oldwinger14

I am looking at purchasing this bike as a 2nd bike. While it will mostly be attached to my smart trainer, I may occasionally take it outside for a ride. Cosmetically, the bike looks flawless and I will see it this evening in person. It has a full Ultegra groupset. The owner has accepted my $575 offer if I decide to buy it. If anyone has experience or an opinion on an Avant, I would appreciate it. The few reviews, professionally written and personal comments, that I have seen have been positive.

delbiker1 

oldwinger14 , this is a timely post. I have a 2014 Avant MD30 that I purchased new in 2016. It is my first/only carbon fiber frameset. I have recently been doing a lot of work on the bike. I have never liked riding the bike all that much, but that was mostly due to it being very noisy. It is 5700 with an FSA Omega crankset and pf bb86. I have recently redone the cables/housing, internal routing, new chain, cassette and different chain rings. These things have paid off with a much lower noise level. I just received a Shimano bb for the pf bb86 and am going to install a 4650, 46/34 crank set. With the 11/28 in the back that gives me plenty of range for where I ride. I also switched tires to Vittoria Open Pave 27mm with latex tubes. That is my favorite road set up.

So after getting in a few rides, I am starting to get a good feel for the bike. I have always really liked the looks of the bike. I am now getting the performance up to what I expect. You may very well not have issues being that the one you are looking at is full Ultegra. At this time, I think the Avant is going to grow on me and become a regular ride that I will enjoy. If the bike you are looking at fits, Is in really good shape, then it seems to be a nice bike for the price. If the wheels are stock, they are likely ok, but quite heavy. I find I pretty much always wind up having to change saddle and handlebar, maybe stem. Give it a good look, test ride, take a few pictures. If you are not sure, give it at least overnight and post photo's here. Go back and look and ride it again. AT this point, If I liked what I saw, I would not hesitate to buy the Avant at that price.

oldwinger14

Thank you for the response and the great comments! As for the noise, that will not be an issue for me as the bike will almost always be permanently mounted on my Wahoo Kickr Core smart trainer. If I remove it from the trainer, it would only be to use outdoors if my primary bike is away being service or, for some other reason, not rideable. I agree with you that on most bikes, mine included, I have swapped out certain parts and upgraded the wheel set since the stock wheels on lower cost bikes are typically not very good from a weight and performance standpoint.

rsbob 

I know this is not the ride you are asking about (2012 Orca Bronze full Ultegra) but I just picked this up as my winter trainer bike last week. Didn’t expect too much but after I switched stem, seat, pedals and dialed it in it is one fantastic ride. It climbs well, it accelerates great and is rock steady on fast descents. Now it may be just too good a ride to make it a trainer bike. Hope you have the same issue. Best of all, its super quiet.

oldwinger14

I picked up the Avant tonight. Took it for a very quick test ride to check out the fit, the shifting and brakes, and they all worked great. It has a full Ultegra groupset and I hope I end up liking mine as much as you like yours. I still plan on using it as my trainer bike.

Noahma

I have a 2017 Avant! It is the best bike I have owned. I have done quite a bit of work to it over the past couple of years, I have replaced the wheels with a set of custom built ones. And I have upgraded the Groupset to the newest 105 from Tiagra. It rides nice, it fits me perfectly (size 55) and it climbs well. Absolutely love it.

My local Orbea dealer has reserved a 2022 Orca (through the MyO program) when they are released. Cant wait. I dont think I will sell the Avant though, just keep it as another option for rides.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ars3kKUevsML_IE2...jXfIQ?e=tOsL4M

oldwinger14

Thanks for your comments and, like others who posted earlier, the comments have been positive about the Avant. I picked it up last night. It, like yours, is built on a 55cm frame but it has an Ultegra groupset. Since my intention is to use this bike solely on my trainer, I most likely will not swap out the stock wheels unless I decide to take it on the road from time to time.

oldwinger14

Can someone tell me which Avant model I have? I was told it is a 2016 model and the bike, I believe, was outfitted with the full Ultegra groupset that is now on the bike. It has an aluminum frame and carbon fork. There is no sticker or other graphic that identifies the specific Avant model. Here is a photo that may help identify it. Thanks….

