Orbea Carpe 25

The Orbea Carpe 25 is the simplest specified way into Orbea's electric city range, sitting below the more accessorised Carpe 20 and the belt-driven Carpe 10. That doesn't make it a stripped-down compromise: it keeps the same Shimano EP600 mid-drive and 420Wh battery you'd expect from a serious commuter e-bike, wrapped in a frame built to smooth out the daily grind of drain covers, potholes and patched tarmac. If you want strong assistance and a lighter, less accessory-heavy starting point than a fully loaded utility bike, this is the build to look at.

Assistance that suits stop-start city riding

The EP600 motor is rated by Orbea at up to 85Nm of torque, and it's tuned specifically for the kind of riding this bike is aimed at: pulling away from junctions, holding pace through traffic, and getting up the short sharp rises that show up on most urban commutes. That torque figure matters more than raw wattage for this kind of riding, because it's what determines how readily the bike helps you get moving from a standstill rather than how fast it'll carry you once you're up to speed. The integrated 420Wh battery is charged through Orbea's second-generation smart charger, small enough to live under a desk or by the front door. If your round trip regularly stretches beyond what 420Wh comfortably covers, Orbea sells a 252Wh bottle-mounted range extender as a configuration option, though it's worth checking whether any particular offer already includes it rather than assuming it does, since it isn't part of the standard build.

Frame, fork and ride comfort

Underneath the electronics is a hydroformed 6061 alloy frame using Orbea's Twin Glide design, built to flex slightly and take some of the edge off rough surfaces, paired with a rigid carbon fork rather than a heavier alloy one. It's the kind of detail that matters more on a bike you'll ride daily over the same imperfect road surfaces than on an occasional-use bike, since small vibrations add up over a commute. The 700x45c Pirelli Cinturato All Road Classic tyres reinforce that comfort-first brief, with enough volume to iron out cracked tarmac and cope with towpaths or gravel access roads without feeling out of their depth.

What's fitted, and what you'll want to add

Braking comes from Shimano's MT200 hydraulic discs, a sensible choice for a bike that'll see wet UK winters, and gear changes go through a nine-speed Shimano CUES setup with an 11-46t cassette and a chainguard over the 40-tooth chainring, so it's a simple derailleur system rather than the low-maintenance belt-and-hub arrangement used on the pricier Carpe 10. For visibility, there's a wraparound front position light and a Supernova TL3 Mini rear light built into the seatpost, both useful for being seen. Neither Orbea's specification nor this build includes a separate road-illuminating front headlamp, so if you regularly ride unlit routes after dark, that's worth adding yourself. The same goes for carrying capacity and security: there's no front carrier, kickstand or frame lock fitted as standard, though Orbea offers a 10kg-rated front basket, a folding-pedal and rotating-stem combination for tighter storage, and an ABUS frame lock, all as separate options rather than included equipment.

Sizing and buying it with confidence

Orbea builds the Carpe 25 across four frame sizes, S to XL, with geometry that stretches out gradually through the range; if you're between two sizes, the reach and stack figures in the size chart are worth comparing directly, since the height bands published by UK retailers overlap at the edges rather than giving a single correct answer. You'll also see this bike listed under slightly different year labels in UK results, sometimes as a 2027 model; Orbea's own frame designation for the current Carpe platform is 2026, but this doesn't mean the motor, gearing or geometry differ between listings, it's the same specified build described two different ways.

One thing worth doing regardless of where you buy it: Orbea asks new owners to register their bike within 30 days to activate the lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects in the frame and rigid fork, a straightforward bit of admin that's easy to forget once the bike's arrived and you're just keen to ride it.