GT Avalanche 1.0 Disc

mjolnir
Reviewed: 10 June 2009

UTTER GARBAGE

Erm, the frame handles and feels nice. That's it.

Goes through bottom brackets like Vanessa Feltz through chocolate. Headset difficult to replace - contact 5 dealers (3 local plus Halfords and Wiggle), GT UK office and e-mailed GT USA and no-one knew what headset fits this. Rear hanger bends easily. Rock Shox Judys lose their lockout function (due to lack of oil pressure - leak maybe?) and need servicing every year. (Shocks worth £160 SHOULDN'T require £70 servicing every year - that's unjustifiable unless you race EVERY weekend).
Paint chips if it is struck by anything, even air. Quango hub on front - who the h*ll are Quango? Unidentifiable shimano rear hub.

Wish I'd never bought this bike. From day one, nothing but trouble. My wife and I sat and worked out that for every 15 miles I've ridden, I have need to do a basic service (strip, clean, tighten and re-align brakes and gears). That is a massively disproportionate amount of maintenance. I doubt Lance Armstrong has a mileage to maintencance ratio that low. Admiteddly, it's down to the parts on the bike that aren't GT, but still, they sell the bike, it's not a custom built one so the parts should be of a similar quality to the frame. Several friends bought Giant XTCs at the same time and price range, none of them have had problems. In my opinion, avoid this like the plague. This may be an old review, but in case somone is thinking of buying old stock or second hand.

IB2
Reviewed: 26 April 2006

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE FOR PRICE.

* Solid frame and with the black paint job it looks good too.
* Deore LX transmission worked well from the get go, but got even slicker with a little use.
* Hayes So1e brakes stop me fast enough that I want a brake light to warn cars!
* Comfortable seat
Decent rims and tyres that work on or off road, wet or dry.

* No damping adjustment on forks (rectified on 2006 models)
* Quickly adjustable seat height was a bitch to get tight enough to prevent it slipping down while cycling over rough ground.

I use the bike to commute cross country most days. It gets used in all weathers and washed only if i'm bored. It's also used to play on local hills that really require a rider far more competant (and probably several stone lighter) than I am.

Despite the abuse the only problems I've had are:

* Brake lever adjusters do, on their own. Keep an eye on them and adjust them occasionally (every 150 to 200 miles).
* Bottom bracket assembly had to be replaced under warranty after it spat a peddle arm off twice inside 30 miles. No problems since.
* Original Shimano chain stretched like old knicker elastic and broke twice within 300 miles. Junk it for a decent chain.

Compared with the list of problems i had with my old bike, that is really impressive and all very minor apart from the bottom bracket.

Overall I'm delighted with the bike and had no hesitation recommending it to a friend, who got a 2006 and loves it too.

Paul Blythe
Reviewed: 20 March 2006

SOLID BIKE

Tough build and well spec'ed for the price. A solid frame that should last ages.

None

A good solid bike. Upgraded with -
Manitou Black forks
Hope MonoM4 D/drakes
Hope XC hubs/Mavic321 rims
LXHTII chainset
SRAM attack shifters
Post Modern 90mm stem
Easton EA70 Bars
Seat, grips etc..

Mark N
Reviewed: 20 January 2006

EXCELLENT VFM BIKE

Comfy seat,
Groupset,
Disc brakes,
Reliability,
Price £499.

Nothing realy for the money.

Well it got me well and truly hooked to the MTB stuff. Excelent bike for the money. Handles well and despite me being a novice nothing has broken. I have enjoyed every ride out on this. This has my vote as a great little bike to get going with. As you get faster / more agressive you may want to change the forks. Tora 318 maybe.. I have done Leith hill Afan, Swinley on this and it has not been wanting.

Juzy
Reviewed: 12 January 2006

BRING IT ON

It has a good strong frame (bit heavy). For mtb`s in this range the component are good. Very good at climbing hills and quick off the mark. Nice bike to ride.

My biggest gripe was that most of the bolt on the bike started to go rusty after one month. As a result i changed all the bolts from zinc plated bolts to stainless steel. Next i contacted Hot Wheels the main importer for GT bikes and told them my problem. All they could say to me was to look after my bike better, Which to me was an insult. No one i know spends as much time as myself cleaning and maintaining my bike as i do. Where has customer service gone?.
The main fault i found with my bike was the headset. I found almost every week i needed to strip down the headset and clean it as it was binding and lumpy due to dirt getting in there. So i changed it for a cane creek intergrated headset(never been a problem since). As soon as i could afford i changed the forks But you know you are not going to get any better fork on a starter bike,so that was to be expected.

Yet again Ecellent bike for the money. Would recomened for any one starting out. Last year i did around 2500 mile plus and mtb challenges not once did the bike let me down.The new 06 bike looks good. I have had no problem with my paint work, look after your bike better!.