Orbea Occam - The Perfect Park City Bike?

Orbea has had the Occam in the lineup for quite some time now, consistently landing itself as a shop favorite trail bike with it even being the personal choice for multiple staff members. The models available over the last handful of years have had 140mm of travel, a snappy and maneuverable geometry and a focus on fun. So when the time came to redesign the bike, this left the question, how do you make a bike already so well loved even better? Well, Orbea answered with the all new Occam, boasting two models, the SL and LT. The Occam SL sports 140mm of travel front and rear with a focus on lightweight fun, while the LT version utilizes 150mm rear, 160mm front travel for a progressive and rowdy, but capable high travel trail bike. 

The Occam SL 

The Occam SL might be what we would call the perfect Park City do-it-all bike. With 140mm of travel front and rear, it has the suspension to tackle the bigger features and chunk Park City may throw your way. But, if you’ve ever ridden there, you know how much the climbing can be a pain with steeper Park City trails. The new Occam SL tackles this by using Orbea's proprietary “Squidlock” remote lockout mechanism on the fork and rear shock. If you are familiar with the Orbea Oiz, the system has been tried and tested on the XC bike for the last 3 years. This lets you have a 140mm bike with the push of a button, cut the travel in half, stiffen the compression, and help with pedal bob for a more efficient ride. This lets you travel Park City’s higher elevation trails and more grueling climbs without the same downsides of a standard trail bike over a XC bike. 

This bike's geometry is centered for a bike that wants to live in the flow, loving fast moving trails and is very maneuverable. The large Occam SL features a 65.5º headangle, 78º seat tube angle, 490mm reach, and 440mm chainstays. This long reach and chainstays combined with a steeper head angle makes for a super fun and poppy bike. Additionally, new to the Occam SL is the addition of a frame storage box in the downtube, for all those mid-ride snacks. One of the most astounding things is how the top-end M LTD version of the Occam SL comes in under 24 lbs, which is crazy for a 140mm bike! 

The Occam LT 

When things get chunky and steep, the Occam LT is there to play. The LT has a lot more travel and keeps you stable when the situation gets rowdy, at 150mm rear and 160mm front travel. The LT version is for someone who tends to get into gnarlier terrain and steeper terrain. The bike is great for someone who likes to ride “high country” or high desert riding, as the travel lets you hit some pretty big features, but is more forgiving than an enduro bike to pedal uphill. The rowdy attitude of the Occam is shown in its spec. See the M10, with a coil shock, and the Fox fork using a Grip2 damper, showing this bike's true, traction-loving colors. 

The new geometry for the LT version in a size large puts the head angle at 64º, seat tube at 77º, 480mm reach and 440mm chainstays at a full degree-and-a-half slacker than the SL version. Besides the geometry and suspension specifications, the LT also shows its more descent-oriented blood compared to the SL with bigger tires, beefier rims, longer dropper posts and no lockout. 

LT and SL features 

While these bikes are different, they share a lot of really cool features. As mentioned earlier, both bikes now have frame storage, and that extremely long and straight seat tube, letting you run as long of a dropper as you need. The new Occams also have a new frame protection system made for them by Orbea called Second Skin. This should keep that new paint job looking fresher for longer. Both the alloy and carbon frames also feature bike tool storage, stored in the link.

Highlights:

• Oquo wheels on all carbon models, (MP for the SL, MC for the LT) 
• Orbea SIC headset routing (as seen previously on the Oiz) 
• Alloy (Hydro/H) and Carbon (M) frame options 
• S, M, LG, and XL sizes 
• MyO program for select models 
• Customizable suspension within MyO 

While the high alpine mountains have already been brushed with snow, desert season is still ahead. We can't wait to head to Southern Utah to ride and experience the new Orbea Occam while we dream of high country riding next year.