lumens) light and a Keox screen that i added to it.
On the flat with the engine off it is very efficient, almost as much as a road bike, the main difference is when you start or accelerate but once launched it is very good. I was missing the drop bar really a lot on the Vibe and i also appreciate two have a double crankset. Another major difference are the break which are full hydraulic shimano 105 on the synapse and so way way better then the mechanic disk brake of the Vibe.
Drop bar are not only better to ride but they are also much more narrow which help a lot.
The Kiox screen is wonderfull and you even get for free a powermeter, a cadence sensor etc ....
The Bosch smartphone application is well designed (10 times better then the Mahle one), you don't need to start a ride, indeed it records anything as long as your phone is on and close to the bike.
I don't have some of the super advanced functions since my motor is a Gen3 and only Gen4 are fully smart.
One very important difference is something that may seems annectodical but is very important : the charger and the plug.
-> On the synapse néo the charging port is on the top on the diagonal tube, so it never interfere with the pedals, it is very safe. Also the plug is large and super easy to fit in the connector. And the orbea and on a Haibike that i had years ago the connector was horrible. Alose the charger is way more powerfull and it is smart too so you won't overcharge like with the mahle system.
Yes Bosh and Cannondale mean that little details which indeed are super important are well designed. I have seen many ebike and the Synapse is one of the very few with a plug up which takes 1 second to fit in.
One last thing is that the battery is removable, this mean that if needed you can replace it, and you also load if of the bike. It take 10 seconds to remove it and the connector is the same than on the bike. This also mean that i was able to route a cable from the battery to the front light internaly, this rocks since this mans that i never need to worry about the light. Indeed i will open it again to connect the rear light too.
In the furutre i may get something similar to the synpapse (once it dies ), something may be a bit lighter(with the current 500 i can do close to 200 km), so may be a light engine but certainly not a Mahle one. I will not get an ebike with a non removable battery.
Something lie Canyon Grizzl with a rudy fork + a Fazua engine or a light shimano one.
But for now the synapse is wonderfull, 7000km and rocking i run 37mm wide tyre on it and it is super confy.
N.B the Vibe is still a very nice ebike, and the comparaison is a bit unfair the synapse was sold 3600 euros (i paid 2200) and the vibe only 2000.
The néo 2 is not that heavy, 19.5 kg with a rear carrier, and bikestand a litemove (200 lumens) light and a Keox screen that i added to it.
On the flat with the engine off it is very efficient, almost as much as a road bike, the main difference is when you start or accelerate but once launched it is very good. I was missing the drop bar really a lot on the Vibe and i also appreciate two have a double crankset. Another major difference are the break which are full hydraulic shimano 105 on the synapse and so way way better then the mechanic disk brake of the Vibe.
Drop bar are not only better to ride but they are also much more narrow which help a lot.
The Kiox screen is wonderfull and you even get for free a powermeter, a cadence sensor etc ....
The Bosch smartphone application is well designed (10 times better then the Mahle one), you don't need to start a ride, indeed it records anything as long as your phone is on and close to the bike.
I don't have some of the super advanced functions since my motor is a Gen3 and only Gen4 are fully smart.
One very important difference is something that may seems annectodical but is very important : the charger and the plug.
-> On the synapse néo the charging port is on the top on the diagonal tube, so it never interfere with the pedals, it is very safe. Also the plug is large and super easy to fit in the connector. And the orbea and on a Haibike that i had years ago the connector was horrible. Alose the charger is way more powerfull and it is smart too so you won't overcharge like with the mahle system.
Yes Bosh and Cannondale mean that little details which indeed are super important are well designed. I have seen many ebike and the Synapse is one of the very few with a plug up which takes 1 second to fit in.
One last thing is that the battery is removable, this mean that if needed you can replace it, and you also load if of the bike. It take 10 seconds to remove it and the connector is the same than on the bike. This also mean that i was able to route a cable from the battery to the front light internaly, this rocks since this mans that i never need to worry about the light. Indeed i will open it again to connect the rear light too.
In the furutre i may get something similar to the synpapse (once it dies ), something may be a bit lighter(with the current 500 i can do close to 200 km), so may be a light engine but certainly not a Mahle one. I will not get an ebike with a non removable battery.
Something lie Canyon Grizzl with a rudy fork + a Fazua engine or a light shimano one.
But for now the synapse is wonderfull, 7000km and rocking i run 37mm wide tyre on it and it is super confy.
N.B the Vibe is still a very nice ebike, and the comparaison is a bit unfair the synapse was sold 3600 euros (i paid 2200) and the vibe only 2000.
I got to ride the Kemen SUV 30. Fun and easy to ride, & shift. The short ride turned into a couple of hours. It weighed 52 lbs. The dealer said the Urrun would be available in March, have the EP6 motor, and weigh a little less. Unfortunately it seems the battery will NOT be removeable.
Finally a review of the Kemen
Lot of improvement compare from the vibe :
- Hydraulic brakes.
- Suspension fork.
- Central engine (which ia much much better)
- Better transmission (but still a single crankset)
- Much better plug, smart charger.
- Shimano engine with a console >> mahle system.
Con : the mid frame is nice on paper but once you want to add frame bag or bottle carrier it actually sucks. The battery does not seem to be removable.
They don't weight the bike and do not show how one can remove the battery.
- Hydraulic brakes.
- Suspension fork.
- Central engine (which ia much much better)
- Better transmission (but still a single crankset)
- Much better plug, smart charger.
- Shimano engine with a console >> mahle system.
Con : the mid frame is nice on paper but once you want to add frame bag or bottle carrier it actually sucks. The battery does not seem to be removable.
They don't weight the bike and do not show how one can remove the battery.
antboy
Well-Known Member
I don't see how the mid frame is an issue, since there's a full frame version available as well. That would be a user preference.
The removeable battery is the bigger issue. I've been hemming and hawing about possibly getting a Kemen (or maybe an Urrun, and foregoing the mid frame), but the internal battery is giving me pause. I would keep the bike in my home, but still a tough call.
Oh yes for me this is the biggest weakness, and strong incentive not to buy it. I don't know if it can be removed by the user in 1-2mn with a scredriver, on the vibe it was complex and doing it would had void the warranty. I don't get why they do it, on the Canyon roadlite they have the newer fazua (you don't need anymoe to open the battery container to switch the bike on -- this was so silly) and you can remove the battery in less than 30 seconds.
Even if you store the bike inside, near plug, it is imperative to be able to remove the battery if it get faulty or if for some reason you cannot move the bike near a plug.
It is reallly a major flaw.
Even if you store the bike inside, near plug, it is imperative to be able to remove the battery if it get faulty or if for some reason you cannot move the bike near a plug.
It is reallly a major flaw.
The Kemen 30 SUV I rode was 52lbs. The Urrun didn't ride as well for me and weighed 46lbs- my sweet spot. Unfortunately the battery is not easily removed. It also had a 32 tooth bottom bracket forcing a high cadence. The Urrun also had uncomfortably wide handlebar- and I have long arms.
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