Orbea has over 180 years of manufacturing heritage, starting as a gun and ammunition manufacturer in the Basque Country of Northern Spain way back in 1840. When the business of gun making waned, the company pivoted and began using the tubing machines and raw materials they'd acquired to manufacture bicycles. In the 1930s, Orbea made the switch to bicycle manufacturing entirely, and by the time the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, they were producing 50,000 bikes per year.

It wasn't always easy going however, and in 1969 the company found itself on the edge of bankruptcy, which would have caused 1,500 workers to lose their jobs. To prevent this, the employees purchased the company from the founders and set it up as a cooperative, which allowed the company to stay in business. A few years later, the company moved their headquarters to Mallabia, where they are still located. To this day, they are still a cooperative, which means that the employees own the company and have a very real say in how it is run.