GT SENSOR CARBON PRO LE

GT is aiming to bring back the glory days, and its new Sensor is the springboard

- Guy Kesteven

It's been three decades since GT were THE mountain bike suspension brand of choice, with its RTS, LTS and STS designs ridden to countless race and championship wins by a star-studded XC and DH roster.

And while it has had race success and some interesting designs since, the spotlight has definitely been shining elsewhere. Joining the PON bike family alongside Santa Cruz, Focus, Cannondale, Cervélo, Juliana, Reserve and others means new investment for GT and new bikes. That includes fresh versions of the Sensor 29er trail bike in 120mm and 140mm-travel options. I've been riding the top-spec 140mm LE version to find out if it's a return to the glory days for the SoCal BMX-born brand.

The new carbon Sensor looks a lot like the old one, with flowing triangulated lines, and a classic Horst-link four-bar rear end. The rocker linkage still drives a vertically mounted shock and the seatstays are now carbon not alloy. This, combined with other tweaks, shaves approximately 600g off the old (size Medium) frame.

Both travel options use the same frame where an extra 5mm of stroke on the trunnion-mounted RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock boosts rear travel to 140mm on the Sensor LE. That's teamed with a 150mmtravel RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork to give the Sensor LE more suspension muscle and slightly slacker geometry than the short-travel bike,