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From Halifax via Scotland and displayed here in a rare mud-free state
Fort William local Joe Barnes’ mastery of stinking wet conditions has earned him a reputation worldwide. Watch one of his Hazzard Racing videos and you’ll wonder how it’s possible to rip a bike around a deep rut with such ease, while keeping it upright and all the time remaining confidently clipped-in. ‘Pro enduro racer’ might be Joe’s job description, but it’s these quirky and comedic videos that have made him such a rider favourite. Past storylines have included kidnapping his teammates, sending it off waterfalls in rubber dinghies and his mate Pete appearing as Jesus to offer sage pieces of wisdom or announce he’s blocked the toilet. But between all this silliness, and a soundtrack that dives straight from Biggie Smalls into country-andwestern, Joe’s raw talent on a bike always shows through.
Before starting his Enduro World Series career and signing for Canyon Factory Racing, Joe was a downhiller, and was always recognisable charging down the hill on the luminouspink Orange 224 he piloted for the Scottish MTB Cut team. After six years on Canyon, 2019 saw him come full circle and partner up with Orange again, putting together his own race programme with close pals and equally-adept rut-smashers Lachlan Blair and Fergus Lamb.
“I’ve ridden single-pivot bikes probably more than any other, so switching back felt easy,” explains Joe, who chops and changes between a number of bikes in Orange’s range. The 650b-wheeled, 165mm-travel Alpine 6 we see here is his race bike, but at home he’ll often pull out the shorter-travel Five or his Crush hardtail. “I like that each bike’s got a purpose,” he says. “And that’s reflected in the sizes I ride. For my Alpine 6, I chose a large, for extra stability on rougher tracks, but my Five is a medium so I can throw it about a bit more.”
When setting up his bike for slopsurfing on Scotland’s notoriously rainy west coast, one aspect that Joe is particularly picky about is the bite point of his Hope Tech 3 E4 brakes (1). “I like them not too grabby and to bite really close to the bars. I think if you’re very familiar with how your brakes will react then you can use them less.” Aside from this, the only other things you need for Scottish riding, according to Joe, are spiky tyres and a big mudguard! “The Orange frames don’t collect too much mud either, so that’s a bonus,” he adds. While the Schwalbe Magic Mary tyre Joe runs up front on his Alpine 6 is a permanent fixture, he’ll swap between a Hans Dampf and Nobby Nic on the rear, depending on the conditions. His favoured pressures are low – 19psi up front and 24 in the rear – and perfectly suited to soft conditions.
Hazzard Racing is Joe’s initiative, so the team bikes are specced with components of his choosing. The most eye-catching part is the purple fork, provided by Italian suspension maestros Formula. Their Selva R (2) is one of the most tunable forks on the market, with independently adjustable positive and negative air chambers, and seven interchangeable valves that allow you to customise the compression settings. All this on top of the usual damping dials and volume spacers. Joe admits to having done significant amounts of testing with the brand out in Italy to arrive at his fork set-up. Perhaps more intriguing though, is his prototype Formula rear shock (3) “All I can say is that it’s new for this year,” he tells us, remaining tight-lipped about the details. “I managed to spend some time on it at the development stage and I love it – there’s something pretty special going on inside that one!”
Another dose of bespoke cool comes courtesy of Lancashire-based Hope, who provide wheels, brakes and cranks (4) for the Hazzard team. On Joe’s Alpine 6, the levers, calliper bore-caps and top-caps are all customanodised in silver, and he says he loves the way they look in combination with the lightningbolt fade frame graphics. The dropper post, chain guide, bar and stem (5) are all from Canadian brand OneUp Components. Joe isn’t the tallest of riders, so he runs his 20mm-rise carbon bar cut to a fairly narrow 740mm and pairs it with a 35mm stem. Inside the fork steerer, OneUp’s neat EDC tool is hidden away, accessed through a hollow, threaded top cap that’s purple-anodised to match the fork.
Sadly, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that we’ll see this bike between the race tape in 2020, but Joe’s been keeping busy scheming up plans and self-shooting a series of lockdown videos in classic Hazzard style. “I love filming, so it’s been fun, if a bit limiting,” he says. “We’d hoped to tie in the EWS racing with some exploration and exotic places along the way, but right now I’m just trying to stay fit, sharp and ready to go for when the time comes!”
INFO
Price: £3,600 (stock Orange Alpine 6 S) Contact: www.orangebikes.co.uk
Also try: Cotic Rocket, £3,174 (basic custom build) www.cotic.co.uk