Five minutes with Hannah Barnes, Orange Bikes
"Riding for me is about the travel, adventure, variety and people," says the super-quick Northerner.
Orange Bikes are one of those British companies that road the initial wave of enthusiasm for mountain bikes in the mid-to-late eighties and are still going strong today. Founded in Halifax, West Yorkshire, in 1988 the name Orange is apparently taken from ‘all-round range’. They are a proudly British brand and hand-build all of their top-end models themselves. That doesn’t mean to say their appeal is limited to the UK though, Orange are well known and trusted globally and have dealers in over 25 countries around the world.
The core of Orange’s business is still mountain bikes and this is almost all of what they do. An updated version of their original aluminium hardtail, the ‘Clockwork’, is still produced today and essentially forms the bottom of the Orange range. It only gets higher-spec and more technical from here across their downhill, freeride, all mountain and trail bikes. Most models come in at a variety of different specs, the trail range comes with or without suspension and with different wheel sizes, meaning the whole lot are extremely customisable. There is only one model of bike designed specifically for women, the Diva, but it has been created as such from the ground up. They also do a single cyclo-cross / road bike, the RX9.
Orange are a top-end manufacturer and consequently their bikes can be seen in many MTB competitions, used by riders such as former downhill world cup champs Steve Peat and Greg Minnaar, as well as current competitors such as Cut Media enduro rider Hannah Barnes.