ORBEA WILD M-TEAM 26 — RIDE REVIEW

Let me be upfront. I've been a vocal sceptic of eMTBs. The extra weight, the motor dependency, the fact that your mates are now technically cheating. All of it. I said I'd never really adopt one.

Anyway, enough about that, my mother always told me to not dwell on the past.

For 2026, Orbea has continued to develop what is fast becoming one of the most decorated eMTBs on the planet. The Wild M-Team sits one rung below the flagship M-LTD and frankly, unless you're made of money or ride for a living, it's the one that makes the most sense. Carbon OMR frame, Fox 38 Factory fork pushing 170mm up front, 160mm out back via Orbea's CB2 linkage, Shimano XT drivetrain, and the Bosch Performance Line CX Gen 5 motor stuffed inside a 750Wh integrated battery. That's not a bike. That's a statement.

The Motor Situation:

Right, let's address the elephant in the room — or the motor in the downtube. The Bosch CX Gen 5 puts out 85Nm of torque and peaks at 600W. What does that feel like? Like someone quietly and consistently helpful has been following you up every climb without you noticing until they're gone. It's that seamless. Four modes — Eco, Tour+, eMTB, and Turbo — are all tunable through the Bosch Flow app, and the new integrated top tube display gives you real data rather than a row of increasingly depressing bars. The eMTB mode in particular is witchcraft; it reads your input and adjusts assist dynamically so the transition from pedalling to coasting doesn't feel like falling off a cliff. I spent 90% of my time in it and felt zero desire to touch anything else.

750Wh should be enough for most. And if you're the kind of person who needs more, the PowerMore 250Wh extender slots into your bottle cage and takes you to a frankly absurd 1000Wh. A full day of riding, uphill, both ways, in the rain.

The Ride:

The Wild doesn't pretend to be a trail bike that happens to have a motor. It's an enduro weapon that happens to climb brilliantly. That's an important distinction. Point it at something steep and the Fox 38 eats it without comment. The CB2 rear end is plush but controlled — it doesn't wallow or hunt for excuses to move around. At speed through chunk it just gets on with it, composed in a way that makes you wonder why you were ever nervous about that line.

Climbing is where eMTBs live or die on their geometry, and the Wild's steep seat tube angle means you're in a genuinely useful position rather than hanging off the back like a frightened koala. Traction is impressive. The motor assist is smooth enough that it doesn't mask what the rear tyre is doing underneath you, which means you can actually feel when grip is starting to leave the building rather than finding out about it via a face plant.

Does it feel like a real bike? Mostly yes. At 23kg it's not something you'll accidentally chuck sideways into a berm, but the Wild is among the more natural-feeling eMTBs I've ridden. Push it and it rewards you. Back off and it's still having a great time without you.

The Gripes:

Headset routing. Still here. Still a crime. I'd write Orbea a strongly worded letter but clearly they're not reading them.

The flip from Sram AXS to Shimano XTR for 2026 is a good call for most — more reliable, excellent shifting, and no batteries to forget charging. Purists will grumble. They always do.

At $18,900 NZD it's not cheap. But stack it up against what you're getting — full carbon, Fox Factory, XTR, and a motor system genuinely worthy of the chassis — and the maths start making more sense than your brain wants them to.

Pros:

  • Bosch CX Gen 5 is the benchmark motor, full stop
  • Fox Factory suspension front and rear does exactly what you need it to
  • Shimano XTR is bombproof and shifts beautifully
  • Geometry that genuinely works both up and down
  • New top tube display is a proper upgrade
  • MyO customisation means you don't have to compromise

Cons:

  • Headset routing (please, just stop)
  • 750Wh is generous but 800Wh exists and they know it
  • 23kg means portaging is a character building exercise

The Wild M-Team is the kind of bike that makes you reconsider firmly held positions. Not with bluster or gimmickry, but by just being very, very good at the thing it's designed to do. I still believe in pedalling under your own steam. I also believe in riding the Wild again as soon as humanly possible.

Massive thanks to Orbea NZ for the... actually, I paid for this one myself. Which probably tells you everything.