In Part One, we showed you the Ruckus and Sanction, which we got to test ride. Here, the all-new Distortion and updated Fury complete the freeride and downhill side of GT’s 2011 mountain bike lineup.
Shown above, the Distortion is a completely new model that aims to dominate park style riding. Built on a mixed travel platform of 112mm rear and 140mm front, the Distortion is designed to have snappy handling and predictable suspension movement. As GT put it during their presentation, it’s a short/long full suspension bike made for bike parks, jumps and really aggressive trail riding. Blends gravity and all mountain characteristics with the ability to climb really well, too. It has a 67º slack headtube, long top tube for a long front-center with 2×9 drivetrains. A low bottom bracket gives it lower center of gravity without fear of hitting pedals because rear travel is shorter.
Check it out in more detail, along with the carbon Fury DH Team bike, after the break…
Like the most of their other full suspension bikes, the Distortion gets full length cable housing.
The Distortion has a monocoque 6061-T6 aluminum frame with upper and lower headtube gussets, tapered headtube and GT’s Independent Drive suspension, which keeps the axle to bottom bracket length the same regardless of suspension movement.
The Distortion Two comes in this gray/purple color scheme. Not sure if there’s a Distortion One because it’s not mentioned in their press materials, price list or spec sheet, and there weren’t any floating around for photography.
A direct front view of the Independent Drive. The double front chainring allows for easy mounting of a bash guard.
Like the Sanction, the Distortion has fully replaceable dropouts and comes standard with the 135×12 Maxle.
Spec Highlights:
Distortion Two ($2,999) – Rockshox Sektor Turnkey Coil w/ 15mm axle, Fox Float RL, Shimano non-series cranks and cassette, Deore shifters and SLX derailleurs, Formula R1x brakes, Race Face stem, Gravity bar and X-Fusion HiLo drop seatpost.
The Fury comes back with just one tweak, and adjustable head angle via headtube inserts. Regardless, we still took a bunch of photos because it’s a pretty sick looking bike.
The Fury uses GT’s FOC (Force Optimized Construction) carbon layup, a proprietary process that uses specific “kitting and sequencing” to use less resin (lighter weight) while making the frame stiffer. And no, that seatpost won’t hit the coil spring, but you don’t want to lower it beyond the hole in the frame where the shock passes through.
Thanks to the carbon frame, the longer travel Fury with a double crown fork weighs in less than the Ruckus.
Massive tire clearance should let you run huge DH tires with no clogging…one of the benefits of a URT suspension design.
Spec Highlights:
Fury Team ($5,349) – Rockshox Boxxer RC 203mm fork, Fox VAN RC shock, e.thirteen LS1 w/ 40T bashguard and steel boomerang, Truvativ Descendent cranks, GT Slimline flat pedals, SRAM X9 rear derailleur and X7 shifter, Avid Code R brakes, Funn bar and stem and WTB saddle.
