GT Bicycles
GT Bicycles is a large American manufacturer of road, mountain, and bmx bicycles. The company was founded in 1979 by Gary Turner, a welding engineer and Richard Long, a bike shop owner. The company merged with Schwinn in 1998, but the conglomerate went bankrupt in 2001, and was acquired by Pacific Cycle. Dorel Industries acquired Pacific Cycle in 2004. GT itself acquired Auburn Racing and Dyno Products from Bob Morales plus Robinson Racing from the late Chuck Robinson in the late 1980s.
GT mountain bikes are often readily identifiable by the "triple triangle" frame design present in most hard-tail designs. Early BMX frames were also easily identifiable as the top tube seemed to bisect the seat tube and protrude beyond it by approximately an inch-and-a-half towards the rear of the frame. This innovative idea was claimed to reduce the amount of vibration transferred to the seat from the rear wheel. Later versions would actually have the customary "GT" letters stamped on the end of the protruding tube.
History
GT Bicycles was founded in 1979 by Gary Turner, a welding engineer and Richard long, a bike shop owner. Originally formed as a manufacturer of BMX bicycles, the company grew to become one of the world's largest manufacturers of BMX, mountain and leisure bicycles.[citation needed]
In the 1970s, Turner's son began participating in the then fledgling sport of bicycle motocross (BMX). Noticing that the bikes were fragile and heavy, Turner began manufacturing frames for his son. Due to his experience in the drag racing industry which had been utilising chro-moly in frame and chassis manufacturing, Turner began utilizing the tubing in BMX design. Turner's frames became popular throughout southern California and, as a result, he began manufacturing the frames for other racers.
In 1974, Richard Long, a bike shop owner noticed Turner's frames gaining popularity. Long approached Turner, asking him if he could act as a retailer for GT Bicycles. Turner agreed, leading to the business partnership.
Models
BMX
- Interceptor
- Mach One
- Pro Series
- Power Series
- Speed Series
speed series
- Fueler
- Bump
- Zone
- El Centro
- Califia
- Havana
- Air
- Fly
- Slammer
- Finale
- Encore
- Pro Freestyle Tour
- Vertigo
- Performer
- Pro Performer
- Mach 2
- Zone
- Mach 3
- Karkass
Road and Mountain
- RAVE
- RAGE
- Palomar
- Rebound (Steel, and then later aluminum, hardtail)
- Tequesta (Steel hardtail)
- Tempest
- Zaskar (Aluminum and recently Carbon fibre, hardtail)
- Xizang (Titanium hardtail)
- Lightning (Titanium hardtail)
- Avalanche (All mountain hardtails)
- Pantera (All mountain hardtails)
- Karakoram (Tange Prestige Steel Hardtail)
- Borrego (Steel Hardtail)
- Psyclone (Steel Hardtail)
- Richter 8 (Steel Hardtail)
- RTS (Full suspension)
- LTS (Full Suspension)
- STS (Carbonbikes)
- Force
- Sanction
- Lobo DH, DHi (Downhill bikes)
- i-drive Series
- iT-1 (Downhill/freeride Dual Suspension)
- Ruckus (freeride Hardtails and Duallys also Dirtbikes)
- Chucker (freeride/Dirt jump Hardtail)
- Outpost (Mountain Hardtail)
- Slipstream (Comfort)
- Timberline/Nomad (Comfort)
- Course (Very Rare Road, Reynolds 853)
- Agressor (polished aluminum hardtail)
- Marathon
- Talera (Mountain Hardtail)
- ZR series (road bikes with a numerical designation, the lowest being the best spec'd bike (i.e., a ZR 1.0 was a better quality bike than a ZR 4.0).
- ZRX (Cyclocross)
GT also manufactured a series of highly regarded Track bikes
- GTB (Generic Track Bike)
- GT Pulse
Teams
As well as the manufacturing of bicycles, GT Bikes also has several teams[1] competing in BMX, Mountain and Road competitions.
BMX Race Team
There are five riders in the BMX Race Team. Riley O'Neail, Luke Madill, Joey Bradford, Eric Rupe and Arielle Martin (Verhaaren) compete in competitions held globally.
BMX Freestyle team
GT’s BMX Freestyle Team include the riders: Tim Glose, Dave Dillewaard, Greg Ingersoll, Bobby Kanode, Demetrius Andrzejewski, Collin Evans, Jeremy Sawyer, Eddie Fiola, Kevin Donegan, Mike King, Fred Blood, and Josh Mulcahy.
Mountain Team
Eight riders in the Mountain Team, compete in global competitions including Downhill, 4X , Trials, Freeride and Dirt jumping. The riders in the team are: Marc Beaumont, Hans Rey, Eric Carter, Roger Rinderknecht, Mick Hannah, Kevin Aiello, Andrew Cho, and Tyler McCaul.
Road Team
GT Bikes are the team sponsors and bike supplier for Jelly Belly professional cycling team. Also Lotto pro cycling team (now Silence-Lotto) had Easton aluminium tubing GT frames. It was before carbon fibers were good enough for an almost complete substitution of aluminium, titanium, steel and even scandium as tubing material in the professional peloton.
Co – Factory Team
The Co – Factory Team was founded in 2008[2]. The team is composed of riders from across the US riding for local dealer teams that represent GT Bicycles.
References
- ^ http://www.gtbicycles.com/gbr/eng/riders GT Bikes Team home page
- ^ http://www.gtbicycles.com/gbr/eng/co-factory-team GT Bikes co-factory team page.