His & Hers Custom Orbea Terra Beautiful Bicycles!
One of the aspects of gravel riding that people seem to embrace most is the freedom. Freedom from traffic, freedom from the confines of the city, freedom to explore areas beyond the normal capabilities of a road bike, yet not requiring the size and complexity of a mountain bike. From desert tracks to forest paths, to wide open fire roads, gravel riding provides the opportunity to use a more simplified, stripped down machine to get away from it all. Gravel bikes give you the freedom to do things your way, in regards to both how the bike is built and thanks to Orbea’s Customize program, how the bike looks as well! This installment of our Beautiful Bicycle brings you a pair of Orbea Terra gravel rigs built and painted to a husband and wife adventure team's specifications.
Adventuring off road is one of cycling's great pleasures, and for some riders venturing off solo is what it’s all about. Sharing the adventure however is what draws many of us to venture off into the wide world of gravel. Being able to create and share memories of an epic outing or a simple afternoon jaunt makes riding magic. But just because you’re sharing the adventure with your partner doesn’t mean you have to ride identical bikes! While these two Terras share the same core specifications, each one individually expresses its green-themed character thanks to the Orbea color selector, via the "Customize Your Orbea" link on the Contender website. Our customers were able to choose the frame base color, secondary frame color, fork details, Orbea logo color and the finish sheen (gloss or matte).
Once these Terras were ordered and delivered to the shop, one more custom touch was applied in the form of expanding the already super-capable SRAM Rival Xplr AXS drivetrain to what has come to be known as a “Mullet” gearing setup. For this configuration the Rival cassette, rear derailleur and chain are swapped out for SRAM’s GX AXS Eagle MTB units, bumping the tooth count on the low end of the cassette from 44, up to a wall-climbing 52 tooth cassette. The Rival crankset and 40 tooth chainring remain, keeping the same final high-end gear ratio as the stock Rival Xplr setup. This configuration is gaining in popularity with riders that routinely tackle steep climbs with fast flats and descents in between. While some of the mid-range gearing is sacrificed, the ability to essentially climb any mountain is key to where these Terras will be adventuring. Watch for a more in-depth look into “Gravel Mullets” from us in the future.
The rest of the build list for these adventure-ready Terras include SRAM Rival shifters and brakes, Fulcrum Rapid Red 500 DB alloy wheels, Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H 700x45 Tires, Orbea OC Performance cockpits and Prologo Akero AGX STN saddles.
Are you ready to design your off-road dream bikes with your Partner in Grime? Check out the Orbea customization section on www.contendershop.com. Even if you prefer to fly solo, you have the freedom to stand out! Come visit us at the shop in Salt Lake or Park City, or online at www.contendershop.com to build your Orbea your way!