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The 2022 Orbea Terra is the latest iteration of the gravel offering from the Spanish bike brand, a bike that is hailed as a lightweight, responsive and versatile adventure machine.
From time to time when new lines of bikes come to market, you may yearn for the setup of the top tier bike but don’t vibe all that much with the colours on offer, the wrong tone of green with the fancy groupset just wont do, and the nice wheels you have saved up for to upgrade to, well they arent gonna pop against a flame red set of forks.
Well fear not!
Like much of the Orbea range the MyO customisation tool lets you pick and choose the colours of the frame, fork, decals and even throw on some custom text on the top tube if the mood takes you, not only that the options are seemingly limitless if you want to mix up the bars, saddles and wheels out of the factory also.
So if aesthetics is paramount when picking a new bike, thats a pretty helpful start point eh?
When it comes to the rest of the bike, well the 2022 Orbea Terra really has been developed to excel in all the right places, efforts have been made to refine the geometry to make for a more comfortable ride on gravel, and while yes that is usually good patter for a brand to use when releasing a new bike the Terra really does have some features that are going to ensure your comfortable on all sorts of terrain and for extended periods of time.
Right off the back the amount of material used in and around the slightly shorter seat tube and bottom bracket that has been dropped in height to 78mm all add to a more stable and comfortable ride. This then partnered with a 27.2mm seatpost is sure to offer less chatter from the rougher trails that excitable riders find themselves on.
This drop in Bottom Bracket height is intended to enhance the sensations of the bike feeling more planted which is then balanced out with slightly steeper headtube angles to ensure a liveliness in steering, all aided by increasing the distance between top of the headtube and bottom bracket (AKA Reach). The introduction of a longer fork is designed to absorb impact and to displace vibrations over the rough stuff and at the back end of the bike things are tucked up with a shorter set of 420mm chainstays that help in acceleration and agility when tackling some of the more technical trails a terrain.
Especially when tackling slightly steeper than normal rocky descents should those tracks get a bit too spicy.
So having addressed aesthetics and the wonders of how geometry effects ride quality whats next to cover?
Well im glad you asked, the Terra seems to have developed a few features that are reminiscent of some other models out there in the wider world, namely the SWAT box feature on some diverge models by specialized and numerous mountain bikes in their lineup.
This excellent use of the cavernous downtube real estate that Orbea have called Lockr is so very gadgety and looks great if you ask me, allowing stowage of things like spare tubes, tools, a light gilet maybe and of course snacks (you cant expect anyone to write about bikes and not include snacks?).
This Lockr box lid still allowing for a bottle cage to be mounted means the bike can take up to three bottles in total, with the underside of the downtube having a set of mounts seated inside a plastic downtube protector, a welcome addition to any gravel frame and something that others often neglect.
The tidy features dont stop there though, each model in the range features internal cable routing that keeps the bike looking clean and clutter free both around the bars and the downtube area, a nice touch to ensure fitting bags and accessories is as effortless as possible, while often internal routing can be a faff it my well minimise extra wear on headtubes and fancy paint work if you get all custom using the MyO tool.
Unusually the through axles are where you will find the mounting points for fenders which when installed are going to bring the tyre clearance down to 35mm, which isnt anything to sniff at. When riding in warmer, drier times and the mudguards arent required you can expect to run a healthy 45mm on 700c wheels and then ramping up to 50mm when using 650b.
Wrangling gravel bikes wouldnt be the same without some flared bar options and this also available when selecting through the options in MyO, whether you are interested in 12 degrees or 16 degrees flare thats a possibility and if you want a slightly less aggressive position there are double height versions available too.
With the host of options available to customise the bikes appearance and comfort by way of saddle, bars etc its maybe a missed opportunity to not include mounting points on forks for additional cages and also up on the toptube for a more secure bag if running something extra in and around the cockpit. Of course not a deal breaker it is maybe something that could sway decisions, but until we ride one its only speculation.
With seven carbon options across the range there are a bounty of variations for the customer, and the offerings of spec are just as varied with drivetrain options from Campagnolo, Sram and Shimano in both mechanical and Electronic while also the introduction of dropped chainstays make for ample room to fit a 1x or 2x setup.
Geometry and Pricing
Pricing across the range starts at £2899 for the base model :
TERRA M30 TEAM 1X
Wheels – Orbea Road DB
Groupset – Shimano GRX RX600 40t
Tyres – Vittoria Terreno Dry CX-Gravel G2.0 TNT 700x38c
Brakes – Shimano RX400 Hydraulic disc
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – OC1 All Road, reach 80mm, drop 125mm, flare 12 Degree
Increasing by just £100 sterling a 2 x option of the M30 TEAM sits at £2999
TERRA M30 TEAM
Wheels – Orbea Road DB
Groupset – Gossamer Pro Direct Mount AGX 46-30T
Tyres – Vittoria Terreno Dry CX-Gravel G2.0 TNT 700x38c
Brakes – Shimano RX400 Hydraulic disc
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – OC1 All Road, reach 80mm, drop 125mm, flare 12 Degree
Stepping up to £3399 the next model offers 2 x GRX and a great colour option in blue and orange.
TERRA M20 TEAM
Wheels – Orbea Road DB
Groupset – Shimano GRX RX810 31x48t
Tyres – Vittoria Terreno Dry CX-Gravel G2.0 TNT 700x38c
Brakes – Shimano RX810 Hydraulic disc
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – OC1 All Road, reach 80mm, drop 125mm, flare 12 Degree
Electronic gearing options start at £3799 with SRAM Rival Etap AXS
TERRA M31e TEAM 1x
Wheels – FULCRUM Rapid Red 900 DB
Groupset – SRAM Rival 1 Dub Wide 40t
Tyres – Vittoria Terreno Dry CX-Gravel G2.0 TNT 700x38c
Brakes – SRAM Rival eTap AXS
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – OC1 All Road, reach 80mm, drop 125mm, flare 12 Degree
Levelling up to the builds above 4000 the next model drops at £4599 again with a GRX 2x option
TERRA M21i TEAM
Wheels – FULCRUM Rapid Red 900 DB
Groupset – Shimano GRX RX810 31x48t
Tyres – Pirelli CinturatoTM Gravel H 700x40c TLR
Brakes – Shimano BR-RX810 Hydraulic disc
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – OC1 All Road, reach 80mm, drop 125mm, flare 12 Degree
A top tier Terra will set you back £4999 and thats most of the bells and whistles you would expect including the new SRAM XPLR Derailleur.
TERRA M21E Team 1X
Wheels – FULCRUM Rapid Red 900 DB
Groupset – SRAM Force 1 DM Dub 40t
Tyres – Pirelli CinturatoTM Gravel H 700x40c TLR
Brakes – SRAM Force eTap AXS
Saddle – Prologo Akero AGX STN size 155mm
Handlebars – Easton EC90 AX Carbon, flare 12o, Di2 internal routing
For more info on the Orbea Terra and to configure your own colour setup head to the Orbea site.
Last modified: 13th November 2021
