GT unveil the new Fury

GT unveiled their new production downhill bike – the Fury – at an invitation-only media event last night. As you’ll see from the info below, they are confident that this new bike will blow the previous generation GT downhill bike out the water.

As you can see, GT have supposedly created the ultimate formula for a race winning machine. The result? “A bike that is seriously f*****g fast!” Pricing has not been confirmed yet, however GT reckon it’ll cost between £2500 and £3000 for a sensible full build, and £5500-£6000 for the team bike. Both models will use the frame that the Factory team is currently riding.

A talk by the brains behind the bike, frenchman Etienne, included statistics found during testing, and specifics about each area of development. GT have returned to an alloy frame for the 2014 Fury. Due to the costs involved in producing and prototyping a bike from scratch in carbon, alloy was the natural choice. It was hinted, however, that a carbon version could be in the pipelines.

The 2014 frame is 300g lighter than the previous carbon Fury, and 500g lighter than the alloy version prior to that. The I-Drive suspension platform has also been reengineered to suit the gravity application better. This should help to solve the harsh bottom-out that riders noticed in previous frames.

The main objectives of this new frame were to be faster, lighter and more accessible, and GT claims to have achieved all three.

One of the main selling points of the GT frames is the I-Drive suspension platform. Etienne worked extensively with the GT Factory Racing team to create what he believes to be the best accelerating bike over rough terrain.

Input from the team (Gee and Rachel Atherton, Marc Beaumont and Taylor Vernon) helped reinforce the decisions Etienne were describing about the manufacturing and design process.

GT Factory Racing team director Dan Brown took over for the next segment. He talked us through the development of the frame from the racing point of view. This bike is designed to win races.

The athletes were keen to pose with their new bike and chat to the media about their riding experiences.

One thing that was spoken about a lot during the launch was weight. Creating an aluminium frame that is 300g lighter than the previous carbon version is a great achievement for GT. Many clever techniques to save grams here and there were incorporated into the design. This rear brake mount is made of three aluminium pieces that are welded together. The internally braced design provides a stiff and strong structure whilst being far lighter than the more common forged alternative.

This is the BB shell of the frame. The asymmetric design means maximum stiffness where it is needed, and additional weight savings where it isn’t so crucial.

GT were also happy to introduce a new team kit from One Industries for the new season.

http://www.gtbicycles.com/gbr/

Images and words by Dan Hearn