![]() ![]() I-Drive bikes have never been front-runners in the looks department. It’s hard to describe, but it works well. The linkage and tether combine to move the bottom bracket housing very slightly rearwards as the suspension moves through its travel, minimising pedal feedback in the process. The bottom bracket sits in its own housing, which is connected to a large pivot on the swingarm via a short linkage and anchored to the underside of the down tube with a dog-legged I-beam tether. The swingarm rotates around a large pivot at the bottom of the down tube and drives the shock directly, much like a standard single pivot swingarm bike. GT id5 i-drive xcr: gt id5 i-drive xcr Steve Behr Frame: Heavy and won’t win any prizes for its looks, but i-Drive suspension works wellĪlthough GT long ago moved the i-Drive mechanism out of the oversized bottom bracket shell into the open, it still flummoxes a lot of people. Big gear mashers, consider yourselves warned. The wide handlebar stance and short cockpit don’t encourage out-of-the-saddle efforts uphill – and that’s just as well, because the complete lack of compression damping or lockout on the fork makes for a wallowy, bouncy front end that’s distracting at best. But it’s surprisingly adept on the kind of technical climbs that can unsettle tauter full-sussers, the i-Drive system giving the rear wheel an impressive ground-hugging ability which almost – but not quite – makes up for the tyres’ lacklustre grip in the wet. It’s not quite a junior freerider – it’s not burly enough for that – but cashing in gravity credits is certainly where it’s most at home.Įarning those credits takes a little more work, thanks in part to the i-Drive XCR’s slightly overweight build. Point it down a rocky chute, let the brakes off and find yourself at the bottom in no time at all and wearing a very big grin.Ī well-matched fork and rear end work well in tandem to deliver seemingly bottomless rock-sucking ability. What the GT does do – very well indeed – is fun. Weighing in at a relatively portly 32lb, that’s probably a good thing. This isn’t a bike that’s trying to be the lightest, fastest, most efficient machine from A to B. Don’t worry if this all sounds a bit numb and squishy, because the lively handling will always maintain your interest.There’s something about the GT that sets it apart from the crowd of do-everything 120mm bikes. Bags of traction at both ends and the ability to run the shocks soft means you’re not constantly throwing your weight around or standing out of the saddle to cope with climbs and descents. ![]() Even with soft pressures to offset slight initial shock stickiness, it doesn’t bob much either, although the soft pedalling feel can sap the morale on long road climbs until you get used to it.Įven at over 33lb the bike doesn’t seem to drag too badly, and off-road it certainly feels much lighter – mainly due to the fact that the suspension lets you flow forward over stuff rather than being kicked back. ![]() The ‘floating’ bottom bracket only moves slightly though, so while there’s an almost ‘elastic’ chain sensation all the time, it never kicks back sharply or distractingly. ![]() The rear swingarm is free to pivot back and up as it hits edges and bumps, letting the bike roll over them really easily and smoothly. The unique i-Drive action means masses of traction from the rear, too. A steep seat angle keeps enough weight on the front wheel for plenty of steering traction in tight and slippery situations, though. The short stem handling is eager but well weighted, with a stable head angle stopping things getting lairy at speed. Then again, the bus driver feel certainly gives masses of power assistance to steering. The skinny, high rise 27in wide bar is bordering on the daft in terms of width, but a few minutes with a hacksaw will trim it to something more reasonable. The only downside is the fact it only comes in 18 (medium) and 20 (large) inch sizes, so you’re stuck if you’re on the small side.Īgain it’s the cockpit that dominates first impressions of the GT, but in the opposite way to the Cube. Bottle placement is underbelly only, but a QR seat clamp makes saddle height adjustment easy. While tyre clearance isn’t bad, the front mech cable couldn’t be placed in a worse position to get covered in crap, so watch for rust. The plates are then heavily cut away at the top where they mate the shock and neat horseshoe seat stay top either side of the seat tube.Ĭonsidering the complexity of the frame, cable/hose routing is relatively tidy, although it’s likely to destroy swingarm paintwork very rapidly. The front of the swingarm is then formed from one massive forged V section with the bottom bracket swinging independently off the bottom. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |