Orbea Kemen 10 SUV review

Orbea’s latest addition to its urban ebike range, the Kemen, is built for excursions into the rough stuff as well as big commutes and weekend treks.

The heart of the Kemen is Shimano’s powerful mountain-bike-derived EP8 electric bike motor, with an impressive 85Nm of torque from its mid-mounted 250W motor. Orbea has, however, designed its own cleverly packaged battery rather than using Shimano’s system.

Using a more compact battery-cell configuration means the Kemen has a slender down tube that sets it apart from most other mid-mounted electric bikes. Yet the best bit is its 540Wh capacity.

And, if the potential range of around 100km/62 miles isn’t enough for you, you can buy a 250Wh range-extending, bottle-cage-mounting battery.

Orbea Kemen geometry

Orbea Kemen 10 SUV specification and performance

The Kemen comes in two flavours: the standard model with its big gravel-derived 2.5in-wide tyres, mudguards and a rear rack; and this the SUV version, which comes with electric mountain bike-specific tyres from Schwalbe, along with a beefier rack to carry heavier loads.

It's also equipped with a wide-ranged Shimano XT mountain bike drivetrain that combines a 36-tooth chainring with a huge 11-50 cassette. It’s good to see Orbea has used Shimano’s beefed-up Linkglide drivetrain parts because these are made to cope with the extra forces an electric motor exerts on the drivetrain.

With a comfortable ride position enhanced by a well-shaped and padded saddle, plus a 78cm-wide bar with a 20mm rise matched to a short stem, the Kemen rolls well on its big-volume treaded tyres. Compared to an electric hybrid bike with slick tyres, it’s steady rather than speedy on tarmac though.

However, it comes into its own when you’re riding trails, forest fire roads, towpaths and the like. The big, pronounced block tread offers huge bite in the corners and holds its line as much as you can hold your nerve.

The Fox fork up-front offers 100mm of plush suspension travel, which opens the Kemen up to proper mountain bike off-road riding. As a commuter bike, it means not having to worry about dropping off high kerbs, steps or speed bumps: the Kemen simply squashes any obstacles in its path.

It also features a mountain bike dropper post with a handlebar remote, which is great for descending technical off-road terrain because you can drop the saddle out of the way, shift your body around with more freedom and even hang out off the back on steep stuff.

I also found the dropper useful while doing the weekly shopping because dropping the saddle made it easier to swing my leg over the bike with two full panniers (a step-through frame is also available).

It’s a very well-equipped bike and includes great mudguards, a tough rack, a kickstand and integrated lights with a bar remote. It’s also all very neatly packaged with Orbea’s clever internal cable routing, inspired by the slick Orbea Orca road bike, so there’s no external wiring to snag or catch.

The Magura brakes have loads of power and stop you perfectly well, but they lack a bit of feel. The pads also sit very close to the rotor, which meant for the first few hours of riding I got a bit of drag from the rear brake, but it soon bedded in.

Shimano EP8 Motor

The Shimano motor has three modes: Eco, Trail and Boost. These are mountain-bike derived settings – Eco is ample for urban riding and Trail gives a welcome boost on long, draggy uphill sections.

Boost mode is useful off-road for short, steep slopes, but I found it too much on the road: I kept bouncing over the limiter (15.5mph as per electric bike laws) in a single turn of the pedals, which led to a jerky response as the motor cut and restarted.

Thankfully, you can download Shimano’s E-Tube app to your phone and pair it with the system via Bluetooth. You can then fine-tune the modes, and I’d suggest turning down the Boost mode if you intend to use the Kemen mainly for urban transport and cycling to work rather than as a sports machine.

You can also adjust elements such as maximum torque assist and assist start (when the motor feeds in and starts to assist you).

The Kemen's range is impressive. Riding fully off-road on a mix of gravel, towpaths and singletrack, I maxed out the range at 62.69miles/100.98km, with 1,382ft/421.25m of elevation.

On more mixed-surface rides, that figure was 70.3miles/113.14km, with 1,682ft/513m of elevation.

Orbea Kemen 10 SUV bottom line

I’ve been really impressed by the Kemen: it’s a superb ride that combines off-road prowess with a big range and comfort. It handles with assured stability and it’s a great overall package.

If you want a daily workhorse that can be used for gravel riding at the weekend, the Kemen deserves a place on your shortlist.