Review: 2024 Orbea Occam LT - Modernly Convenient

Does this approach risk alienating both groups with a bike that is too heavy for some but a frame that isn't burly enough for others? That's surely a risk, but I also think it's worth noting that Orbea not only changes the shock stroke but also uses a different link. I'm sure you could make it slightly lighter, but I don't think the stresses going through a 140mm travel bike are worlds apart from those going through one with a bigger fork and 10mm more rear travel. The SL uses a carbon link that does not have geometry adjustment, and the LT uses a forged link that has geo adjustment and slightly different kinematics. I think this approach is a step removed from the simple cut-and-shut of all-mountain stroke reduction and calling it a whole new bike.

Both versions are available with either a carbon or aluminum frame. The various build kits can be customized using Orbea's MyO program, which offers everything from different tire casings to suspension components. The SL also features a lockout, should you prefer smooth climbs or a numbed crotch.

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Frame Details

The Occam has a slender, dare I say spindly profile. I think it's an okay-looking bike, but it exists in the uncanny valley of what a modern bike looks like. There are so many lines that are parallel to, yet also in conflict with each other.

There is a bracing arm on the drive-side of the front triangle. This asymmetric design is intended to give the rider the stiffness they require without the weight they don't want. The arm offset also means there is room for a full-sized 750mm water bottle, which is accessed with the rider's left hand. Underneath the bottle cage is a door that can access the downtube. The storage is impressive and adequate.

Although frame storage is nice, still having tool-carrying bosses on the underside of the top tube is always appreciated. If only because it means that you have more room in your downtube without the tube in there. With this setup, you can often fit a shake-dry showerproof jacket in there just in case you get caught out by the weather.


At the front of the bike is one pleasant surprise and one less so. For data lovers (or DATA if you use the North American pronunciation) the Garmin mount headset spacer is both seamless and secure. It does feel somewhat loose, and I was concerned it would rattle, but it proved to be very quiet. The cable tourism isn't so hot, though. The gear line runs on the underside of the bar. I don't understand this approach. I'm not opposed to internal cables, but they should make the bike look better. Sometimes, the trade-off for worse sealing and harder maintenance is a bike that looks uglier from certain angles. This is such a raw deal. If a brand is going to do it, I think it should be so clean that nobody can argue with it.

On the frame, there is also a minimalist chain guide and a magnetic multi-tool that fits within the main pivot. Both these touches are so welcome and considered. The bike has a 6mm lever to slot into the rear axle to double up both as an installation and trail-side tool. That said, during testing, I could never torque the wheel tightly enough with the small lever, even when stepping on it, and it would often wobble loose. Using a full-sized Allen key before slotting in the lever remedied this.

There is very sensible frame padding and chain protection, which is great to see, plus a flip chip at the base of the shock to offer half a degree and angle adjustment. The flip-chip works with the axle lever so well. You can change the geometry in well under a minute, and you just have to unweight the wheel to go into the steep mode or rest the bike to go into the slack mode before retightening. This is honestly a wonderful feature and genuinely gives such a painless option of geometry adjustment that changing it to steeper for a single big day no longer seems like an unwarranted indulgence. The clever tools, solid storage, adjustment and ample frame protection will appeal to your core mountain bikers - maybe even enough to offset the dislike for the cable routing.

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Geometry

The geometry of the Occam LT represents some of the best of the new school and seems to be a real product of the things we've learned in the past half-decade. Everything sits very centrally to where people's expectations may lie. At 480mm for a large in the low mode, the reach is moderate and thanks to the 77-degree seat tube angle, the effective top tube is roomy without being cumbersome; in range without being cramped. The 440mm stays complement the 635mm stack well and give a bike that offers a decent balance for all-round riding, as well as something that can offer stability when things become rougher or faster.


The seat tube is also well-considered, a good blend of length and insertion depth (see you in the comments for the puns). All riders have the option of running a long travel dropper post – even the size small will work with a fully-slammed 230mm post. Although not the most exciting area of design on paper, in the real world, I think long droppers are one of the things that riders benefit from most, and it's great to see Orbea embrace this with a long, uninterrupted seat tube. The 77 or 77.5-degree seat tube is also right on the money for a bike that you want to canter on flatter sections while also being weighted with a planted front on steeper pitches.

The 440mm stays will please some in the middle of the range, but riders who chose the small or extra large frame might feel slightly short-changed.

Suspension Design

The Occam uses a linkage-driven single-pivot layout, with the rear pivot concentric to the rear axle. The bike does without a bridge over the seatstays, but the stout link that drives the shock yoke provides adequate stiffness for aggressive riding. The wing on the drive side of the front triangle no doubt plays a part in this, with its rearward end also being where the pivot is located. I imagine a lot of this stiffness is thanks to the support this wing gives the central pivot that sits just fore of the seat tube. The layout is great for mud shedding, with nowhere for water to catch and pool. There is also a small flap over the gap between the swingarm and frame to aid this further.


