Jan 7 1992 GT Bravado

It had to happen some time so why not now. GT Yellow. In 1992 Shimano introduced XTR and with GT always having the Team Avalanche as the top steel model and always having had success with the Avalanche as a Deore equipped price point bike it left a whole in the line for an XT bike and it was filled with the introduction of the Bravado. The 1992 Bravado was offered in Red or Yellow. When most other companies were abandoning down tube routed shift cables and going to top tube Banjo strung cable routing GT combined with True Temper and came up with the "Groove Tube". This top tube was indented on the underside to allow for the routing of both derailleur inner wires and the rear brake cable. Appearance wise it was a great clean look. Personally I thought it always tough routing the cables. The spring of 92 was my last year working in a shop before I went inside the industry and I had a chance to assemble a number of the groove tube bikes. I always thought the front shifted a tad hard but most all top routed front cables seemed that way to me regardless of the brand. At one point when my stable had 69 rides I had the complete fleet of Bravado's but I had a sell down the first six months of 2011 and had all but one frame gone. Then low and behold this one shows up on craigs and when they're this nice at a good price...well my trigger finger is fast to act and act I did. Already having a 92 Team Avalanche in Yellow and having picked up a second NOS 91 Cyclone in yellow I just had to complete the yellow trifecta.
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Along with the "Groove Tube" GT added alloy rear derailleur hangers and rear dropout adjusters to their higher end steel frames in 92. This was also the year that many bikes in the line could be purchased with an optional Rock Shox model fork that was inserted in the bike box before the bikes were shipped to the dealer. The 92 Bravado had a Rock Shox 20 option. Because of GT's sponsorship affiliation with Onza most of the higher end models also came spec'd with bar ends. GT actually printed two catalogs in 1992. One was only the higher end models and it was inserted as a pullout catalog in two of the top mountain bike magazines.

Thought I'd better throw in a pic or two of the "yellow trifecta".

Oh and in case you are wondering....I did finally find the minty low mile SR Lowfat pedals with toe clips wrapped in newspaper when I was trashing out the box a few days after taking these pics...she's a rider.