GT Bicycles to pause new releases and lay off staff, but iconic American brand not shutting down and “will continue to sell bikes”

Iconic American cycling brand GT Bicycles has announced that it will pause the release of any new bikes and lay off a significant chunk of its staff before the end of this year, while also letting go of “all of its athletes”, according to a pro downhill and BMX racer sponsored by the company.

The decision seems to have come from GT Bicycles’ parent organisation Pon Bike, a cluster within the larger transport conglomerate Pon Holdings based in the Netherlands, which also owns several cycling brands like Cannondale, Cervélo, Gazelle, Focus Bikes, Urban Arrow and many more.

Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reports that the 52-year-old brand is “implementing a strategic reorientation to align with evolving customer preferences,” and will refocus “on core strengths… refining our strategy to position GT for long-term growth.”

GT’s Managing Director Jason Schiers, who joined the company in 2022 and has founded Edge Composites (now Enve), besides working in R&D for Selle Royal brands and Crank Brothers, stated that they will continue to sell through its inventory in 2025, while also confirming the upcoming layoffs.

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The news comes just days after it was revealed the company’s entire BMX freestyle team was let go. Earlier this year, the company announced that it would be going back to its roots as an independent bicycle dealer in the off-road space, while also expanding from just eight to 23 employees.

The turn of events marks a somewhat worrying sign for a brand that has had a significant impact on the BMX, mountain and gravel bike space, and even produced several road bikes — with Lotto-Adecco’s Andrei Tchmil winning the 2000 Tour of Flanders on a GT with the iconic ‘triple triangle’, a dropped seat stay design with reinforcement added by having the seat stays continuing on to attach to the top tube as well as the seat tube.

But despite comments made by Phil Kmetz, a pro downhill and BMX racer sponsored by GT who also runs a YouTube channel with over 500,000 subscribers, there are no indications that the company will be shutting down.

> GT Bicycles reportedly in trouble, as pro downhill racer claims all employees and racers are “being let go” – but brand insists it is only “pausing new product releases” amid lay-offs

Kmetz, in a video titled ‘Goodbye GT - Thanks for all the Good Times!’ published yesterday, says that in a meeting with the company involving “every athlete they have”, he was told that “GT is going to be no more” — presumably implying that the company would be refraining from sponsoring any riders moving forward.

“This wasn’t a decision that any of us knew about as far as I could tell. In fact, from what I understand, even the employees at GT just found out within the past few weeks,” he says in the video. “They’re going to sell off the inventory that GT has, and once that inventory is done, they are going to pause the brand… It’s a bummer.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Phil Kmetz (Skills with Phil) (@philkmetz)

He also seemed to suggest that Schiers made an offer to purchase the GT brand from its parent company Pon Holdings, but was rebuffed. However, these comments have since been removed.

GT Bicycles was brought into the Pon fold when the Dutch acquired Dorel Sports from Dorel Industries in 2022 for $810 million (£640 million). The deal meant that Pon also became the owner of Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose and other bike brands.

Last year, Pon Bike reported a turnover of €2.4 billion (£2.1 billion), almost double than its 2021 sales of €1.3 billion. The reason behind this twofold increase was the acquisition of Dorel Sports, with the latter’s results also being included in the overall turnover of Pon Bike.