Originally Posted by
intence
How is that different that many other brands. There's nothing "bad" about them. They get off the shelf frames from big asian factories, and slap on Shimano/SRAM components. Just like everyone else out there these days.
Some might do more R&D than other, and
AFAIK Merida builds for specialized but not for anyone else in the US. Giant builds for many other brands (including their own). So GT isn't much different than many others who go to a factory, buy frames and badge them as their own.
You basically just said what I said. GT is not bad, of course. But they used to be innovators, they came up with some interesting designs. they had national teams, they pushed boundaries. Now it's just a brand as we have both stated. It's no different from other brands except that as I mentioned, Dorel has been keen to not dilute the brand by putting the name on $150 bikes like Mongoose, Dyno, Torker or Diamond Back have been reduced to.
the blue and white GT above looks noce but it's just like anything else I'm sure. Don;t forget that for HALF of their time in BMX GT has been a laughed at brand as well. They started making some weird stuff that busted real fast. It appealed to the newbies and the kids but wasn't fit for hardcore use. when they got into MTB stuff they took off and BMX became their legacy outhouse on the back lot. Gar and Rich made their money, sadly Rich is no longer with us but I certainly hope Gary Turner made some money out of the sale. He can now go back to his first love, making dragsters.
GT can soldier on with a good brand recognition and we can ride a taiwanese bike with excellent graphics as opposed or a motobecane or a dawes that uses some 80 year old font that was cobbled onto some weak logo for $0.012 a sticker pack.
I'd show my old GT but I have a mullet in that shot, it doesn't get posted often.