How Orbea Mountain BIkes Came to Be

In the world of mountain biking, Orbea mountain bikes are well renowned. The company that makes them is based in a town called Mallavia, in Spain's Basque country. These days their range includes Orbea mountain bikes, touring bikes and road bikes.

Interestly this mountain bike company actually started life as a weapons and ammunition company.  In its infancy, the business made rifles and pistols as well as cartridges. All through Spain, Orbea was renowned for the weapons it made. Indeed, in the 1870s Orbea was a very important company in its region and was one of the most successful enterprises there.

Orbea continued making weapons all the way up until when the Spanish Civil War Ended when it was hit by a drop in demand. Things also changed in 1926 when the business split into two seprate companies following family problems. One of the businesses created by the split of the arms company moved into the mountain bike industry and Orbea mountain bikes were born.

As one would expect from a big and famous name in cycling, Orbea has always sponsored and worked closely with high profile cycling teams. Two of the teams with which it has strong ties are Euskaltel-Euskadi and Xacobeo-Galicia. Additionally, Orbea mountain bikes has had its own team since 2005.

Today the brand also sponsors an array of biking events Europe-wide and Orbea products can often be found being given as prizes in such events. Modern, carbon fibre frames are common on their current designs. Many of their current bikes have frames made entirely of aluminium which is lightweight and very popular.

With more and more publicity from event sponsorship under its belt, Orbea mountain bikes have a very bright future. The events which Orbea sponsors in Spain are high profile and very well known, with participants at all levels. Another demonstration of their quality is the fact that they are sold all over the world.