Full Travel: GT's Suspension Development Story
Travel back to the beginning of full-suspension mountain bikes with some legendary personalities! ‘Full Travel’ is a documentary by Pipeline Digital Media which takes a look back at GT’s history of pushing the progression of the sport!
GT has been racing bikes on the World Championship, World Cup and National level since day one. From the rock-strewn single track at Cap d’Ail, France to the Kamikaze freeway at Mammoth Mountain, we know every inch of every track. We also know that, just as every track is unique, every rider is different. Our own team of downhill races is as diverse as you can get: Mike King is solid as a rock. Nicolas Vouilloz is wiry and agile while Mercedes Gonzalez is petite and nimble. The only thing they have in common is that they are all blazing fast. Without the ability to optimise our bikes to suit each rider and compensate for varied terrain and weather conditions, we’d be off the back.
RTS - Rocker Tuned Suspension
GT‘s Rocker Tuned Suspension system gives you all the benefits of a rigid frame bicycle, with the added performance of full suspension. What makes it tip? A small CNC machine and aluminium rocker. Chassis stiffness must be a priority to properly constrain wheel movement, and the RTS has provided abundant stiffness with this application of race car technology. The suspension configuration of the rocker tune suspension system offers three distinct advantages: anti-squat, anti-dive, and full adjustability.
The anti-squat geometry allows the chain force to counteract the rearward weight transfer due to forward acceleration. It ensures the suspension stays topped out during normal riding, thus preventing energy loss, with none of the bobbing. So when you’re sprinting for the finish or climbing a technical section, you have optimum power transfer to the rear wheel.
During breaking, weight transfer tries to compress the front, as well as extending the rear suspension. By incorporating anti-dive geometry, the rear breaking forces actually compress the rear suspension, levelling out the bike. In addition, the lowered centre of gravity helps to reduce the weight transfer to the front, improving rear breaking. The brake rocker further improves the rear brakes, employing a special cam like function. With the idea that no rider is created equal, the RTS system is designed to have complete adjustability. The RTS can easily be tuned to fit each rider individual riding style, weight and handling preferences. In addition, the RTS systems USA made Noleen “Piggyback” oil dampened coil over shock has adjustable compression damping and spring preload. This allows you to fine tune the shock action for all types of terrain. The Rocker Tuned Suspension system, the worse it gets, the better it works.
LTS - Links Tuned Suspension
LTS riders all over the world are making headlines winning National and World Cup races. GT champions Nicolas Vouilloz of France and Mike King of the United States stunned the competition at the season opening Cap d’Ali World Cup on their LTS, winning one-two by unheard of margins on the worlds most notorious course. Nicolas was over 15 seconds faster than third-place (the same time gap spanned the placings from third through twenty-fifth).
The secret to every LTS is in its aluminium alloy frame, the essence of which, is the rear suspension, a classic “four bar linkage” system with anti-squat geometry in which chain tension (from peddling) is used to counteract the “bio – pacing” forces that plague other designs. With the LTS, we have achieved optimum anti-squat (100%). This means that any weight transferred to the rear wheel by peddling is perfectly balanced by the lifting action of the anti-squat geometry. This balance is what eliminates bio-pacing and allows the LTS to be set up with significant droop travel (often called sag). Droop travel means the LTS can follow the terrain more accurately – extending with depressions as well as compressing over bumps – providing better traction than any other system.
All pivot points on the LTS are space age materials design for long life and low maintenance. The LTS is your mechanic dream: it has self aligning pivots and to simplify maintenance a bushing extractor is provided (with the LTS one and LTS2).
The Team LTS, LTS-1 and LTS-2 are fitted with the latest Rock Shox coil over oil rear shock absorbers. The LTS-3 features an elastomer rear shock. The Team LTS and LTS-1 feature of breakthrough design titanium link arm, while the LTS-2 features an aluminium alloy link arm.
The LTS-3 is totally new. Its purpose is to break the performance/price barrier for quality full suspension. The essential geometry is the same as the original LTS. The only difference lies in the necessary adaptions to optimise the installation and performance characteristics of the all-new, GT designed, double elastomer stack. This system provides remarkable performance, comparable to the original LTS.
Info coming soon
Info coming soon.
As the i-drive suspension moves through its travel, the dog bone rotates the eccentric down and forward, creating an incredibly smooth pedal stroke.
GT I-Drive
An independently suspended crankset sets the i-drive system apart from everything else. The resulting smooth, even pedal stroke insures that you’ll deliver power more efficiently than on any other bike.
The direct connection between the bottom bracket and the rear hub means no power can be lost through linkages. A single pivot delivers simplicity and low maintenance.
The Eccentric rotates on two extra-large sets of bearings compensating for the chain pull that normally robs the rider energy on any suspension bike with the cranks not mounted the swingarm.
The Perfect Preload feature takes the guess work out of tuning the suspension. Simply set the shock absorber so that the dot on the Eccentric lines up with the arrow on the frame when you are seated on the bike, and you can be sure you are getting 100% of the intended performance out of your bicycle’s suspension.
The Dogbone is the smartest piece of aluminium to ever appear on a bicycle; it tells the Eccentric what the swingarm and front triangle are doing, and where the bottom bracket needs to be for optimal pedaling efficiency.
Since the development of full-suspension mountain bikes, the industry has been challenged by the ever-pervasive problem of pedal-induced “bio-pacing,” a jerky, inch-worming “hobby horse” motion that can occur when pedaling a bike with an active suspension system. This disruption of the pedal stroke forces the rider to work harder to maintain a steady cadence. Only GT Bicycles has solved this problem. The solution is the ingenious i-drive system which independently suspends the crankset while maintaining a fully active ride.
Setting the
The GT i-drive enhanced four-bar link system isolates the pedaling motion completely from terrain and suspension induced input. The payoff is that a GT i-drive bicycle can be ridden one or sometimes even two gears higher than any other full-suspension bike on any given terrain. Hence, our motto: Every trail. Faster. The GT i-drive is also the easiest system ever devised for suspension setup. Most high-performance systems require advanced technical knowledge and training to properly adjust them. Setting the i-drive system is as easy as focusing a camera. You simply adjust the preload on the shock until the mark on the frame is aligned with a mark on the eccentric. This done, setup is perfect and you’re ready to go. We call it Perfect Preload. Finally, i-drive is a true “soul-rider’s” bike. It will inspire you to ride longer and further. It has
two water-bottle mounts and a low stand-over height. It’s also light weight, requires very little maintenance and it’s easy to portage. As a bonus, all XCR frames are configured to make it virtually impossible for the chain to fall off on the inboard side.