Nuff said Downhill Bike of the Year GT Fury Our reader polling shows that the very large majority of you spend much more time on mid-travel trail machines than on full fledged downhill bikes, but that certainly doesn't stop this ultra specialized, long travel category from being the headliner of this year's Pinkbike Awards. After all, are you more interested in reading about the new and eminently sensible Toyota Corolla or how the 1.2 million dollar Pagani Huayra handles at speed? We'll take a graphic novel about the Huayra over a short paragraph on the Corolla and its trunk space, thank you very much, even if the chance of us ever driving one hovers somewhere between nil and zero. Functionality is so boring when sat beside radical... So here we are, with a bike that, given its first-season success under the Vulcan and his seemingly unstoppable sister, most would say was the only real choice to wear the Downhill Bike of the Year crown. Our decision isn't based solely on race results, though, because "rideability" - how the bike performs when put under a more average rider or racer - should carry just as much weight in this decision as pure results do, and the 220mm travel GT is at the pointy end of an already incredibly capable but tight field in that regard. After all, just because Gee can put time in on the best racers in the world doesn't mean his steed is The Best, but only that it helps an elite athlete save a few tenths, or maybe a couple of seconds at most, in a three minute race. The ability of a good race bike to give that small but also massive advantage to a competitor is key, but what good is that to an expert level rider who would take an extra minute to ride the same distance? The Fury, with its incredibly intuitive geometry and well rounded suspension, truly will allow a weekend racer to go faster, which is why it is our top pick for 2013. Not mincing words our words here, are we? http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb9681265/p5pb9681265.jpg Talk about things changing in only a short amount of time. GT was committed to a new design as soon as the Atherton siblings signed on the dotted line, and the three of them were so confident in their new employer’s ability to deliver a fresh and potent package that they didn’t mind spending a year aboard the previous Fury, a bike that was admittedly behind the times when talking of geometry. Their faith was repaid in full and then some when the new Fury came into being, and both Gee and Rachel delivered on their end with a slew of top results. Wins came right out of the gate, and it's not a stretch to guess that the folks at GT's East Coast headquarters had a handful of justifiable hangovers throughout the 2013 race season, even if the year didn't quite end on the high note that a lot of us were expecting it would after the first few World Cup rounds. Gee might not have taken the World Cup overall when it was all said and done, with a slip up in Norway and a mentally strong, incredibly quick Steve Smith pipping him at the end in glorious fashion by winning both the race and the championship, but Atherton’s early dominance and obvious comfort on the brand new bike straight out of the gate speaks volumes for what GT has been able to do. And let's not discount Rachel’s accomplishments, with her laying waste to the women’s field while staying healthy and consistent. Victory for GT didn’t only come between the tape of a race course, though, as Kyle Strait rode his own Fury to a Rampage win on what is arguably the burliest course in the history of mountain bike competition. It's the kind of year that marketing departments have wet dreams about, although having your top racers and riders winning some of the biggest events of the year trumps any sort of clever ad campaign in our minds; one of those cases of actions speaking louder than words. http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10388642/p5pb10388642.jpg http://es.pinkbike.org/240/sprt/i/bigquotes.png The GT's rangy cockpit had us feeling as if it was the first downhill bike that has fit us properly. This view was only cemented by back to back laps on machines with more conventional geometry numbers, with the Fury's roomy front end making those other bikes feel a touch awkward. - Pinkbike, July 1st, 2013 We wouldn’t need to make any ceremony of the 2013 Pinkbike Awards if they were based solely on race results, but that's about as far from the truth as it gets. The best downhill bike on the market can't just be the best downhill bike for Gee and Rachel - it has to be the best for you, the consumer. We've spent plenty of time on rigs that have been ridden to a World Cup podium by inconceivably focused and insanely fit racers, but you know what? It turned out that those very bikes, while still being incredible machines, weren't exactly inspiring under the average downhiller who might be literally 25% slower down a challenging track compared to a top racer. Let's swallow our pride for just a moment and admit that you might actually be faster aboard a different bike than what your favourite racer uses, what is most visually appealing to you, or even what won on Sunday. The single pivot, aluminum framed Fury certainly took some Ws on a lot of Sundays this year, but it's also a machine that you can take to the bike park and instantly feel at home on. ''The GT's rangy cockpit had us feeling as if it was the first downhill bike that has fit us properly,'' we said in our exclusive July review of the bike. ''This view was only cemented by back to back laps on machines with more conventional geometry numbers, with the Fury's roomy front end making those other bikes feel a touch awkward.'' And now, six months removed from those words and having spent even more time on the Fury, that same opinion is even more of a certainty to us. Comfortable, confidence inspiring, and an all around weapon on a DH track, the Fury deserves the title of Downhill Bike of the Year.
