Orbea Diem 10 (2024 – ) review

Don’t just take our word for it the Diem 10 is a stylish looking bike – check out the many and various design awards it has earned confirming the fact! Credit due to Orbea for designing its vision of the ultimate urban e-bike from scratch as well, this being a dedicated machine rather than an adaptation of a regular bicycle. The main frame is made from aluminium tubing with the welds smoothed off for a super smart finish, the ‘Diamond Glide’ design claimed to take the edge off the bumps in combination with fatter than average tyres and a carbon fibre fork. The motor and battery pack (the latter hidden within the frame) are proven kit from component giant Shimano and this top of the range Diem 10 gets a maintenance free belt drive and automatic hub gearing. This one also adds a sturdy aluminium front rack to the standard rear one onto which you can attach panniers and other bags.

We tested a size Large (the Diem is available in sizes from Small to XL) and, while it was a little short in the reach for your six-foot tester, the unisex frame design is confidence inspiring and the addition of a mountain bike style ‘dropper’ seatpost means you can lower it via a switch from the handlebars when you stop so you can get your feet down. Once under way you press the button again and the seat returns to your chosen position for the most efficient pedalling. Flat bars and an upright position are both comfortable and good for visibility around town, and while we wouldn’t choose a Diem for racking up big miles for short hops even this Large size would fit riders of all sizes thanks to that dropper seatpost.

With its neatly integrated kickstand, built-in lights, sturdy mudguards and standard rear rack the Diem has all you need for a year-round commuter bike. The Diem 10 gets the chunky front rack as standard, though if you don’t want it you can delete it and save a bit of money into the bargain. The lights are powered off the main battery and are super bright, this version getting an even more powerful ‘high beam’ you can toggle from a button on the bars and ideal for lighting up quieter cycle paths on the way home. The only thing it’s perhaps lacking is some sort of built-in lock as you see on many European city bikes. Given its value you’re probably going to want a sturdier one anyway but as an emergency measure it’s a good thing to have. One other point against it on practicality is weight – like all e-bikes the Diem is a heavy old thing to be lifting if you need to carry it up steps into your house, flat or wherever else you store your bike.

The Diem 10 has the most powerful of the motor options in the range, and the biggest battery. Orbea says this is good for over 100 miles or nine hours of riding in one go, though it’s not always easy to quantify that because it’s very dependent on riding style, terrain and which of the three assistance modes you choose. It’s plenty, though, and we doubt you’ll be charging it more than once a week in normal use, meaning the lack of a removable battery for remote charging is less of an issue. A frame-mounted motor means a faster, more natural response than a hub motor as well, the Shimano system kicking in smoothly in all of its three modes. The Enviolo hub gear system is an interesting feature as well, the theory being it can constantly vary the ratio according to your pre-set ‘cadence’, which is to the say the speed you like to turn the pedals. You have to do this via an app, though, which proved a bit of a faff and required an exchange of emails with Orbea’s technical support team to get it to work. Credit due, they solved the issue and got us up and running but if you’re not smartphone savvy you may want to look at the other models in the range with more traditional mechanically operated gears. No complaints about the Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, though. Plenty of power when you need it, but not so much as to feel grabby or risk a skid when you don’t.

Given the price the Diem needs to appeal to more serious cyclists as much as it does casual commuters, but Orbea knows what it’s doing here and the frame design and low-slung weight of the electric motor and battery give it a confidence-inspiring stability. Flat bars mean it’s easy to get along with, while keener riders will appreciate the way you can chuck it about if you have the confidence to ride it that way. Having been promised a comfortable ride from the patented ‘Diamond Glide’ frame configuration we were a little disappointed with how harsh the Diem felt over the bumps, though. We’d hoped this and the chunky tyres would help take the edge off this ‘road chatter’ but the amount of jiggling and rattling over even smooth looking tarmac had us checking the tyre pressures to make sure these hadn’t been set too hard. They hadn’t, and ridden back to back with the comparable Advanced RECO Urban we had in at the same time it was noticeable how harsh the Orbea felt on the city streets it was supposedly designed for.

We’ll dock a point for the starting price here, with even the cheapest model in the Diem range clocking in at £3,499. That’s a lot of money for a city bike but it does at least deliver on the promise in terms of looks, finish and kit. Once you’ve paid for it running costs should be pretty minimal as well, the sealed hub gear unit and belt drive pretty much maintenance free.

We did have that initial wobble with the app controlling the Enviolo gears but once that was sorted it’s all been working as advertised. Beyond that the quality of the parts used on the Diem don’t give us any particular cause for concern and it’s clearly been built tough.

Orbea offers a lifetime warranty on its frame and forks, which is confidence inspiring. As a whole the bike gets a three-year warranty which if, as it seems, that includes the motor and battery is a bit longer than the average and again good news given these can be expensive to fix if they go wrong outside of the guarantee. Servicing-wise there’s very little to consider beyond checking tyres and brakes, any work that needs doing well within the capabilities of any competent local bike shop.

Where most bikes feel like a collection of parts bolted together the Diem’s clean sheet-design means it presents as a complete product in its own right. In that sense we appreciated how neatly everything fits together, with wires and hoses for brakes and the rest all tucked neatly away for a super clean look. Even the box and packaging it ships in is neat and well thought out, filling you with confidence Orbea has thought through every detail. The integrated approach includes the lights, which are built into the front of the frame and the mudguard at the back, the high beam option on our Diem 10 powerful enough for even unlit country roads. The minimal looking rear rack is compatible with both traditional panniers and dedicated systems from the likes of Ortlieb and others while the big front rack is a great place for your shopping or work bag. We’d advise figuring out some sort of strap or bungee of your own though – the standard ‘spider’s web’ one a little fiddly to use. If you want to clip your phone to the handlebars for navigation there’s the option of an SP Connect quick-release mount, a USB-C charge port meaning you can even top the battery up as you ride.

City e-bikes don’t come much more stylish than the Orbea Diem, the good looks combined with excellent handling and great practicality appealing to cyclists both serious and casual. It’s a seriously desirable piece of kit, but that brings with it a hefty cost premium and makes it perhaps a little too precious to be locking up in public for extended periods. If you can get it on a ride to work scheme it’ll feel a little more affordable, but you’ll need a proper lock and/or somewhere secure to store it to protect your investment.