So I went to France at the end of last month to check out GT Bikes’ 2011 offerings and their revised brand direction. It was a trip that held a few firsts for me. My first time in Europe, my first time at an actual bike company’s official press camp, and it would turn out to be the first time I’ve ever ridden a GT that actually fit me. So I had these grand plans about shooting a whole bunch of photos and dropping some pretty exclusive content from the launch, but that didn’t happen. Well, because riding for five days straight aboard brand new GTs on some pretty cool French trails takes its toll on you, as does eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in fancy restaurants. The fact that GT also had two full time photographers on hand to capture everything kinda added to my lack of shooting as well. And it’s not often that I get to ride without a camera bag and when I do get the chance to leave my gear in the hotel room I leap at it. Anyway that’s enough of that, you want to see bikes. Some of you have probably already seen them anyway on other websites so I’ll just give you a bit of a low down on my picks from the new range.
Now I was going to drop all these funky bike photos with the French Alps in the background but not all the bikes we rode were production spec, so if you just imagine a pool and the Alps in the back of the rest of the pictures then you can pretend you were there with me.
See, I was in the Alps. But because lots of these bikes aren't the final production models you will just have to imagine the pool and hills behind the rest of the images I will be posting.
So first up the venerable Sanction has had to shed a few grams around the waist and the Fox DHX 5.0 is gone, replaced with the ever popular Fox RP23 custom tuned for GT by Fox. The Sanction also gets some visual love (actually the entire range does) and the hideous graphics from last year are gone in favour of some pretty snazzy and resolved graphics and a colour matched component spec. But I guess the real standout element for the Sanction (and GT on a whole), is that GT’s new MTB product manager Todd Seplavy actually rides bikes and the real world build options on these bikes are pretty much spot on. GT call it INDY spec. I call it knowing what’s going on, but KWGO doesn’t make a word. With that said the Sanction 1.0 has a pretty sick build. Fox 36 Float RLC FIT forks up front, Race Face SixC 725mm carbon bars and Race Face Atlas cranks in a 2×9 setup with a chain guide! Then there’s the colour matched WTB saddle and Crank Brothers Joplin 4. With all this you actually have a bulletproof all mountain rig that’s ready to shred out of the shop door.
The Sanction 2.0 features a slightly subdued colour scheme but still a pretty solid build. The fork is swapped out for a coil RockShox Lyrik and the rear shock is a plain Float R. A mixture of Shimano and Sram X7 parts handle the drivetrain and a Race Face Evolve stem matched to a 710mm Gravity bar keep you straight. GT has also moved to Formula brakes on a lot of the bikes for 2011 and both Sanctions feature powerful Formula R1X’s.
The 2011 Sanction gets a radical graphic makeover, loses the HammerSchmidt in favour of a 2X9 setup and the DHX is replaced with a custom tuned FOX RP23. Oh and it features a sick one-off blue WTB saddle!
The Sanction 2.0 gets both a toned down spec and slightly more subtle and "easier to lose" paint job.
Check out the build specs here for the Sanction
• Sanction 1.0 NZ RRP $7599
• Sanction 2.0 NZ RRP $4799
The Force Carbon Pro has bling written all over it: an X.0 2X10 drivetrain, Crank Brothers Iodine wheelsets, Joplin 4 seatpost and Cobalt bar, RockShox XX Revelation forks, and a sick colour matched WTB Silverado saddle.
The Force Expert drops the bling a little, stepping down to X9 2X10 and moves to a Fox Float 32 RLC FIT up front and some DT Swiss 350 hoops.
Keeping the identical frame across the three models, the Sport drops the spec even further with a mixture of X7 and X9 for the drivetrain which is still 2X10, The new RockShox Sektor up front and a plain Float RL out back, but you still get a height adjustable post by way of X-Fusion's new Hilo 100mm offering.
GT’s ever popular Force has stuck around for another season and received the most radical visual makeover of the entire GT range (as you can see). The three Force Carbons look absolutely stunning and the three aluminium models, while not as bold, also look pretty sharp. For those that don’t know, the Force sports the same 150mm of travel as the Sanction, but in a snappier and more XC-oriented package; 32mm forks, no bash ring and only 150mm up front signal this bike’s less aggressive tendencies but make no mistake, this sled can kill it and is more than capable out on the trail.
