- This is Nacer Bouhanni's brand new Orbea Orca Aero,
it's the first aero road bike that Orbea ever made.
And by all accounts,
according to wind tunnel data,
it is fast.
Now we'll see during this year's Tour de France,
just how fast Bouhanni can make it go.
But he has just got himself a 27-watt advantage
over his standard superlight,
and also aero,
Orbea Orca road bike.
Let's find out a little bit more, shall we?
(calm, electronic music)
Now before we go into equipment choices,
let's look at this frame in a little more detail, shall we?
It is a very, very interesting bike.
And there's one particular reason I'm saying that,
and that is because the UCI over the winter,
relaxed their 3:1 ratio rule.
So that was the rule that governed how deep
and how narrow tubes could be.
And so this bike is the first, apparently,
to take advantage of that.
So what that means, firstly,
is that it can be made more aerodynamic.
So the fork blades are super narrow,
but also super deep.
That really helps with that.
But also it can help to improve stiffness.
If you look closely at some of those cheap sections,
particularly the chain stays.
They're absolutely massive,
and so that means it is phenomenally stiff.
Stiffness was one of the objectives of Orbea,
when they set out to make it.
Aerodynamic first, then stiff second.
And so a rider like Nacer Bouhanni particularly
is gonna be very, very pleased indeed.
Going back to a comparison with that Orca lightweight frame.
Apparently, torsional stiffness up at the front end,
has been boosted from ninety newton metres per degree.
Right up to
one hundred twenty four newton metres per degree.
Now that is a significant increase.
I think you'll agree.
Now, to boost it even more,
Bouhanni has actually gone
for this monster vision stem here.
Most of the rest of the team are using the really,
super nice aerodynamic Merton one-piece bar and stem.
Bouhanni has forsaken a little bit of aerodynamics,
in favour of this.
This could be the stiffest front end of any bike
at the Tour de France.
Staying up front for just a minute,
let's also look at the handlebars.
Bouhanni has chosen aluminium bars.
Now it wasn't long ago,
that pretty much all pros used aluminium bars
for concerns about safety and longevity in a crash.
But now, pretty much everyone's transitioned over to carbon.
But these bad boys are on here,
FSA's Energy,
presumably for stiffness.
The one thing I'm noticing is the fact
that they are super narrow.
If I measure them up,
38cm.
Narrow is aero when it comes to handlebars.
Now let's move round to the rear of the bike, shall we?
It's not all about stiffness.
The seat-post in particular, super narrow.
But actually, it's narrow in all directions, as well.
And it's made so it gives a little bit more compliance
to the bike, so it's not rigid everywhere.
And that's definitely a good thing.
The other thing that's gonna give a little bit more comfort
is the fact that Bouhanni is running,
as everyone is,
25mm tyres.
But the rears, by the look of it,
clearance for up to 28mm in there,
should he wish.
Now those tyres are Kenda SC's.
And they are glued to Vision Metron 55 wheels.
Which, funny enough,
actually have got Bouhanni's name on there.
So you wonder slightly whether or not,
there may be something special about these wheels,
because riders don't normally get personalised wheels.
So something perhaps we need to check back on.
Groupset now and the Cofidis team
are using Shimano Dura Ace.
Now everyone is on the electronic Di2.
A couple riders are sticking with mechanical,
but Bouhanni here, is indeed on Di2.
Again, this Orbea makes use of the fact
that the junction box can be hidden in the down tube there.
So that makes the bike, again,
more aerodynamic, as well as just looking a bit prettier.
We've got 11-28 cassette on there.
That will change depending on what the stage is.
As perhaps, as the chainrings as well,
but Bouhanni's using 53/39.
But you'll notice that, this is a FSA time trial chainring.
Not only is it going to be slightly more aerodynamic,
also likely to be super stiff, as well.
So that's really going to help that kind of power
that Bouhanni puts out in sprints.
That is mounted to an FSA K-Force Light, crank set,
and he's running 172.5mm cranks.
Which is quite a long for a rider his stature.
He is after all running a 49cm frame.
Brakes are Shimano Dura-Ace again,
and they are now the direct mount versions, as well.
Which is the first Orbea to have those.
So that is partly what give the bike
more tyre clearance, as well.
Then lastly, we've got Prologo Nago Evo Saddle.
That's one of the ones with the grippy little dots on there.
Really good if you're particularly prone
to sliding around in the saddle.
That's going to affect any grip of your cycling shorts.
They're not going to slide.
And then, the last thing that we've got
to give a bit of nod to,
is that really, kind of cool looking bar tape.
Before we look at the vital statistics of this bike,
so the dimensions and also the weight,
there are a very few nice touches on this.
Firstly, the team's sponsored by Jagwire cables.
So you haven't got gear cables on this obviously,
because it's electronic,
but we do have the modular aluminium brake cable.
So they're much lighter than standard ones,
and they also promise improved breaking fail, as well.
Because the housing, what's called compression less,
so all your power is transferred straight to the brake pads.
Then, we've got a CeramicSpeed Bottom Bracket
in there, as well.
The team is sponsored by them.
So less resistance
from your bottom bracket bearings, supposedly.
Then you'll also notice that there's an absence,
anywhere in this bike,
of any kind of powermeter.
Which is quite odd in the modern day and age,
but Bouhanni forsakes powermeters.
Says he doesn't want to use one and so he doesn't.
Probably the sign of a man with good results
and a team leader.
As is the fact,
that he's only running one water bottle cage.
Not many people could get away with riding
the Tour De France with one water bottle.
But if you're a team leader
and you have a constant supply
of domestiques bringing you drinks.
So perhaps, that's what he's going for.
70.1cm's
and then
the bars to the stem
are measuring as 57cm, center bars,
to tip of saddle.
That's quite a long reach actually for saddle height.
7.5kg
So that is Nacer Bouhanni's super fast
and brand new Orbea Orca Aero Bike.
Make sure you let us know
in the comments section down below
just what you think of it.
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