The bike has quite a high anti-squat value throughout. At the start of the stroke 135%, reducing to around 125% at sag before lowering further to around 100% at the bottom out. This does make for a firm pedalling bike, even if one that perhaps doesn't flutter through small bumps on climbs. The average leverage ratio of 2.7 feels relatively linear when riding, and I ended up running a larger volume spacer to the shock to suit my preference. For any rider that wants to ride more aggressive, non-graded trails I would consider experimenting with volume reduction spacers almost immediately.

With anti-rise values of around 60% throughout the travel, the Occam offers good braking in high-grip situations while also being consistent and neutral on large repeated hits or on the setup into turns. Because of its linear-progressive leverage curve, it feels very consistent throughout its stroke, and the braking plays into this. Neutral, almost to a fault.

Furthermore, when taking big hits and going deep into the travel, it felt like there was a lot of variation of speed on the rebounding stroke. I felt the .8 was just a shade more manageable in this regard and offered a more predictable character when riding this bike, particularly hard and fast.

This could probably be addressed with more high-speed damping, but that would also require revalving the shock. It was definitely within limits with its stock tune, but it is worth being aware of. The external rebound adjustment will throttle both low and high speed, but I enjoyed the grip that was available with it set up for the initial stroke, so I decided to bias my setting towards that.

There aren't many test bikes we get where I can say I truly wouldn't change anything, and maybe that's ironic considering how much Orbea have gone out of their way to offer custom parts configuration through their MyO program* . The stock bars have a nice shape and moderate 20 rise OC (Orbea's in-house brand) come in a wide 800 mm, which I cut down to 770 mm. The 200 mm seat post was reliable, and I am thankful that it's at least 200, but it is strange to be in the position where I've started to feel 200 is the absolute bare minimum that I would want. Thankfully, Orbea's custom program can let you swap this out at no extra cost.

*Side note - the Orbea site is one of the most bewildering mountain bike websites somebody could ever have the misfortune of using. It feels like you're stuck in a PowerPoint presentation from 2010. I genuinely resented it every time I wanted to gather information for this review.



Testing Info

Testing took place in Squamish, BC, over a five-month period. I started in the autumn and have been coming back to the Orbea. It's been fun to contrast its efficient nature with the all-trucking Knolly Chilcotin over the winter. Typically, I enjoyed riding flat-out trails on Diamondhead on this bike. Particularly those dark blues where you can throw caution to the wind, lower your weight and hope for the best.

Climbing


The Occam is a fun and punchy trail bike. The seated position can feel somewhat longer and more stretched out than its middling 625mm effective top tube for my size large would suggest. It's definitely not too low or unwieldy, but it does feel more drawn out than some other trail bikes. How we measure effective top tubes isn't a perfect science, and I think this larger feeling is a consequence of that. This isn't to say that Orbea is wrong, but rather, across the industry, this is something that could be tightened up.


Riding the Occam, it's very clear that the higher level of anti-squat gives a firm off-the-top feeling, and, as a consequence, pedals very well. Like almost all mountain bikes in this day and age, the shock does have a climb switch, but I can't say I ever found myself reaching for it. On tech climbs, it's a bike that gets over things because it responds very sharply to acceleration and rider input, but it's certainly not a magic carpet. It's a bike that you tend to try to accelerate on smooth sections and then go lighter on technical steps or rougher sections. It can struggle to find grip when there are repeated square edges, especially with its stock volume reducer setup.

The weight distribution is very solid, though, and the planted front offsets the inherent instability of a firmer rear well through jankier sections of singletrack. Some bikes are so supple off the top they don't ever get pushed around by rougher sections on the way up, others feel sporty and direct enough to be able to temper any lack of grip with a bit of extra speed. While this isn't novel or particular to the Occam LT, it does mean a rider has to be a bit more active and choose their moments to surge and coast more.

On the flip side, on smoother climbs, be it fire roads or pavement, the Occam's sheer efficiency will win many over, especially those who have a somewhat more traditional expectation of what it means to be a well-climbing trail bike.

Descending

Here's the headline - this bike isn't particularly exciting, but it is a safe pair of hands. In a world of weird, wonderful and sometimes outright concerning, the appeal of the palette cleanser shouldn't be understated. It's somewhat subdued and predictable, and although it doesn't feel like the most sophisticated suspension or a genre-defining take, it's a pleasant bike that is easy to get along with. But for those who don't have the opportunity to try many different bikes, what does that mean? And how does that feel out on the trail? This can be broken down into three key areas: stiffness and compliance, suspension and geometry. Let's start with the foremost.

