Orro Terra C Ekar 1x 2021

This Orro Terra C Ekar has a 13-tooth cassette, whose smallest two sprockets give an edge on gear size compared with some brands. That sits well with the Orro's racy gravel intentions – and should you want to put the power down on the road sections in between. Add that to its fun handling and comfort, while still offering loads on the stiffness front, and this gravel bike is up there with some of the best I've ridden. It looks sweet too.

While I like loading a bike up with some camping kit or going long distance on some tough off-road byways, I have the most fun on shorter rides, those of two or three hours long with as little kit as possible. I like speed and efficiency, hence why I spend a lot of time on the road.

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The Orro behaves off-road how I want a road bike to behave on the tarmac. Out for a hard blast on the local byways, it's nimble, and the handling feels quick and precise; you feel like you are part of the Orro rather than being sat on it. This is why I think the Terra C is such a fun bike; it's more of a gravel racer than an out-and-out adventure machine, and I love it.

At 8.75kg it feels nippy – flickable, if you like – and turning off the big gravel routes onto twisty singletrack through the woods or other technical sections, you can really have a blast.

A lot of that is down to the geometry. This medium size model has a 71-degree head angle, which when paired with the 1,031mm wheelbase gives the Orro a confident stance on the trail. It never feels flustered, even when the surface is moving around beneath you. It almost goads you into having a bit of fun, and if it all goes wrong it's like, don't worry, we've got this.

For a road rider making the transition to gravel, the Orro makes an ideal bedfellow. The steering still feels quick and the 74.2-degree seat angle puts you in a good forward position to get the power down.

The stiffness is spot on as well. Orro has gone for a press-fit bottom bracket, which might not be to everyone's taste – especially on a bike that is likely to see a lot of dust, mud and water, which can lead to ingress and creaking – but on all of the Terra Cs I've ridden I have had no issues, and the majority of the miles I put in on this one were on wet and muddy trails.

Pressing the bottom bracket bearings into the frame rather than having them seated outside does allow Orro to increase the width of the frame, increasing stiffness without affecting the width between the cranks (the q-factor).

Stamp on the pedals for a climb and you won't be left wanting; nothing is wasted in terms of power. The massive width of the down tube, wide BB shell junction and chunky chainstays (the drive side is dropped for extra clearance) make it quick off the mark, even from a standing start.

Up front the head tube is tapered, adding stiffness, and I can't fault the fork for its tautness.

It's worth mentioning that Orro designs its own moulds rather than buying off-the-shelf carbon fibre sections to build its bikes. It's a big investment, especially when you are offering five sizes, but it does allow Orro to control the tube profiles and therefore the overall ride quality.

By way of the design and carbon fibre lay-up, Orro has managed to deliver a stiff bike that doesn't overstep the mark when it comes to comfort – or lack of. The Terra C is a firm bike, but I never found it uncomfortable, even on the road when I've had the 38mm tyres pumped up hard. It absorbs plenty of the surface vibration but still offers a performance bike feel.

Taking it easy

I don't want to make out that the Terra C is all about smashing it here, there and everywhere. You've got that performance if you want it, but if you are out for the day or even a longer jaunt, it's a pleasant place to be.

As I've said, the comfort levels are good, so you are never getting beaten up, and those mild-mannered handling traits allow you to just tap out the miles without any mental fatigue, even when loaded up.

My main gravel testing route is three hours of remoteness. I'm not too far away from civilisation, but I can ride the whole loop and see maybe two or three people, and the odd army convoy. It's even worse now that I'm riding it mostly in the dark. This means I need to carry plenty of kit: bar bags, top tube bags and seat packs carrying extra clothing, first aid kit and an emergency blanket alongside the usual tools and food.

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Loaded up, the behaviour of the Terra C doesn't really change. It's heavier, yes, but it still has those same fun characteristics and that stable feel to it. Over the course of a 100km ride with 90 per cent of that offroad (grass, chalk, gravel, mud and so on), I could turn on the pace when I wanted for the downhills and the like, but when I wanted to kick back and just enjoy the scenery the Terra C just rolls along.

Tough enough

One of the biggest concerns about carbon gravel frames is impacts from stones and the like. I've experienced them and they don't sound pretty, but none have ever caused any damage.

To give further protection to the Terra C's frame, Orro has incorporated Innegra, which is a high modulus polypropylene fibre that can be blended with the carbon fibres to offer high levels of impact resistance. It's used in areas like the bottom of the down tube.

As you can see from the pictures, the Terra C has all of its cables and hoses run internally, and not just via the down tube and top tube but right at the front via the head tube.

It gives a really clean look, stops branches and stuff catching on them, and also makes fitting bar bags and the like very easy.

