He was one of those fathers who shout at their sons from the side of the track. One of those guys who want to realise missed childhood dreams in their children. But the dreams were dangerous. With every jump his son made, the furrows on Gary Turner's brow deepened. With every jump, he prayed that the frame of the BMX bike would hold. He had seen his offspring fall too often. Sometimes the fork buckled, sometimes the frame broke. That Sunday it happened again - first the fork, then the ribcage crashed onto the handlebars. Turner had finally had enough of material that broke like matchsticks. That same evening, he cooled his son's bruise, which lay like a blue band across his ribs. Days later, Turner, a trained trumpet maker, borrowed a pipe bending machine. He wanted his son to finally have a stable frame. And he himself didn't want any deeper furrows on his forehead.
This first frame was the birth of GT Bicycles. With his prototype, Turner planted the seed for a new life: Bike designer. Word of the new frame quickly spread through the local BMX scene. A few weeks later, every kid in the neighbourhood in Fullerton, California, was riding a GT. A few months later, Gary Turner met Richard Long at a nearby BMX course. Long owned a bike shop in Orange County and the two men became friends. Together they shared their frustration with the bike products available and their monotonous lives. Sunday conversations on the side of the track turned into a vision, and soon after a firm decision. As the demand for Turner's handmade frames continued, the two decided to start their own company. It was 1979 when Long sold his bike shop and Turner, who was making a living repairing trumpets, quit his job.
GT was founded: Long was the maker, Turner the welder. Turner's stuffy garage soon became a small company and, over the next five years, one of the largest BMX manufacturers in the world.
With the BMX market ebbing away at the end of the 1980s, the focus shifted to mountain bikes. A decision that bike fans are still grateful for, as GT set a milestone in the history of bike development with the "Zaskar". Turner and Long managed the feat of turning the BMX company into an even more successful bike company. Profits increased so rapidly that the two hardly had an overview of their business. In 1993, they sold the majority of the shares to Bain Capital Company, but remained managing directors of the company. Bain Capital took GT public in 1995. Bike legend Hans Ray became a permanent partner, the value of the company continued to soar and with the IPO in 1995, Turner became a multi-millionaire overnight.
Like Fisher, Ritchey and Breeze, Turner was living the dream of the mountain bike pioneers. But the fairytale was shattered on the hot tarmac of California: In July 1996, Richard Long died in a motorbike accident on his way to the NORBA race in Big Bear. This also marked the beginning of the decline of the flourishing company. Long had held everything together and was popular with athletes and suppliers alike. He was the heart of GT. Without Long, Turner was only half as good. On 11 September 2001, GT was sold by the bankruptcy court to Pacific Cycle for 86 million dollars. This meant a loss of almost 175 million dollars on the former stock market value and was a blow to the entire industry. Turner, who had always acted shyly behind the scenes of his company, finally disappeared from the scene. GT's former glamour faded with each successive bankruptcy. But if you look closely, you will still find it in every "Zaskar" today.
