Tests of ‘conventional’ big-wheeled bikes are rare in A to B, because we prefer to concentrate on more interesting things, but the concept of a really well-equipped commuter machine was quite tempting.

Everyday bikes, it seems to us, should be like everyday cars – practical, reliable and safe. As most regular cyclists will know, the reverse is often the case. Most bicycle lights are poor and other essential equipment is either missing or unreliable. Salesmen deliver stacks of gears, but within a few weeks the indexing starts to go wrong, the chain has worn out and that enthusiastic return to cycle commuting begins to feel more trouble than it’s worth.

Orbit’s new Orion (‘the best commuting machine yet made’, says the company) is a brave attempt to sell a ready to ride, fully-equipped commuter bike. In essence, it’s a custom-made alloy frame in ladies or gents styling, kitted out with some really good (and hopefully reliable) componentry – a solid, practical everyday package.

Riding

We’re not really the best people to ask about big-wheel handling.This one seems jolly good, although the alloy frame feels a bit dead and stodgy compared to steel, and at up to 14.2kg, it’s on the heavy side. Rolling resistance is good, handling is adequate (no- one fell off), and that’s about the limit of our expertise, and very possibly your interest.

Gears are either Shimano 2×9 derailleur or – much more interesting – a SRAM 7- speed hub.The German-made SRAM 7-speed is probably the best multi-gear hub (and will remain so unless the Sturmey 8 proves to be very good indeed). Since the demise of the frail but elegant Sturmey Archer 7-speed, the SRAM’s only competitor has been the Shimano Nexus, which it comprehensively outshines, whatever your local Shimano agent might say. Gear range is wider (284% against 244%), efficiency is higher, particularly in the low gears, and wheel removal doesn’t involve blood, sweat and tears.

Our example is slightly marred by rather tight and graunchy mechanicals, which are stiff enough to cause some drag, but we’ll put that down to the fact that it’s new. Less forgivable is SRAM’s twistgrip, which causes plenty of grumbles. Unusually, the SRAM operates with a rigid (as opposed to woven) push/pull gear cable, terminating in a shifter box on the hub axle. In theory, this eliminates problems with weak return springs, because it doesn’t need any, but the change can be notchy and vague – something that gets worse with age and maltreatment. In this case, the vagueness in the cable is made worse by a considerable amount of play in the gripshift. Finding a gear is like fishing in murky water – you never quite know what you’re going to drag up.

On the positive side, the hub changes smoothly, and the gear ratios (although rather oddly spaced) are a good compromise, spanning the range 33 to 93 inches. An easy sprocket change would give a lower or higher range, according to taste. Against a derailleur, the SRAM should give years of trouble-free service, the wheel will be stronger, and the chain and sprockets will last better too, because everything should be in perfect alignment all the time.The chain also gets a bit of weather protection from a rather wimpy chainguard, which obviously protects your clothes too.

If you can’t live with hub gears (and we strongly recommend that you change your mind), Orbit are also building a Shimano Nexave 2×9 version of the Orion.These derailleur things are quite common on bicycles, we’re told: two (or more usually three) chainrings, plus a cluster of gears in the rear wheel where the spokes ought to be.The advantage is slightly improved efficiency over a hub, but the disadvantages run on and on: unpredictable shifting, short component life, no chain guard, a weak wheel assembly, no gear shifting at the traffic lights, and so on and so forth. For some reason, the current fashion is to cram more and more cogs onto the rear wheel – nine in this case.The result is, er, 18 ratios, which sounds quite exciting, but the degree of overlap between the high and low ranges is so vast that you’re actually left with eleven. In fact, the lower range, spanning 27.5″ to 85″, would almost suffice on it’s own in city traffic – the high range of 37″ to 115″ being largely superfluous until you hit the open road.The overall impression is that the bike is rather over-geared.

…the lights are always ready for action… This is a great safety feature…

Given the gear indexing problems with so many tightly spaced cogs (we never got the system to work 100%, even after careful adjustment), we wouldn’t suggest a 2×9 for commuting.You could achieve much the same thing with a 2×7, using either a derailleur or (better still) a 7-speed hub at the rear end.

