Living with a… Orbea Diem 10

We’ve already reviewed the Orbea Diem 10 but, for one reason or another, the bike stuck round for a bit meaning we got a real sense of what it’s like to live with. See below for more on that but, to get you up to speed, the Diem is an electrically-assisted utility bike built to scoot you around town in suitable speed and style. With a distinctive and sturdy aluminium frame at its heart, Orbea has really sweated the details for a super-neat appearance with integrated lights, a luggage rack and clever automated gears. It’s a premium product and priced accordingly, but the design and quality live up to the promise, and you could always buy it on a ride-to-work scheme to spread the cost from your pre-tax earnings if your employer offers it.
Skip to: Life with the Orbea Diem

Keen 40-something cyclist using bicycles for transport and fun, with everything from a folding Brompton to fancy mountain bikes in the cellar. Yet to be won over to e-bikes as a concept but open to the idea and testing ‘proper cyclist’ prejudices!

Dan says: “The balance of leg power to electric assistance adjusted itself to the gradient and speed, meaning the pedalling effort was basically the same on a steep hill as it was on the flat!”

I didn’t expect the Diem to be part of my life for as long as it was, but this at least gave me a great opportunity to really test it properly. And I learned a lot on the way. First impressions weren’t all that great, given it’s a heavy old lump and getting it up and down the steep steps to my cellar was a real challenge. Which is something too often overlooked when it comes to e-bikes, especially if your cycle storage is up some steps into a hallway or similar. Maybe I’m too accustomed to riding full-suspension mountain bikes as well but I also found the ride quality very harsh on the road, even with the fat tyres. The gearing was a bit weird, too, the automated Enviolo hub transmission leaving my legs spinning with little sense of forward progress. Solutions to all these issues would come in due course! After keeping it at home for a bit I took the Diem to my mum’s place in Anglesey, where it proved really handy for popping the five miles or so along the lanes to the nifty self-service milking machine run by a local dairy. Exactly the kind of journey you’d usually do in the car but an e-bike makes viable as an alternative.

Having contacted Orbea support and figured out how to adjust the cadence of the hub gear to suit my riding style it was interesting to note my Strava average speed for the lumpy there-and-back journey was almost exactly bang-on the 15mph the assistance on e-bikes is limited to. Suggesting I was getting the most from the electric power, which was most welcome when loaded up with three two-litre bottles of milk and battling Anglesey’s headwinds on the ride back.
Dropping the tyre pressures to a soft-sounding 20psi also helped the ride comfort a lot, and meant the milk wasn’t churned to butter by the time I got home! From Wales to the Alps, where space was found in the family van for the Diem to join the mountain bikes for a holiday in the hills. With our accommodation a couple of kilometres up a stiff gradient from the shops in town I reckoned the e-bike would be ideal for the morning croissant run, and so it proved. Its weight meant the downhill ride into town was fun, the low centre of gravity of the motor and battery and fat slick tyres meaning I could really carve the hairpin bends. The powerful disc brakes were also very welcome here! And for the way back the front rack carried the baguettes and pastries, the motor assistance making light work of a hill that would have otherwise been a proper grind on a regular bike. And once the day was done the Diem was ready and waiting for further errands, be that trips to the pizza place or beer runs to the supermarket, the front rack easily taking a full case of Kronenbourg! Possibly related but I even took it round a pump track one evening, which was more entertaining than I – or the kids on scooters – anticipated.

The automatic gearing really came into its own as well, and having set the cadence to around 80rpm on the app (a faff to set up but worth doing) the balance of leg power to electric assistance adjusted itself to the gradient and speed, meaning the pedalling effort was basically the same on a steep hill as it was on the flat. Which feels pretty surreal when you’re cranking up a steep Alpine gradient loaded with shopping, but you quickly learn to appreciate!
True, this kind of usage was a long way from the city commuting Orbea designed the Diem for. But it proves how versatile it is, and how quickly an e-bike can become a viable alternative to a car for shorter trips. This Diem 10 is very expensive, mind. More basic models with conventional chain-driven gears are also available, and (relatively) more reasonably priced. I grew to appreciate the silent, maintenance-free belt drive on this one, though. And while I resented having to resort to tech support and an app to set the gears up once it was done it was done. Ride quality remained an issue even with the lower tyre pressures, the weight likewise. But things like the integrated lights were a real bonus, and mean one less thing to worry about if you have errands to run and the light is fading. There’s definitely space in the van for one for our next holiday, that’s for sure! Back to top