Help me decide: Forbidden Druid E vs. Orbea Wild

[M0ritz93]

Hey yall,
I need again some Advice and / or opionions.

I need help in deciding on my new E-MTB. It is to be a trail / all mountain bike. As versatile as possible. Beginner / Intermediate Driver. Had a lot of bikes, mostly gravel, allroad, but not a real MTB / EMTB.

• Height 170 cm, rather short legs (inner leg length ~74cm)
• Weight 70 kg
• Budget is secondary since it will be my reward for finishing my studies this year and I wanted a nice EMTB for a really long time. But was never confident enough to pull the trigger. (But still the cheaper the better so we talkin 6-11 k €)

Purpose:

• 40% tours with friends / Relaxed everyday driving / Forest exploration
• 40% Single Trails / Forest exploration
• 20% Bike Park

I have ridden a lot of testbikes and read a lot of reviews etc.

• Specialiced Turbo Levo 4
• Specialiced Turbo Levo R
• Santa Cruz Vala
• Orbea Wild
• Orbea Ryse
• Amflow PX Carbon Pro
• Forbidden Druid E
• Mondraker Zendit

I narrowed it down to the new avinox system or a Bosch Gen5, because of weight, looks, drive feel and I like new tech. I Already have an Canondale Synapse Neo Alroad (Bosch SX)

So I am deciding right now between:

• Forbidden Druid E Tier 2 (800wh) ~10.499 €, available at my LBS.
• Orbea Wild M10 ~ 7k
• Orbea Wild with Aniox ?! Lets see what tomorrow brings but i think the Availability will not be good.

I am very torn between the bikes and dont know what to get... Everyday feels like I am in favor for a different one.

The Orbea was recommended. Although the Orbea is on Paper an Enduro I only heard great things. And it seems also to be a good Allrounder, although i know it was not designed for touring. Considering it since i could save some money and waive some fancy new tech i might not need but would be a nice to have.

The Forbidden favours a unique design, great handling and confident boost at high speeds as well as the established brand.
The Cons are the high price though (only regular Charger not the 12A Fast Charger -.-).

I think i wont make a bad choice with either bike but I would really appreciate a few perspectives from you guys. What are your opinions? What would you get and why?

Thx in advance!

 

[Suns_PSD]

Buy whatever you want. We're all opinionated assholes and not much will translate.
Still, I'll throw my jerky response out there.
If I weighed 70kgs I'd one, buy some steroids but secondly buy a Trek with the TQ60 personally. And since you state that you spend 80% of your time riding boring sh*t yet 20% getting properly rowdy at the park, the fact that the Treks can be converted from a trail bike to a serious park bike with minor changes, would seem to make it a good fit.
GL

 

[Str1fe]

In my opinion, the orbea is not the best choice for a beginner. It really needs to be pushed hard and ridden aggressively to shine. For your type of riding, it's a bit overkill. The forbidden is easier to ride than the Orbea.

That said, if you can afford one of them, just go for it. In my area, for example, a lot of guys buy 170mm enduro e-bikes and probably use only 20% of their bike's potential. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter as long as people are having fun.

If you had come here asking which bike would be best to help you progress as a rider, I would have given a different answer.

Just pick a bike that you genuinely like and find beautiful something that makes you want to get out and ride.

For you, the Forbidden or the Vala would be my picks.

Like @Suns_PSD said, the trek fuel+ LX is an outstanding bike and pretty easy to ride, but I don't think you're looking for a mid power ebike.