Reports suggest GT Bicycles is halting production of new bikes, with staff redundancies on the horizon.
Rider sponsorship is also set to face cutbacks, with GT said to have already dropped its entire BMX freestyle team.
GT has been with me for almost as long as I’ve ridden bikes – certainly, as long as I've been in bike journalism – and its loss would be a huge blow to cycling.
The eponymous brand was founded by Gary Turner in 1972, starting with bikes in the burgeoning BMX scene.
The brand grew to legendary status in mountain biking, with massive names from every era riding its iconic triple-triangle framesets.
Its bikes were graced by legends such as Steve Peat, Jason McRoy and Julia Furtado to recent times with riders of the highest calibre including Wyn Masters, Danny Hart, the Athertons and the ever-present Hans Rey.
In my burgeoning days as a wannabe mountain biker, I lusted after these exotic Californian bikes.
My first was a 1990 GT Pantera. I moved on to the 1992 version in the coming years, then to an Avalanche, Zaskar and the innovative RTS. In between times, a GT Performer BMX came into my life.
GT also had major success on the road in the late 90s, sponsoring Lotto-Adecco with the team riding the classic ZR road bike, complete with its triple-triangle frame design. Andrei Tchmil rode a GT to victory in the tour of Flanders in 2000.
GT was among the first major manufacturers to embrace gravel bikes with the original GT Grade, back in 2014.
Updated editions of the Grade have continued to impress with their blend of clever frame design and great value.
The most recent Grade landed the top spot in our 2024 Gravel Bike of the Year test – a title it also took with the MK2 Grade back in 2020. This is a bike I still own and ride to this day.
Despite its scale, GT has always maintained the grass-roots ethos of the brand.
Yes, it has built plenty of superbikes along the way – who could forget the titanium Xizang, the road-going Edge Titanium, the 1996 USA Olympic track bike, the carbon STS, Lobo suspension bikes, and many others?
But all the while the brand continued to produce solid, dependable bikes for those riders on a budget – something that continues to this day with the Zaskar, the carbon and alloy Grade and, my current favourite, the rowdy and fun Grade X.
To see these bikes disappear would be a huge loss.
What's next for GT?
Managing director Jason Schiers said in a statement that "to ensure a sustainable and successful future, [GT is] implementing a strategic reorientation to align with evolving customer preferences".
Schiers adds that the brand will focus "on core strengths, and refining our strategy to position GT for long-term growth" and that GT will sell through its existing inventory.
He concludes by saying "GT Bicycles remains a brand with strong potential, and this decision has been taken to lay a solid foundation for its next chapter."
I hope GT’s hiatus is short, and the business can be turned around and return to the success it deserves – I simply can’t imagine gravel roads, trails, dirt jumps or BMX races without GT in attendance.
