Orbea is a bicycle manufacturer based in

Mallabia Mallabia (in Basque and officially, in Spanish: ''Mallavia'') is an elizate, town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Mallabia is part of the ''comarca'' of Durangaldea and has a population o ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is part of the

Mondragón Cooperative Corporation The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It was founded in the town of Mondragon in 1956 by José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical ...

and Spain's largest bicycle manufacturer. Orbea manufactures and assembles bikes at their own factory in Mallabia, the other models being made in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and frameset are from China.

History

Bicicleta Orbea (de la decada de 1970) 01

Orbea was founded in 1840 by brothers Juan Manuel, Mateo, and Casimiro Orbea in

Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eusta ...

, Basque Country, Spain. Originally a rifle and gun producer, Orbea exited the gun business and began designing and producing bicycles as Orbea Bicycles in 1930. Orbea began participating in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

as early as 1934, with famous Spaniard Mariano Cañardo as the face of the Orbea

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws as ...

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

. In 1969, under dire financial circumstances, employees formed a co-operative and purchased Orbea from the Orbea family. The newly formed Orbea cooperative left Eibar the same year to nearby Mallabia, where their first dedicated bicycle factory was built. For the next several decades, the company would focus on producing leisure bikes for consumers in Spain and around Europe. Orbea would return to competitive road cycling in the 1980s as Gin MG-Orbea and later SEAT-Orbea, led by Spaniard cyclists

Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Robledo (; born 15 April 1960), also known as Perico (), is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989. Delgado is 171 centimetres tall (5&nb ...

, Jokin Mújika, and

Pello Ruiz Cabestany Pello Ruiz Cabestany (born March 13, 1962 in San Sebastián) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. Major results ;1980 : 1st Pursuit, National Track Championships ;1982 : 1st : 1st Stages 8b & 11 Vuelta a Guatemala : 1st St ...

. Participating in both Tour de France and

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...

. Orbea began manufacturing mountain bikes in 1989.

Products

Orbea designs and manufactures a variety of road, mountain,

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

, and urban bikes. More famously seen in competitions: the Orca and Avant road bikes, Rallon and Occam Mountain Bikes, and Ordu time trial/triathlon models.

Competitive use

Orbea has sponsored and supplied bikes to teams, including the professional team in the Basque area of Spain and the Herring Gas team in the USA.

Samuel Sánchez Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the and squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2 ...

rode an Orbea Orca Carbon to win the road race at the Beijing Olympics and Julien Absalon won the mountain bike gold on an Orbea Alma. Craig Alexander, three time Ironman World Triathlon Champion (2008, 2009, 2011), rode an Orbea Ordu in his first 2 wins and although he had planned to spend the rest of his career racing on Orbea bicycles, having signed a lifetime contract with Orbea in 2010, he switched to another brand for the 2011 race. The UCI Professional Continental team Cofidis Solutions Crédits raced Orbea bikes in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The UCI Domestic Elite Cycling Team, Rio Grande Elite Cycling Team, currently races on Orbea bikes.

E-bikes

Launching at the end of 2017, Orbea introduced the Gain e-bike model available in both road and hybrid model. Further to this they introduced the electric-assisted Orbea Wild mountain bike in 2019.

References

External links

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Orbea AustraliaOrbea RomaniaCyclingnews.com - Inside Orbea: Spain's co-operative bike company
{{Sports equipment brands Firearm manufacturers of Spain Cycle manufacturers of Spain Mondragon Corporation Mountain bike manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1840 Basque companies Spanish brands Gipuzkoa