Noahma

I think the H30 may be correct for this one. I wonder if the previous owner upgraded to the Ultegra from the 105 the H30 came with. Orbea usually denotes their Aluminum bikes with the H (Hydroform) and M (monocoque) for the Carbon models.
They start with the smallest number for the higher end form of the model, and go up in numbers as they drop in the range.

delbiker1 

I have been riding my Avant MD 30 exclusively this week and I have tweaked things on the bike a bit more. Yesterday's ride, the bike was operating the best it has since I have owned it. I still have FSA crank/bb on the bike and have managed to get it running fairly quietly, certainly at an acceptable level. The shifting was much better and all gears are being engaged. I am going to adjust that a bit more. I now have Hutchinson Fusion 5 storm tires, 28 back 25 front, with latex tubes.

Now that the bike is running really well, without all the noise, I can focus much more on the ride and the feel of the bike. I am happy to say that I have gained a lot of appreciation for this bike. I was of the mind that I would do what I could to the bike and then sell it. that is no longer true. I rode the bike yesterday on pavement, cinder and gravel. The shifting is close to being dead on, the tweaks on the set up have made a big difference, especially the tires/tubes. The crank set does have a fair amount of flex, so I get some chain rub on the front DR at the outer/inner cogs. I still want to try the Shimano crank set, but The FSA Omega is working out ok for now. The wheels had been changed not long after I bought the bike, from unbranded Shimano rims and Shimano hubs to Vuelta Corsa SLX. They are considerably lighter and stiffer, a very nice, low cost wheelset. The Shimano mechanical disc brakes have really good stopping and modulation. I have always very much liked the aesthetics of the bike, now I add good performance and comfort and I now have a bike that is what I hoped for when I bought it 5 years ago. I have another bike that I truly enjoy riding and now has a spot in my regular rides.

In all fairness, I am a better mechanically than I was when I bought this bike in 2016. I have proper tools and much better diagnostic and problem solving abilities. I also now have the confidence that if I stick with it, I can figure out and fix whatever problem comes up. A lot of the criticism I had on the bike itself has been shown to be misplaced. I bought this bike on-line and it was mostly assembled when I received it. I now believe there were things that were not right with that initial build, like the internal cable routing, and that my attempts to correct the issues were not being done in a way that could accomplish that.

It looks like I am dodging thunderstorms today, but I am going to get in a ride to finalize the set up.

oldwinger14

I was under the impression that the Ultegra groupset came on the bike when the original owner purchased it, but I will verify that with him. Thanks!

Noahma

There is always a chance that the Bike Bluebook is missing some information on the model. It showed that the H30 had the 105 as its groupset. I am now kind of interested in what he says.

oldwinger14

I found the 2016 catalog on orbea.com. The Avant models shown there, based on the color scheme and the stock wheels on my bike, seem to indicate that it is a H30 as you suggest. The only difference is the 105 groupset is listed as standard versus the Ultegra that I have on the bike. There is no aluminum frame Avant model that year that comes equipped with Ultegra. Two possibilities exist - Ultegra was retrofitted or the bike is not a 2016 as I was told. I have not heard back from the person I bought the bike from. Since the purchase was completed and marked as sold on Facebook Marketplace, he may not be monitoring his listing anymore. I will check other years' catalogs and hope to hear back from him. I also sent photos of the serial# that is stamped on the bottom bracket to Orbea US a few days ago asking them for info. No reply from them.

Noahma

It might take some time for them to get back to you. I had sent them a message about something last year and it took a week or so. It would also not be the first time a groupset has been changed Mine came with the last generation of Tiagra, It now is equipped with the newest version of the 105 groupset. Sounds like Orbea is due to release its next model year of bikes sometime around September 1. I have an Orca reservation with my local dealer, cant wait.

oldwinger14

I’m still waiting to hear back from Orbea US….only been 3-4 business days.