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GT Bikes, freeride, 1995?? Hammertime!

1K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  gt jorgito 
#1 ·
Didnt see this posted here, so I thought I should...

Old School Throwback: Hammertime - Pinkbike

Maaan I wanted those Onza pedals......

PS: makes me think a little about how GT somehow squandered or possibly misshandled the oppertunity to be a major player in DH/freeriding/AM movement. If they did or didnt might end up in a semantics-fight. It might just be a conscious boardroom decision not to invest in this, but I fear its more unconscious than that.

Perhaps, mtb'ing just got corrupted in the whole olympics thing and corporate players took the sport in the wrong dirrection? I mean, lycra, ridgid forks, 29", 1.95" tyres, round track pedal pushing on neat trails with hardly any "off-road" elements, VO2max tests.....that wasn't what mountainbiking was supposed to be, a lot of roadies with great stamina cycling round and round and round and round. And yes I think Gary Fisher is a sell out, Klein as well....I think Trek makes awsome bikes, but they have destroyed insanely great brands doing so. What have they gained? Fisher customers, wanting originality, sought others brands creating demand and in turn new brands. So in a wierd sense, its been good for us bikers. But I dont think Trek gained a lot from buying Klein, Fisher or Bontrager. They just bough out the competition. The result was that nothing happened for a while, because it wasn't "in the interest" of the biggest players........thats my 5 Kroner at least ;)

At least, with freeriding and enduro, it seems the sport is finding itself again and thats good.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
ye3ah but you have to remember pretty much a few years later when "freeriding" was becoming the new catchphrase that the companies were spinning to sell you a different bike, GT was going bankrupt and got bought out...

For me i'd rather watch an XC race than all these extreme rad red bull things.

but how did they squander opportunities in DHG, the won world championships with the RTS and LTS and a pile of WC's with the LTS and Lobo and iDrive adn are still doing pretty well with the Fury
 
#3 ·
I agree with Mik. GT had the bankruptcy issues but overall they did well. Steve Peate was on a DH I-drive. Even the Zaskars have won DH championships. When FourCross became popular, GT was sponsoring the best rider, Brian Lopes. You also have to see that throughout all their financial woes, the godfather of Trials Hans "No Way" Rey has been with the brand. GT has always been there some people just didn't notice. and for the record I like watching both XC and all the other awesome crazy stuff Red Bull is putting out there.
 
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