All-new design, already enjoying success under the MBUK-backed GT Viris team
Words James Costley-White Pics Steve Behr
The Fury has changed hugely since its 2009 debut as the first carbon fibre downhill bike (from a major brand, at least). Once high and steep, the frame has got progressively longer, lower and slacker, while GT’s long-running ‘i-Drive’ system, with its moving bottom bracket, was replaced in 2018 by a less complex high-pivot four-bar linkage set-up (1).
This latest version of the bike features updated geometry and suspension kinematics, although the most obvious change is the US brand’s new, more understated down tube logo and head badge. It’s the DH weapon of choice of the GT Viris development team, including National Champs bronze medallist Katie Charlton, whose bike you see here.
Tweaks, not leaps
Previously available with either 29in or 650b hoops, the new Fury can be run as a full 29er or a mixed-size ‘mullet’ bike with a smaller rear wheel, which is how Katie chooses to set her bike up. Other changes include a longer reach, for stability at speed, plus a taller stack height, to allow a better riding position on steep descents.
Interestingly, the head angle is one-and-a-half degrees steeper than on the old Fury, at 63.5 degrees (2), bucking the modern trend. GT say the increase in reach negates the need for such a slack head angle, in stability terms, and that steepening it a little improves handling at lower speeds and on tighter tracks.
A series of flip-chips allows you to maintain similar geometry with both rear-wheel sizes, adjust the effective chainstay length (440-450mm, 29in; 435-445mm, 650b) and tweak the progressiveness of the 200mm of rear suspension. The Fury comes in three sizes; Katie runs the medium frame, which is the smallest option.
GT have reworked the carbon fibre lay-up of the front triangle, shaving around 300g in the process. The alloy rear end is largely unchanged, beyond small layout tweaks to add a little more anti-rise, to improve braking, and anti-squat, for better pedalling.
The high-pivot design allows the bike’s rear axle to move back as well as up at the start of its suspension travel. In theory, this should improve performance over square-edged bumps, as the rear wheel shouldn’t get ‘hung up’ so easily, potentially slowing or even stalling the bike. The chain idler prevents the pedal kickback that would otherwise be caused by ‘chain growth’ as the rear axle moves away from the chainring (3), while the four-bar
