The GT brand name is significant for experienced middle-aged and veteran mountain bikers.

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After many challenging years of staid product and ambiguous positioning, brand fans have been awaiting a product revival that seems unlikely to happen any time soon – if at all. A video posted by (former) GT team rider, Phil Kmetz of Skills With Phil, confirmed that a recent online meeting had dissolved the brand’s pro-rider partnerships. Kmetz also spoke of GT’s immediate plans to sell its current inventory and then ‘pause’ the brand.

Acquired in 2021 by PON Holdings, which also owns Cannondale and Santa Cruz, the
reorganised GT has shown great promise in the last few years. There was a relocation from the Midwest to Aliso Viejo, bringing GT back to its spiritual home of Southern California. PON also recruited industry veteran and former ENVE founder, Jason Schiers, as managing director to steer the brand.

Schiers promised a GT renewal in 2025, with an exciting new product true to the brand’s
mountain biking heritage. With its pro rider programme effectively dissolved and the new product pipeline shut down, staff retrenchments appear unavoidable. The optimism around GT that formed during the last year has dramatically clouded over, concerning its prospects and near-term future.

Why GT matters

GT has an enormous market legacy, starting as a specialist BMX brand in Southern
California in 1972. Even today, collectors and contemporary racers covet the brand’s BMX
race bikes. A BMX market and race scene without new GTs would be nearly unimaginable to many.

The brand has an inarguable legacy in mountain biking, too. During the 1990s and early
2000s, the Zaskar was a terrifically desirable frame name for dedicated XC racers and
endurance mountain bikers. GT’s limited edition Xizang titanium hardtails are some of the most iconic mountain bikes ever made, while its innovative rear-suspension designs and linkages create true brand differentiation – if not always converting to commercial success. Let's not forget the brand's foray into thermoplastic carbon with the eye-catching LTS.

GT management had spoken boldly of revival and new products during the year. That narrative might soon change to one of survival. Loyal GT fans, inspired by the promise of a product revival, will hope that PON’s decision to ‘pause’ the brand is an opportunity to reset amidst weak market conditions. Allowing what remains of the GT design and product team to bring some new bikes to market in the future…

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