The Avid V-brakes are good, though not as good as some.We managed a typical rear wheel stop of .3G, with a slightly disappointing .65G at the front.The rear cable is a bit sticky; something that’s not helped by an out-of-true wheel on the derailleur bike (ah well, comes with the territory, you see).

Accessories

The most interesting technical advance on the Orbit is the state-of-the-art lighting system – Nexus automatic hub dynamo, Hella FL980 front light and Basta automatic tail light. Our first taste of auto lights (see Giant Lafree Comfort, A to B 31) was less than satisfactory, because the Nexus system would only turn itself on after a stop, which made it useless for tunnels, or gloomy avenues of trees. On the Orion, the very similar system works perfectly – the hub absorbs little energy during the day, but as soon as the detector senses low light levels the front lamp clicks in, and stays illuminated for as long as required. That might be ten minutes, or all night – no dynamo to work loose or seize up, and no batteries to replace.

The Nexus hub provides enough oomph to give strong illumination down to a fast walking pace, and when you do come to a stop, a single yellow LED (powered by an internal 9-volt battery) provides adequate standlight illumination for a few minutes. Or it should, but one of our test lights jammed on, eventually flattening the battery.The Basta rear light is completely separate, so there are no troublesome cables or earthing worries.Two AA batteries provide plenty of illumination and again, the system is fully automatic, sensing both darkness and movement.

Would we now recommend auto lights? Once you gain confidence that the lights really will do what they’re supposed to, this is a good system and a great safety feature. Few cyclists bother to stop and turn on their lights in heavy rain, or generally poor lighting conditions, but most motorists do, and quite rightly so.With the Nexus/Hella system, the lights are always ready for action.

Otherwise, accessories are a bit thin.The bike comes with Pitlock skewers (see A to B 34) to help keep all the expensive components in place, but if you’re a forgetful numbskull too, you’ll be constantly leaving the key at home – big problem if you need to remove a wheel or lend the bike to a shorty.

Pumps don’t seem to be fitted to bikes any more, but the Orion has sensible Schwalbe Marathon Slick tyres, combining reasonable rolling efficiency (15.3mph on our test hill) with a degree of puncture resistance. Rims are Alex G2000, which Orbit claim to be strong enough for tandem use, and we’ll have to let them be the best judge of that.The mudguards do what they’re supposed to do, but clearance is tight enough for stones to get drawn noisily around once in a while.

The oddly-named Bor Yueh rack (Mongolian perhaps?) is suitable chunky, but if you’re commuting to work in Epping rather than transporting a Yurt across Mongolia, you’ll probably want to augment it with the Klickfix (or indeed, Brompton) pannier system.

Our biggest grumble was the lack of a stand, which proved to be a mild, but ongoing, source of frustration in our time with the bikes. A must-fit accessory.

Conclusion

Would we ride to work on it? No fault of the Orbit, but we probably wouldn’t. For a longer commute we generally mix folder with train or bus, and for shorter or hillier routes, we’d probably choose an electric bike. But we’re the wrong people to ask – plenty of cyclists enjoy a good ten-mile thrash to work in the morning, and if you want a quality component package, there’s no doubt this is a suitable machine, if not the most suitable on the market. Our advice, though, would be to go for the hub gears (you knew we’d say that, didn’t you?) and for some reason we all preferred the gents frame.

Specification

Orbit Orion £695
Frames 46cm 51cm 56cm (ladies 51cm only)
Weight <14.2kg (31.2lb)
Gear system SRAM 7-speed hub or Shimano Nexave 2×9 derailleur
Gear ratios hub 33″ 37″ 45″ 55″ 68″ 81″ 93″ derailleur 27.5″ – 85″ and 37″ – 115″
Wheelbase 104cm
Manufacturer Orbit Cycles web www.orbit-cycles.co.uk email sales@orbit-cycles.co.uk tel 0114 275 6567 fax 0114 270 1016