GT LTS-3 '96

Bought this frame from here about 5 years ago... been sat in mum's shed ever since as I moved abroad.

Finally pulled all the parts from my old steel Avalanche and ported them over.

Not a pristine build, a bit budget and and mid range components (note taped up saddle . Crappy phone pics help disguise it! I replaced the leaky RockShox Deluxe with a BAR I was given. Also running some old Manitous that could do with some nice 100mm Bombers or similar.

And yes, that is a Mavic 121 that might even be the same age as the bike. I'm not the most mental downhiller in the world, but i ride hard and weigh 90KG, so the fact it's lasted me 16 years on hard tails previous to this says something about it's build quality... think the D521 on my Marin B17 has buckled more.

Anyway, quite happy so far, just need to get out and ride it in anger

Are you sure of the year ?

Ive been farting around in the archives and just happened to be looking at the GT stuff.I think this is 1997, the pivot point under the toptube and the delux shock are 1997 :?

Take a look
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/1 ... 7c1af2b4e9

Nice simple and practical build. I like it.

As for years; with a lot of American stuff the production year and the calendar year don't match, as they often release 'next years' model during the previous (calendar) year.

I have a 94 Zaskar that I have been told on several occasions is a 95 "because the graphics in the catalogues...." So it could be made in 96, but under the 97 production year.

aah... you've just made me shed a tear of reminiscence when you linked to that old GT Catalogue - I can remember drooling over the STS for hours!

I always thought it was a 96 from the MTBR.com "Everything LTS" thread, where some US guys dated it. I do know that on Bikepedia the 97 is listed as a different colour, so maybe there is a difference between the US and U models, with the UK getting them later (i.e. a 96 US might be a 97 UK?)

http://www.bikepedia.com/Search.aspx?Q=gt+lts-3#.UAXm5fWJl8E
http://forums.mtbr.com/gt/everything-gt-lts-515890-post5660704.html

nice bike im currently building up one the same