You also get rear rack mounts, which will take a load of up to 5kg, and mudguard mounts, plus a third bottle cage mounting position under the down tube to go with the other two in the usual places.

The Terra C might not be a class-leader when it comes to tyre clearance, at 42mm (700C) maximum, but that is the same as the Canyon Grail, a similarly racy gravel bike.

The Orro is still a capable machine. For the routes I ride, I'd say 40mm is the minimum, and I sort of bounce around between that and 45mm depending on the conditions, but the 38mm Vredestein Aventura tyres fitted as standard have been great on the dry and firmly packed trails that I found at the beginning of the test period. They can't really cope with the wetter conditions we've seen more recently, though, so I've been using the 42mm Specialized Rhombus tyres I tested back in 2019.

13 sprockets! Unlucky for none

This is my first-time riding Campagnolo's Ekar groupset and I like it a lot. Given the choice, on a gravel bike I'll take a 2x system over a 1x for the type of riding I do. My own machine has a 48/32-tooth crankset with an 11-32T cassette. My main reason for that is I still want the top end, as most gravel rides take in some road sections, and I like to keep to quite a close cadence range of around 90-95rpm when possible. I find some 1x cassettes too gappy.

Ekar is 13-speed, and the cassette option here is a 9-42T which runs thus: 9-10-11-12-13-14-16-18-20-23-27-31-36. Paired with a 40T chainring, it gives a high and low of 122 and 26.1 gear inches respectively.

As you can see, the higher end of the cassette has close grouping, which I found great for high-speed sections, and while the lower gears do have some pretty big jumps, as you are using them for climbing it's not as noticeable.

Swapping in some 32mm slicks, I found this gearing to work well on the road, which means the Terra C Ekar could work well as a winter commuter with guards fitted, with a quick wheel or tyre swap at the weekend allowing you to play on the gravel.

Functionality of the groupset is typically Campagnolo. If you've not used it before, the action can feel heavy compared to Shimano or SRAM, and in the early miles I found it a little difficult to get all of the gears on the cassette to run smoothly, but everything bedded in nicely on a 35-mile ride.

For those who haven't been up close and personal with Campag's groupset, it uses a lever behind the brake lever to change gear, along with a thumbshifter on the inside of the hood.

For the road, that thumbshifter is a flat button, but for Ekar it's been made much larger, which gives you easy access from both the hoods and drops when you're being bounced around on a bumpy surface.

One thing about Ekar is that it lacks the flat front section on the brake lever that I love about Shimano's GRX. When you are braking hard on rough terrain, the bigger the cross-sectional area the better. Other than that, though, I can't really fault it. The shifts feel smooth once it's bedded in, and the braking is top notch.

You can read more in our full review of the groupset here.

Other fixtures and fittings

Orro has gone for a Deda front end, with a Zero 1 stem and the impressive Gravel100 flared handlebar. I love the shape of this bar, and it is a quality piece of kit too. I've reviewed it separately if you want to read more.

Both the carbon fibre seatpost and Bostal Plus saddle are Orro branded, and while I have become quite fond of short-nosed saddles for quite a lot of my riding, I got on okay with the latter.

For the wheels, Orro hasn't massively pushed the boat out with a set of Fulcrum Rapid Red 5s, but they do keep the price down.

I had no issues with riding them – they don't feel overly heavy or like they take anything away from the ride – and seem reliable. If you want to drop some weight, though, or just add a bit of bling, you can upgrade the wheels to carbon from the likes of Scribe or Hunt for not a huge amount of money.

Competition

Ekar isn't a cheap groupset; for the same money you can get other bikes with similar finishing spec as the Terra C with GRX Di2 if you want to go electric, like the Canyon Grail CF SL 8, which gets DT Swiss G1800 wheels.

Canyon's Grizl CF SLX 8 comes with Ekar, but gets carbon fibre DT Swiss wheels, which bumps the price up to £4,499.

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For about £300 less, you could go for the GT Grade Carbon Pro, which comes with GRX 810, Stan's No Tubes alloy wheels and a Praxis carbon chainset; you also get a dropper post too.

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The new Giant Revolt Advanced 0 (I reviewed the Advanced 2 last year) also comes with a GRX 810 groupset for £3,499, but you get carbon fibre wheels.

Conclusion

I'm a big fan of the Terra C and I feel that the Ekar groupset brings that extra bit of speed that complements it, especially if you want to press it into commuting duties or use it as a multi-surface touring machine. As an out-and-out gravel machine it offers the ideal geometry to be fun and confidence-inspiring on loose surfaces, which makes for one very capable bike.

Verdict

A great bike for those who want speed off the beaten track, and it'll happily carry your gear for longer adventures