INTERBIKE 2009 – GT unveiled a few new rides for street, cross country and freeride at Interbike.
Above is the Ruckus, a 7″ travel prototype set for release in Spring 2010. Shown is the “Spec A” trim level that’ll retail for $3,999. It uses common 1.5″ headset bearings for the upper pivot to create a massive, stiff pivot area and keep flex to a minimum…and as a side benefit, it’s easily serviceable by any shop.
They also showed off the Sensor, a new 5″ travel XC/Trail bike in 26″ and 29er models to replace the Marathon (4″) and the Gutterball, a flat gray fixie that’s pretty sharp looking. Check ’em all out after the break…
The Ruckus will use several suspension parts that are interchangeable with the GT Fury. The frame is 6061 with forged bits and pieces linking it together.
The “dogbone” in front of the bottom bracket is the link that makes the Independent Drivetrain suspension platform work, basically keeping the pedals in the same place underneath the rider like a URT design would, but with the benefits of a full suspended rear triangle.
This model is a prototype and was spec’d with Truvativ’s Hammerschmidt, but the PDF catalog we got from the show lists two Ruckus Dirt Jump models with standard single-ring cranksets. With a claimed 7″ of travel on this prototype rig, we doubt this is intended as a DJ bike. Talking with their reps, the best we can say is that this is not a final production spec and things may change between now and the day they land at REI and Performance Bike stores.
The new GT Sensor is an entry level 120mm trail bike that replaces GT’s 4″ travel alloy Marathons (the Marathon Carbon will still be available, and it’s still 4″ travel with more race-oriented geometry). It creates a middle ground between the racier 100mm Marathon and 150mm Force. It has an aluminum frame and the top level Sensor 1.0 (shown here) comes with full Shimano XT with Truvativ Stylo cranks and Fox fork for $2,999. It has XT hydraulic brakes with 180/160mm rotors (front/rear).
Like the Ruckus prototype, the Sensor uses common 1.5″ headset bearings in the main pivots to keep it stiff and easily serviceable.
The main triangle gets some nice, swoopy hydroformed 6061 aluminum tubes. The rear suspension uses the Independent Drivetrain (for some reason, they don’t call it I-Drive anymore, which was much easier to type) and…here’s the kicker…the bike uses the same tubesets for both 26″ and 29″ wheels!
For 2010, there are three trim levels available with 26″ wheels, dropping down to $1,499 for the 3.0 model. There is a 29er in existence, but there are no definite plans to bring it into the U.S. at the moment. We’ll keep you posted as things are updated on this…apparently they had it at Dirt Demo and people really liked it, so being that the U.S. is reportedly the largest market for 29ers, we’re thinking it’ll be sooner rather than later.
The Gutterball is GT’s new Fixie / Singlespeed with an alloy frame using GT’s signature triple-triangle design with a butted downtube, steel reinforced track ends and integrated chain tensioners. Shown here without brakes, it’ll actually come with Tektro calipers and levers, and it’ll come with alloy track pedals, too. The rear hub is a flip flop hub laced to Alex track rims rollin’ on 700 x 25c rubber. MSRP 699.99.
My favorite part is “DRIVETRAIN: It’s a single speed”