Despite a somewhat slight-looking rear end, one that has the notable absence of a bridge between the stays, the Occam is a suitably direct and stiff bike. Not least, I imagine, due to that bracing arm that envelopes the water bottle. You can really carve turns on this bike, and if you're somebody who likes to square things off, this bike feels confidence-inspiring and very consistent. There is no lurching or flex that should undermine your confidence. It does this all while managing to be comfortable. How much flex is good is a complicated matter with no one clear answer, but the Occam is a really nice blend of stiffness and compliance. You know where it will be underneath you without being so stiff that it resists every and all twisting forces to its detriment. I think it depends not only on the rider's style and application but also on the character of the bike. This leads me to my next point - suspension.


When you slam on the brakes, there is a degree of weight transfer into your hands, but overall, what happens to your weight is both reasonably consistent and easy to predict. If you want to pop and preload, the midstroke will handle it very well. Flat pedal riders might feel their feet threatening to get quite busy on rough, choppy trails under harsh braking and rough sections. The suspension and drivetrain feel very interlinked, and as a rider, this is something you will feel both in the sense that it inhibits tracking as well as the degree of fatigue on long, rougher runs.


The geometry of the Occam also blends well with these prior two characteristics. It's definitely slack, long and low enough, but it doesn't exaggerate one to the other's detriment. The bike is slack enough to hold its line but steep enough to be reactive. It is long enough to offer stability but short enough with a positive enough front to feel direct. These traits complement the poppy suspension and stiffness.

While the Occam might not be the most exciting bike or offer anything groundbreaking, it is direct, responsive and comfortable. In some ways, it's a really well-rounded bike for riders looking to get out there and have a predictable good time, as opposed to one that's aimed at core riders who want something to unlock that final tier of performance.

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How Does It Compare?


Orbea aren't the only one with a refreshed staple in their lineup; last year Cannondale released the Habit LT. Similar to the Occam, it's a bike that shares some key elements with a short travel platform.

Although the Habit might have 10mm less travel, it feels like a bigger bike that tracks better. That said, it doesn't feel so sharp, which might be the reason you opted for a trail bike and not a 170mm enduro bike to begin with. The Habit is a better bike for rough trails and offers more grip, which you'll appreciate on rough trails whether going up or down. But for faster, slightly smoother trails, the Occam does feel that bit more responsive, as well as maybe slightly stiffer.

The rear end of the Habit just felt like it did so much more in terms of grip, albeit with less travel. It feels like a bike that wants to work for you, doing what it's told, whereas the Occam tends to push back a little more.

I really enjoyed the Habit LT. I don't know about better overall, but it's certainly a bike better suited to the trails I enjoy riding. For those that want something to ride wider, machine-built trails, through, the Occam has enough travel to handle the hits and enough support not to feel like you're wasting any energy.

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Which Model is the Best Value?


Although I deride it, one thing Orbea's website does allow for is their expansive custom program - MyO. Ultimately, this is a good, if not slightly bewildering thing. It means you can get the exact bike you want. This is particularly useful when it comes to dimensions. No more selling on that 170mm seat post as soon as you take delivery of your brand-new bike and shell out more money for one that actually fits. With MyO, you can simply choose.

With that in mind, I would probably get the H20 alloy framed bike, and then potentially upgrade the suspension and brakes. It seems like a solid base, though, and it means I can go without the things that I don't particularly care for (carbon bars) or get cheap options on the things I feel will break anyway (wheels) and then upgrade with time.

For reference, our bike was the M10 version.

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Technical Report


Fox Suspension: I have always enjoyed riding the Grip2, and I was thankful for the tunability of the air spring during the test. That said, for a bike that might see riders opt for a spring rate and curve so very different from the stock one, the ability to adjust high and low-speed rebound independently of one another would prove useful. Then again, bigger shocks weigh more, and this could prove unpopular. Overall, I think the Float X and 36 are both great options for a bike of this ilk.

Clever Tools and Storage: In a world where the differences between bikes is getting smaller and smaller, an easy win for any brand is giving you a bike that's easier to live with. Magnetic tools that secure themselves in the pivots, frame storage, axles and clever flip chips are all very welcome touches.

Dropper post: This bike will give a greater range of riders the choice of what seat post they wish to run thanks to its long and uninterrupted seat tube. This benefit is further enhanced by Orbea's custom program, which will give you the seat post travel you actually need.

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Pinkbike's Take

The Occam LT is a bike that most people will get on and simply enjoy, even if that means that the enthusiast might find it a little tame or uninspiring. It's comfortable, packed full of sensible features and has an efficient nature, both on the climbs and descents. That said, for those who want a 150mm travel bike to find grip whenever they need it and will encourage them to push harder, there are other bikes with the same amount of travel or less that induce a lot more confidence. —Henry Quinney

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Trail Bikes Orbea Orbea Occam