I fell in love with the Orbea Gain, an electric bike

Being at the peak of my fitness, I hadn't understood what the little spark meant until I tried the Orbea Gain , an exceptionally lightweight, sporty electric-assist road bike.

This fall, I decided to put the Orbea Gain to the test and was surprised to find I had a lot of fun. For a few days, I rode around town, trying to find the steepest hills to really put the motor (and my legs) through their paces. The idea was to see if I could reach the motor's maximum speed by pushing hard on the climbs. It was quite impressive to feel the 250 watts of the motor adding to the power I was putting into the pedals to conquer the steep hills I had chosen. I can understand that someone who is less strong in a couple, someone who no longer has time to train and wants to continue riding with a group, or someone just starting out in cycling might want to use motor assistance to build their fitness or get back into shape.

The principle of electric assist is simple. When you pedal, the motor compensates by adding power to your pedal strokes, up to a speed of 32 km/h, which is the maximum speed for electric assist in Canada. If you have the legs, you can easily provide 100% of the power above 32 km/h and simply turn the motor off. A great feature of the Orbea Gain is that the motor is in the rear hub, and therefore, unlike motors located in the bottom bracket, it offers no resistance when not activated, such as when you exceed 32 km/h. Also regarding the motor, for those curious, the range is approximately three hours and 100 kilometers.

Compared to other electric bikes, the look The Orbea Gain is simply magnificent. Its vibrant color was a huge draw for me, but what really caught my attention is how discreet the motor is: the tubes aren't oversized to accommodate a battery, and it doesn't have a futuristic look. The cherry on top: it also has a very sleek look . and modern with ICR Plus, internal cabling under the stem and through the head tube.

It's also lightweight compared to other models I've tried. Thanks to its carbon frame, Orbea was able to cut weight and produce one of the lightest e-bikes on the market. Furthermore, the bike is very well balanced. In the past, I've tried bikes that caused a slight loss of balance when I was standing up to pedal and that couldn't feel as stable as a traditional road bike in certain situations, but this one offered a feel closer to a traditional bike than an e-bike.

In short, go see it in store before it's sold out. It's literally an engineering marvel. I enjoyed it so much that if the store had a 48cm version, it would already be under the Christmas tree, along with a cabbage, for my partner.