Back in the day, all the cool kids rode a GT BMX.
I did not ride a GT.
I did have some GT bars on my MCS–like, old-school made-in Santa Ana bars.
Sounds like the GT brand, now called GT Bicycles, might be facing uncertain times*: GT Bicycles pausing new product releases, reducing workforce
* Look, I’m trying to be positive here.
I lusted after a GT Pro Performer growing up. I had a Huffy Pro Thunder. I had to buy it myself and my mom had my dad install fenders on it.
Wow that’s a harsh reality.
it sounds like corporate BMX gt might be dead. However Gary Turner and Co. Are very much alive and well. We might see a core brand revival? Hopefully?
Plus you can buy a Former Pro right from the man himself. (Well, technically showing sold out at the moment.)
I always thought GT bikes were cool when I was into mountain bikes in the 90s and early 2000s. Those triple-triangle frames looked like nothing else on the market.
Sad news to see a bike company go away.
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:I always thought GT bikes were cool when I was into mountain bikes in the 90s and early 2000s. Those triple-triangle frames looked like nothing else on the market.
I lusted over a Ti Zaskar for most of my high school years...
I was never a bmx'er, but their crank pivot mountain bike tech was pretty unique and rode very very nicely... RIP
I don't read it that way, more that they are changing direction and need to time to make the switch. Be positive, hopefully this results in a GT bicycles more along the lines of what it was in the glory days rather than the more entry level/department store brand it had basically become.
If it does go under I think the name is strong enough that someone would snatch it up and bring it back, I don't think we need to worry about TREK getting a hold of it and burying it forever (Gary Fisher, Klein).
Hopefully this is a rebirth rather than a death. I didn’t realize GT had become a department store brand. Such a similar fate of other once-mighty brand names.
GT has been dead since they went public in 1998 and were subsequently pased around like a hot potato because there was enough equity in the brand name.
Which is really a shame, I had a bunch of GTs back in the day, a few Vertigos, an Interceptor, a Dyno Detour, Compe, and Slammer, and even a few of the triple triangle rigid mountain bikes.
Still got the Detour, only one i have left. Frame is hanging up on my shop wall and the rest of it is in boxes in the basement. Really should get it repowdered and rebuilt, its ROUGH but has such a wonderful patina.
I'd probably buy another 86 Compe if one came up locally. Loved that bike
Never rode a Dyno but was always intrigued by the reverse fork dropouts.
They weren't full blown department store bikes like a Schwinn is but at least up here in Canada I think you'd see them at Sport-Chek which is a general sports retailer chain rather than at you local bike shop. They did have some decent entry level stuff though still but sort of the top of their line would be on the lower end of a more main stream bike company.
They did sponsor the Jelly-Belly continental pro race team on the road in the US for a couple of years in the early 00's. I bought this as a frameset on ebay from the team and used it as my winter trainer for a few years before passing it along to my dad and then selling when he upgraded.
My GT gave me a lot of good memories, and the nostalgic side of me hopes to see them make a comeback after this.
I loved my chrome Interceptor, and had to deliver a lot ($0.05 each) of newspapers (remember those?) with it to pay it off. Rode it about a mile to middle school daily, including in the snow, and continued to use it into college. To this day I'm pissed about it being stolen on campus.
There was an attempt a few years ago to get them back to their high-end roots of mtn bikes, but it didn't seem to take very well. They sponsored a few well known pro DH racers along with a few influencers/YouTubers. Skills with Phil being one of the most popular/known. He posted a video shortly before the mainstream announcement how his long tenure with GT was ending. One interesting bit he mentioned was how the US manager tried to buy the brand from PON, but was declined.
From a consumer POV, the association with "dept store brands" hurt their image more than I think PON realized it would. By most accounts I've read/heard, their bikes were not bad by any means and competitive with other bikes of similar MSRP. But in an era with a lot of competition, nothing really made them stand out anymore and it seems like they just didn't sell.
on the plus side of things, our man Chad has been working with Fiends distribution and we should see new deco next year. Yeah boiiiii.
I used to have one that looked exactly like this. I put many miles on it and took incredible care of it. Still looked like new when I moved out despite wearing through multiple sets of tires and brakes over the years. I don't know what happened to it, I sure wish that I still had it....
My GT Tequesta from high school is still in the garage at my dad's house.
Echoing some of the above, I think they've oscillated so much that this wouldn't be a first ending, just another one. And another shot at rebirth?
Also, while I get the appeal, after building up the Hutch Exel I got from another forum member, I will never do another period BMX bike. Heavy, terrible brakes, and tiny, tiny, tiny. Waiting for a 110% scale version on 22" wheels. Maybe that's GT's re-entry point...
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:I always thought GT bikes were cool when I was into mountain bikes in the 90s and early 2000s. Those triple-triangle frames looked like nothing else on the market.
Indeed. They were heavy but they looked great.
I loved the GT Performer/Pro Performer frames, with the baloney cut top tube.
I used to have a Kia Stinger. It was a GT clone from the late 80s. A lot of companies cloned the Performer but all of them cut the top tube straight... except Kia.
That was mine, hot pink and genuine Skyway mags (!), not bad for an $89 department store bike. Mine had a hollow stem bolt, and I put an Odyssey Gyro on it because the single cable ACS thing was a POS.
Between the long front brake cable and the plastic wheels, the brakes never worked worth a damn, either.
I had a GT pro for bmx and a hutch trickstar for freestyle.
In reply to Jesse Ransom :
FWIW, I love my 22-inch S&M ATF.
Steve_Jones said:I had a GT pro for bmx and a hutch trickstar for freestyle.
For me, at least, that’s the ideal GT: squared-off top tube cap and the smaller downtube stickers.
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