We've very recently tested the aluminium Orbea Gain D15, which is an interesting new player in the lightweight e-road bike, itself one of the newest sectors of the e-bike market. Orbea isn't resting on its laurels: hot on the heels of the Gain is the Gain Carbon which – you've guessed it – swaps the alloy frame for a carbon one for an even lighter ride.

How light? Well, Orbea claims that the bike can weigh as little as 11.3kg, which is certainly impressively light. We're assuming that's for the money-no-object top tier build, the £6,799 M10, which features Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels and a Shimano Dura Ace groupset. Cheaper builds down to £3,399 are available.

“Gain was designed to enhance your ride, not dominate it”, says Orbea. “The Enough Power and Enough Energy concepts result in an exceptionally lightweight, sportive and rideable bike – a machine that heeds the call of the open road”

What does “enough energy and enough power” translate into in the real world? Basically, the motor system is designed to be an occasional helping hand rather than a constant companion. Certainly the motor system isn't as powerful as many you'll find, and nor is the battery as big, but this is a bike that's designed to be ridden without power for the majority of the time, with the motor kicking in a bit of help when you need it. And with the new, lighter carbon versions, you'll need the help even less.

The Orbea Gain Carbon uses the same motor system as its alloy sibling. It's from ebikemotion, also from Spain, and it's the same motor that Wilier are now using in their Cento Hybrid. With a claimed full-system weight of just 3.5kg with a 250Wh internal battery, it's among the lightest systems out there, not much more than half the weight of a full-fat mid motor and 500Wh battery. The integration is extremely neat: the only control is a single button at the front of the top tube, and a single port is used for charging and diagnostics. That same port can also be used to attach a supplementary bottle battery (coming soon) if you need to extend the Gain's range. The compact hub motor, sandwiched as it is between a disc rotor and a cassette, is very inconspicuous. The integration of the pedal sensor is also very clean: Orbea use a special cassette lockring containing 20 magnets, and pick up the drivetrain activity with a sensor in the chainstay.

The Gain bikes are Bluetooth-enabled, and can pair with a smartphone using the ebikemotion app. We've used the app with the alloy Gain and also with Orbea's Katu e50 city bike, and it's pretty good: you get control over the bike's configuration, more detailed battery information and also bike computer and routing functionality. You'll need to mount your phone to the bike to get the most out of the latter functions, but there's myriad ways of doing that these days and most smartphones are waterproof.

The Gain Carbon is designed to be versatile and as such the bike is specced with 28mm tyres in all the road builds, with room in the frame and fork for 40mm rubber. There are gravel-oriented builds coming too like the M21 above, using Mavic's Allroad wheelsets and single-ring transmissions from SRAM.

Needless to say we'll try and get our hands on one as soon as we can. In the meantime here are the major specs from the launch range. The pick for value looks like the M20 at £3,999.

Orbea Gain Carbon M10 £6,799

Orbea Gain Carbon M20i £4,999

Orbea Gain Carbon M20 £3,999

Orbea: Gain Carbon M30 £3,399

See the full range of orbea road bikes at www.orbea.com