GT Bicycles, Inc. GTR Type CX

Price Paid:  $1300.00 at Performance

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
Road/Trail

Bike Setup:
Have changed the tires to Vittoro 700x32, and changed the chain to Shimano, SRAM Rival w/carbon shifters.

Summary:
Actually my bike is a 2009 model and I have only had it for just under 2 months, but neither of these were choices.

This bike is strong, and comfortable. I like the chrome finish, it' easy to keep clean and "goes" with everything. I ride mostly opn roads and surfaced trails, but need that opportunity to "explore" or shortcut at times - or just go down the trail (not mountain, just off road).

I am getting to really like the bike, but it has taken some tweaking. I have already had three sets of tires on it and have replaced the chain with a Shimano chain. Performance did that actually, because they had trouble getting it adjusted so that it wouldn't throw the chain when moving to the large front chainring. When adjusting the front derailer, they were having trouble getting the chain to track properly. Now, it works great.

I have had a hard time getting used to the SRAM Rival shifting, and it's still a mystery sometimes, but I'm getting better. Is feeld like when I get it to e second nature, it will be slick (I want my Ultegra). Seriously, it's me - not the SRAM.

All in all, I think this is a great bike for commuting, walking trail riding, road riding, and just riding. If I want to go fast, I ride my road bike, and if I want to go "off road" I ride my mountain bike - but if I didn't have them, I wouldn't hesitate to take this bike to either domain, although I'd probably have 3 sets of tires.

Great bike if you can get it for under $1,500.

Strengths:
Strong frame, good quality components, SRAM Rival.

Weaknesses:
Noisy ride, steering is a bit touchy, the SRAM drivetrain is a bit jerky sometimes.

Similar Products Used:
Own 2 other road bikes - Trek and Tommaso, one mountain bike - Klein, and one old cross bike - Schwinn

Price Paid:  $1100.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
every ride

Bike Setup:
Out of the box I’m very happy with the GT. The only changes I made were for fit and personal preference. I installed a slightly longer KORE stem and swapped the SDG FLY saddle to a Specialized Body Geometry. Also added a bottle cage and a Cateye wireless computer.

Summary:
I have just under 500 miles on a new GT GTR Type CX cyclocross bike. Even now this bikes value to quality still makes me smile and feel like I got away with something. What a great deal. The GTR CX is a relatively light, fast, nice handling bike. I test rode a bunch of CX bikes at some great shops but for me, this GT's fit was instant comfortable. The Kinesis frame is stiff, responsive (although mine is size small) and yet I haven't felt punished after 30+ mile trail rides like very early Cannondale for example. For a little over a grand, GT won over based on the ride, quality and value.

Strengths:
Value! You can spend a lot more and not get this nice of bike. Or you can spend a lot more and get this nice of bike. Great frame with a super mix of proven components from Easton and Sram. For this money, other brands are equipped with Tiagra or maybe 105 and GT gives you Rival. I personally really like the Sram. The build quality on my frame is excellent and I really like the classic white paint and yellow graphics too. I've had more than a couple people ask about and compliment it.

Weaknesses:
I had multiple flats straight away. After I replaced the factory, wrinkled, poorly installed plastic rim strips, I've been flat free ever since. The only negative I’ve noticed is on dry pavement running Cinder X Panaracer tires I'm finding some fork flex under hard braking. Maybe a stiffer fork or I drop a lb or 3. Both maybe?

Similar Products Used:
I rode these cross bikes. Bianchi CrossConcept, Cannondale, Kona Jake the Snake, Scott, Karate Monkey, Fuji Cross, a used Salsa (in rough condition but a very nice ride). A LeMond but I couldn't find my size to buy. I'll buy another LeMond when he comes back, but never another Trek product. The Jamis rode really nice and I tried but couldn't find an already built Gunnar X Hairs in my size to test.

Price Paid:  $1100.00 at Performance Bike

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
anything involving a bike.

Bike Setup:
Stock, competely stock

Summary:
Well first of all this is the 2008 cream colored model. It is full rival with the exception of the crankset and the brakes. THe rival is very nice for a cross setup with the under the handlebar routing. The ergos of the rival shifters are about as comfortable as i have ever had.
Since i cummute everywhere i plan on putting massive miles on this bike towing my bob trailer.

Strengths:
Fit and finish is absolutly perfect on this bike. As a 20 year bike mechanic i have seen my share or perfect bikes but this one was absolutly flawless out of the box. On the road the bike is very quick and responsive, the kenisis aluminum is both supple and stiff. The fork comes with a lot of spacers so tuning your height is very easy. The tectro brakes are as strong as my original pauls and will stop you plenty fast.
Oh and light, very light. One of the lightest cross bikes i have every ridden.

Weaknesses:
Well for one, there is no barrel adjuster for the rival front der, so it makes tuning the front shifting a very iffy thing. I am working on adapting a inline adjuster for this problem. The other issue was the lengh of cranks for the XL version. It came with 177.5mm lenght cranks which are way to long for me. Not a weakness per se, but there are no rack eyelets on this bike at all, zero, zip, nada. THis bike is for going fast, pure and simple.

Similar Products Used:
Surley cross check, bianchi Axis

Price Paid:  $1299.00 at Performance Bicycle

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
Capitol Crescent Trail

Bike Setup:
Stock except for Specialized toupe saddle, my saddle of choice.

Summary:
Bike is actually a 2008 model, and a fantastic bike for the money. Rides incredibly well for an all aluminum frame, including the ability to soak up trail imperfections without too much vibration and roughness. I was very surprised by the frame, it accelerates with aplomb with a nice stiff BB and chainstays. This frame is proof that there is life left in aluminum, as I tried a couple of cross bikes with carbon stays and one with the same wheels and the GT feels as good in terms of vertical compliance.

Components are very high quality for a bike of this price, Aside from truvativ cranks and tektro brakes the drivetrain is all SRAM Rival. The shifting is crisp and accurate and the gearing well selected for cross. The cockpit parts are all easton EA70 and are very nice, if a little bit heavy. The stock SDG saddle was not to my liking but few stock saddles are. The Easton Vista SL wheelset was a big selling point for me, I like these wheels and consider them to be great road training wheels and pretty light for cross use. They have been bombproof so far.

Strengths:
Wheelset, components, fork... Ride quality is phenomenal for all aluminum frame.

Weaknesses:
Tektro brakes lack stopping power, but I am relatively sure it is the stock pads, not the brakes themselves... This would be the only area of the bike that seems less than ideal.

Similar Products Used:
Fuji Cross Pro (Owned), Jamis Supernova (Demo'ed)
Trek X0 (Demo'ed)