Exclusive - Joe Taylor's 650b Orange Alpine 160
1 July 2013 | By AngusMcIntoshAngus was dispatched down into South Wales last Thursday to go and meet the lovely people at Mojo for a tour and some other bits and bobs which you’ll see plenty more from in the coming few days and weeks.
In the staff bike rack he spied this rather special Orange Alpine 160 belonging to Mojo technician and team rider Joe Taylor!
The guys at Mojo are always looking to push the boundaries of what can be done with a mountain bike and also have the technical know how to create the kind of machines that most of us can only dream.
Introducing Joe Taylor's highly customised 27.5" Orange Alpine 160.
What makes it so special I here you ask…
Joe isn’t just a technician at Mojo he’s also one hell of a handy bike rider and is during the process of taking the enduro scene by storm! He knows exactly what he’s looking for from his bikes and that means everything from getting the correct geometry to even the wheel size he wants when the bike doesn’t really permit it…
Joe has taken the standard 26” Orange Alpine 160 in a 17.5” size and managed to squeeze a set of 27.5” Stans Flow EX hoops in!
To squeeze those bigger 27.5” wheels in to the frame Joe has had to undertake some pretty serious customization including swapping the shock from the 215x63mm shock that comes as standard on the 2014 Alpine 160 to the all new Fox Float X in a 200x67mm which Mojo only took delivery of very recently.
Even with the changes to the shock it's still pretty tight clearance wise and Joe's buzzed the seat tube with the new Maxxis High Roller 2 27.5x2.3 rear tyre.
He’s also been forced into some other small changes to the actual internals on his shock to reduce the effective stroke slightly by adding a spacer behind the bottom out bump stop but even after all this jiggery pokery he has retained pretty much managed to keep the same amount of travel as when it was originally running 26” wheels.
Think more Alpine 157 than 160… You wouldn’t notice it and would be even less noticeable with the added roll over of the 27.5” wheels.
Joe is by no means a tall guy so the 17.5” Alpine 160 might seem a bit of an odd choice but he knows exactly what he wants from his bikes and that means plenty of room up front in the cockpit and a super long wheelbase for added stability.
He runs a super short 35mm stem to try make up for the long top tube and even has the seat a little further up the rails towards the bars to make the reach a tad smaller but he absolutely loves it and he’s planning to let her rip over at the Mega next week!
Check out that all important to thumb timer to end all Strava related arguments! (Bottom Left)
He’s also got all the other essentials that he needs for competing at a race like the mega with the Fox D.O.S S dropper post and a nice wide set of Renthal Fatbars complete with Motocross stlye thumb timer which he tells me he uses to “Sort out any discrepancy’s between his Strava times on the local trails.”
He’s quite a character and has a bike to match! With one victory already under his belt at the Innerleithen stop on the UK Gravity Enduro series expect to see a whole lot more from Joe!
Good luck out at the Mega!
DISCLAIMER
Now just plonking bigger wheels than intended onto bikes isn’t something to undertake lightly... Orange, Mojo, MoreDirt or any other bike manufacture for that matter don’t recommend attempting procedures like this and will void your warranty... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
