Cool Wall - GT Bicycles - POLL FINISHED
- Thread starter john
- Start date
andrewl":1x84l1gk said:.......Back to GTs though. Lots of marketing gimmicks (Groove Tube, Triple Triangle, thermoplastic), and some very ordinary and flawed full suspension designs (ie STS).
I remember people buying them so they could put the parts on a good frame... Enough said really
Gimmicks Errr...very similar to a lot of other manufacturers there then.
Lets think about what GT did as a manufacturer for MTBing with it's gimmicks
1990: Titanium Xizang LE
1991: The Quatrefoil off road tandem and GT Zaskar
1992: Gimmicks
Groove Tube, Flip Flop stem and 2 x 4 forks1993: RTS hits the market and GT becomes a leader in full suspension.
1994: RTS becomes a complete line of suspension bikes.
1994: GT is the first company to mass produce a functional full suspension bike in Taiwan
1994: LTS, a 4- bar linkage frame is introduced, The LTS wins the 1994 “full suspension shootout ” among all the major brands
1995: LTS ruled the MTB line up
1995: The Karakoram won “1995 bike of the year”
1996: Adult line features two complete suspension platforms in the LTS and RTS
1997: GT introduced 3 new carbon fibre high end full susp
1998: GT introduced the LOBO DH bike - Which in bike shops looked like it was from the FUTURE
1998: The LTS –2000 won “Bike of the Year”
1998: GT hires Steve Peat for DH
1998: I drive, Top of the range is the STS XCR1000 (got one
)1999: GT DH-I
OK I agree that the sale to Scwinn did nothing for GT. But Richard Long and Gary Turner did so much for Mountain Biking that to NOT put the GT Brand on the Cool Wall is simply criminal.
A lot of people on here are Brand Loyal, myself included
. But exclusiveness does not make cool. Anyway my 14 year Nephew thinks my Lobo is the coolest bike EVER, apparently its 'all that'. Showed him THE Yeti and as he said it's 'a mess' which aint cool. Anyone over the age of 18 struggles with 'cool', just by being 30 something means you are probably 'Not Cool'
In fact by NOT putting GT on the Cool Wall will mean IT'S COOL
I've had to go with cool, yeah they've not got the same prestige of some brands but who cares, and some of the ideas may of not had any benefits but look at the triple triangle you can recognise a GT a mile off from that. My dream bike was a Karakorum when I was and then when they released the RTS I was in awe. Come on thing about it the cool early paint jobs on even the cheapest models, the flip flop stems and groove tubes. And frames like the Xizangs and RTS and all the thermoplastic ones. And on top of that most of the retro ones arn't pieces of wall art they're out there being ridden and still taking a beating.
GT was super-cool in their Santa Ana/ BMX days; But no more.
The Richard Long days, when people still remembered that GT = Gary Turner.
Greg Hill.
Eddie Fiola.
Blue & yellow race strip.
Black-chrome cruiser f&f with polished parts.
A'me grips and Vans low-tops.
Everything from their MTB era pretty much sucked.
Notable exceptions = the Lobo bike and Hans Rey/ Steve Peat, who are both legends.
The Richard Long days, when people still remembered that GT = Gary Turner.
Greg Hill.
Eddie Fiola.
Blue & yellow race strip.
Black-chrome cruiser f&f with polished parts.
A'me grips and Vans low-tops.
Everything from their MTB era pretty much sucked.
Notable exceptions = the Lobo bike and Hans Rey/ Steve Peat, who are both legends.
