Is GT bikes dead?

Help us Hans Rey, you're our only hope...

Man, GT was THE brand (or brands, along with Dyno and Robinson) back in the day for me. Anyone who was anyone had a GT! I was more of a BMX kid rather than a Freestyle kid. The Performers were cool, but I specifically lusted after the Mach One. I wanted SPEED. 



I remember going to my local bike shop looking to buy one with my hard-earned paper route money and instead left with a Robinson Rebel. It was "cheaper" than the Mach One but I liked that it had both front and rear hand brakes. It still shared a lot of GT components, which was cool. 

The one on the left is that exact bike. I remember paying $179.99 for it, plus I added the lean-back seat post a little later. I rode the wheels off that thing until I broke something in the rear hub and I put it away. I scored the one on the right about 15 years ago in a Savers thrift store of all places for $6.99! I bring it out for pit bike duty on occasion. 



GT (like Mongoose and Schwinn) has been more or less a big box bike brand for a while now, and they missed the boat on the recent resurgence of 29er cruisers/wheelie bikes that SE has cashed in on, and their mountain bikes aren't great these days either. Not surprised they are in trouble. It would be cool to see the founders re-enter the market with an old-school lineup and maybe pilfer the brand back from the corporate overlords. 

ShawnG said:

Help us Hans Rey, you're our only hope...

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

ShawnG said:

Help us Hans Rey, you're our only hope...

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Hans "No Way" Rey is gonna say "No Way"

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

Hans Rey is still very active in the sport. He's busy working for a few companies (Sram is one I think), getting kids into mountain biking. Hairball and Tinker are still active too.

Bad time in the industry right now.  Saw this arricle this morning  

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/rocky-mountain-files-to-restructure-in-attempt-to-avoid-bankruptcy.html

Not BMX, but does anyone in the Colorado - northern NM - eastern Utah area want a FREE classic GT Timberline mountain bike?  My wife's bike is from the 1980s and needs a complete reconditioning, it's solid, never crashed, cosmetically very good but all the cables are frozen and the tires and tubes are bad.  It's a big, heavy old-school downhill bomber type early mountain bike.  No fancy quick release hubs, click shifters or suspension.  My wife has very long legs (36" inseam) so this is defiitely for a tall person - 32" from ground to the top tube, 44 inch wheelbase, weighs about 30 pounds, 18 speed Shimano derailleur, dead stock.  It has been indoors in my garage for the last 25 years.  I hate to take it to the recyclers, but I'm 79 and don't feel like bringing it back to life myself.  I don't want to mess with shipping, but I could deliver as far as Grand Junction, Durango or Gunnisson, Colorado or maybe to Moab, UT (I'm in Ridgway in southwestern CO).  It's blue, I can't post photos.  If anyone is interested, PM me and it's yours.

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

In reply to EvanB :

There is never a reason to not buy a bike if it's deeply discounted.

EvanB said:

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

Could be a good deal. Component replacement in the future shouldn’t be much of a problem, right? 

EvanB said:

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

Kinda trash spec even at that price, you can do better, especially lightly used.

93gsxturbo said:

EvanB said:

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

Kinda trash spec even at that price, you can do better, especially lightly used.

This is area specific. This isn't a bad deal at all. Our bike infrastructure in the twin cities is very very good. And our used bike prices are high. So if you live in a place like this. It's not a bad price. If you live in a state without lots of bike infrastructure. You can do better. 

93gsxturbo said:

EvanB said:

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

Kinda trash spec even at that price, you can do better, especially lightly used.

I definitely haven't found anything with hydraulic discs and semi decent components for under $1000 around me.

93gsxturbo said:

EvanB said:

So does this mean I should order a gravel bike for 50% off or hope they will go lower? 

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/gravel-bikes/products/grade-comp?variant=45862855475497#tab-geo

Kinda trash spec even at that price, you can do better, especially lightly used.

I definitely haven't found anything with hydraulic discs and semi decent components for under $1000 around me.

In reply to EvanB :

I did a quick CL scouring and you ain't kidding. One hit in Cleveland before it searched a wider area and it was way over $1k.  I did find something for under $1k if you wanted a bike with a huge frame almost too large for me to ride, or something several hours away.

I also found my teenage dream bike locally at a price I can afford. Dangit

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

I also found my teenage dream bike locally at a price I can afford. Dangit

Welllll?

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

It's way too nice for me to want to actually ride.  Still has all of the original stickers and I don't see any scratches anywhere either.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Which GT are we talking about? 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

It's not a GT, so not really relevant to the thread.

It's not just automotive ADD that I have

The bicycle industry has so many ups and downs that I'm more surprised when a brand hasn't gone through a major shakeup for more than two decades. How many of them are like that?

In reply to GCrites :

You're not wrong there... Though sometimes it's good; I recently found out from my favorite LBS that Kona, which was teetering on the brink, got bought back by the founders who've re-hired a bunch of stalwarts, and things are looking good for re-invigoration. I'm certainly getting excited about rumors of an update to my much-loved 2016 Hei Hei...

"The best thing is to be bought by someone with the resources to expand the range and take advantage of mass market scale."
"The best thing is to focus on core things and not get distracted and watered down."

Sometimes it seems like the entire world of business is just made up of entities going from one side to the other, setting every dial to 0 or 11 at the turn of the oscillation... Most knobs have a 5, and nobody seems to care.

GCrites said:

The bicycle industry has so many ups and downs that I'm more surprised when a brand hasn't gone through a major shakeup for more than two decades. How many of them are like that?

My beloved S&M hasn’t been through that, but I totally hear what you’re saying. 

Glad to see Kona is coming around. Most of the old MTB brands seem to have lost their way.
 

It took a while to find a bike that was still made in North America the last time I went MTB shopping. I bought one of the last Cannondales before the moved production to Taiwan.

In reply to ShawnG :

I still have my 1986-ish Cannondale. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Very cool.

I've got my 96 Brodie Expresso. The 'dale is a 2000s Gemini from when I was still doing really dumb things and healed quickly.