The Aluminium Force 1.0. With the Carbon options and prices, I don't know why you'd want an alloy version but they're still pretty darn sweet.
Check out the build specs for the Force range below.
• Force Carbon Pro
• Force Carbon Expert NZ RRP $7699
• Force Carbon Sport NZ RRP $5699
• Force 1.0 NZ RRP $4999
• Force 2.0 NZ RRP $3999
• Force 3.0 NZ RRP $3299
The Distortion 1.0 sports Fox 32mm 15QR forks and an RP23 rear shock, a Joplin 4 and a Race Face/SRAM 2X9 drivetrain for getting back up (if you miss the lift). More colour matched WTB goodness and 710mm Gravity light bars solidify the fact that you don't have to do anything to this bike to get it dialled.
Now the biggest hit of the launch would have to be GT’s new model the Distortion. Andrew Cho and Tyler McCaul have been rocking prototypes of these on slopestyle courses for a while now, but it’s finally reached us, albeit in a configuration aimed less at slopestyle riders and more at all-round MTB park use. It looks kinda like a Sanction but it only has 114mm of travel out the back and 140mm up front. It’s seriously fun to ride, is super responsive and easy as pie to pump and whip over and around stuff. I can’t jump but I’m sure it eats those up as well. There’s just two models; a 1.0 and a 2.0.
Check out the build specs for the Distortion
• Distortion 1.0 NZ RRP $6499
• Distortion 2.0 NZ RRP $4299
GT's new Sensor 29er Pro, my favourite bike from the GT launch. As it happens, the first shipment of 2010 29er Sensors has just arrived in New Zealand. This is one amazing bike.
The Sensor 2.0 GTW is the only dedicated women's offering in the whole GT range but it's a pretty sweet build at a pretty sharp price. NZ RRP $3999
And then there was my favourite bike from the whole launch. GT’s Sensor 29er Pro. Now the Sensor range is pretty big (seven bikes in total) but I paid no attention to anything anyone said about the other bikes, apart from the fact that there is a pretty sweet women’s 120mm travel Sensor 26″ wheel bike. The Sensor range does kind of look like it hasn’t had the attention the other bikes in the GT lineup have had for 2011, but after riding the 9er I’m happy to say I don’t care. I don’t want to start sounding like Seb either but after riding this thing my life may have just changed. You see I thought that I hated 29er’s. I’d never ridden one, I’d just decided I hated them. They look stupid, especially when short people ride them, and I still believe that with the exception of Seb, people under 6 foot should be banned from 29″ wheels on a pure aesthetic level. So anyway the Sensor 29er has a pretty basic build kit: a Fox F29 Fork featuring rebound adjust and lockout, a Float RL rear shock, again featuring rebound adjust and lockout, an X7/X9 2X10 setup, Avid Elixir 5 brakes and a Crank Brothers non-adjustable height seatpost and bar. On the trail this thing just begs to be ridden fast; the 120mm is more than enough travel and I found there wasn’t much I couldn’t ride on this than what I could ride on a GT Ruckus, and I actually found myself coming back to this bike for multiple rides. Actually I didn’t really ride much else after.
Check the Sensor 29er Pro spec sheet here. NZ RRP $4999
There were tonnes of other bikes at the launch. Obviously the Carbon Fury was there, both the World Cup and Team models that you see under Mick Hannah and Marc Beaumont.
Fury World Cup NZ RRP $11999
Fury Team NZ RRP $7999
The Ruckus DJ proves that GT can actually make a DJ bike that looks the part. You may even see this bad boy at Gorge Road rubbing tyres with Black Markets.
Ruckus DJ NZ rrp $1999
And then there is this thing; the LaBomba which is basically a Mick Hannah-inspired Dual Slalom and Pump Track bike. I did get a chance to take this for a spin (albeit on a crap pump track) but it was fast and super nimble.
LaBomba = Pump track and Dual Slalom killer.
Oh and then there was this bad boy for all you Henry Van Ashe wannabes.
Head over to our Facebook site to win this sweet Oakley technical riding shirt.