Bikedued

Did GT use their triple triangle on their road bikes? Did GT even make road bikes during the triple triangle years? I was doing a delivery today for work, and drove by someone riding an aluminum looking(maybe chrome?) road bike, and it had the stays that went past the seat tube to the top tube. The space there was pretty large, just like a GT MTB.,,,,BD

Bikedued

Answered my own question. oh well. I thought it was pretty sharp. Definitely not your usual road bike.,,,,BD

https://www.geocities.com/bikelinks/images/roadbik2.jpg

well biked

I can't tell you how many times the "triple triangle makes a frame stronger and stiffer" vs. the "triple triangle doesn't do squat" argument was debated by my riding buddies and me back in the day. To tell you the truth, I have no idea if it does or not. One thing's for sure, GT's had a reputation for being on the heavy side, and whether it was the primary cause or not, the triple triangle design usually got blamed for it-

gm1230126

They not only made "Triple Triangle" road bikes but they were ridden by some of the best riders this country has produced. GT's "Project 96" supplied the bikes for the USCF Nat'l program and teams for a number of years. National Team rider's like George Hincapie, Freddie Rodriguez. (Supposed heavier weight didn't slow these guys down, they kicked everybody climbing because nothing climbs better),Pro peloton teams: 2000 Adecco Lotto Team. Domestic Teams: Team Saturn, Shaklee many others including top international triathletes.

I have an Edge Ti and a fillet brazed Edge Steel. They are great bikes

If you go to this link and click on GT you can start with the 1994 catalog and see some of the bikes that they produced over the years. www.mtb-kataloge.de

Bikedued

Sweet ride man! That's yours I take it?,,,,BD

unworthy1

and since this is the "Classic and Vintage" forum, I should point out that GT was by no means the inventor of that frame style. There are examples from the UK dating back to the '40s (and probably much earlier too) that look just like those typical GTs...everything old is new again...eventually.

USAZorro

Isn't this the same concept as the "Flying Gate"?

They may have some advantages, but I think they're butt-ugly.

unworthy1

No, the flying gate is yet another frame variation, and I agree it's something only a mother could love. Examples I've seen pics of date to about the same period when early "triple triangle" frames were built, also by UK builders. Tho I seem to recall seeing a chart of dozens of frame varients offered by a Dutch seller from the same, or earlier, era, so it wasn't strictly a malady of eccentric Englishmen.

T-Mar

[QUOTE=gm1230126]I have an Edge Ti and a fillet brazed Edge Steel. They are great bikes. [QUOTE]

Now all you need is the aluminum Edge and you'll have all three version and can do your own "best frame material shoot-out"!

Having raced GTs for a number of years, I can attest that they were on the heavy side, but incredibly stiff, responsive and robust.

Sammyboy

What I can tell you for sure is that lots of the SSFG guys have triple triangle GT's.

top506

I have a GT ATB frameset hanging on the wall of the barn; maybe I should built it up.
Top

jet sanchEz

Yup, I have one and a GT Karokoram in the garage. I like the look and feel of both bikes, the track bike is very fast.

kmart

Triple triangle bikes are hot...

gm1230126

[QUOTE=T-Mar][QUOTE=gm1230126]I have an Edge Ti and a fillet brazed Edge Steel. They are great bikes. Have three AL's in the basement, 2 Edge's, one of them NOS and one a Lotto version and I don't plan to build any of them and do a shoot out. The Ti would be the hands down winner period.

gm1230126

The Triple Triangle frame design was first recorded in 1923 by builder Fred Hellens. It is actually known as the "Hellenic" frame type.

Sammyboy

I'd always wondered why some of those bikes were referred to as Hellenic. You learn a new thing every day, and sometimes, it's a really cool thing! I'd always assumed it was due to some link to classical Greek scholarship!

unworthy1

+1, I had mistakenly associated it with the "Latinate" naming conventions of Hetchins: "Potentius Maximus" and so forth Thanks to gm1230126 for setting the record straight!

jk_flip

Do you know what year this is? The catalog links aren't working for me, assuming this picture works

rhm

This is 2015. The last post on this thread was from 2007.

himespau 

Ah, I always thought that name meant it had a Greek heritage.

Edit: Tricked once again by a reawoken zombie.

JohnDThompson 

Maybe a feature for the next vBulletin update might be an automatic "zombie thread" warning when someone responds to a post older than some arbitrary age.

crank_addict

^lol
Though in netland someone might think 2007 is vintage.

While on topic, someday would like to try a funky Thanet Silverlight.

Mandii

This was a design made by 3 brothers from the Old Kent Road area of London.

The Hellens brothers, Albert, Walter and Fred designed and raced bicycles in early 1900's. Even won medals from the St Johns cycling club.

The stay design was later patented by the younger brother Fred, after Albert died. This patent, legend says, was later bought by Raleigh. This caused a rift between Fred and Walter. There are newspaper articles of the time which show the Hellens family involvement in cycling.

I have some copies from these articles but the medals are with a family member.

Hope this helps

exmechanic89

I worked in a shop in the early 90's that sold GT mtbs, and at the time I didnt even know they made road bikes as we didnt carry any of them. The road bikes look awesome though in those catalogs, love the fillet brazed, Imron painted models.

I never understood the 'debate' over GT's weighing more or not, if you look at the frames you can see there really isnt any extra material being used in them - the seat stays are just moved a bit forward. I doubt they weighed any more than a standard frame.

T-Mar

In 1988 I was looking for looking for an ATB, with a budget of $500 US. At the time, Bicycling magazine was providing bare frame and fork weights for it's road tests. My decision came down to the Karakoram versus a Fisher Hoo-Koo-E-Koo. The Karakoram frame weighed in at 6.10 lbs with a 2.05 lbs, fork while the Hoo-Koo-E-Koo had a frame weight of 5.85 lbs. and a 1.75 lbs. fork for the same size. I eventually bought the GT even though it had the heaviest frameset of all that I had considered and was taking a 1/2 lb frameset penalty over the Fisher.