Lopes no longer on GT

[AndyA]

I just saw this on brianlopes.com. Stupid move by GT.


'I got the news I will not be riding for GT anymore. I guess winning the World Champs, World Cup series and being with the company for 7 years is not good enough. Some pretty lame excuses were given to me & if they would have just told me the truth I would have respected them more. I have been around too long & know way too many people for me not to hear news from others. That's what happends when you have a bunch of corporate yahoos who really don't get it. I do want to really thank Hans, Monkey, Steve Spencer, my teammates, the entire California office, and all the distributors who have supported me in the last couple years. I'm actually pretty happy in some ways and had some really good meetings with other companies who make some nice bikes.'

[keith]

I wonder what GT expected from Lopes
But for what he has done for the company he probably deserved better treatment

Guess it means that another company is about to get alot of pictures in alot of magazines

[thetrailbuilder]

first bets on santa cruz

[Steveb]

Not really. Lopes is a great rider, and did well with the 4x win, but he's old, and old don't sell bikes to the kids, and GT's bikes are aimed soley at the kids now.

[MartyMcFly]

Lopes just got bigger than the brand he was riding, you hear of Lopes winning and you don't think much further, he's been on GT for a long time and that causes staleness, not in his riding but you just dont think about what bike he's winning on, only perhaps, was it a hardtail or short travel bike.
Riders moving teams creates a lot more media and fan attention and therefore publicity for bike manufacturers and thats good for the $$$$$$$

[chris hagan]

Not really. Lopes is a great rider, and did well with the 4x win, but he's old, and old don't sell bikes to the kids, and GT's bikes are aimed soley at the kids now.

He must be a similar age to Peat and his move to sc hasn't done them any harm. GT also employ Hans Rey (?SP) in lots of photo shoots etc so they don't have a track record of ageism. They also have the Lopes signiture bike that Jill Kiltner rides. It just seems a bit odd. Similarly, why did Honda drop that Finnish bloke Leikowhatever when he was 2nd in the world champs?

[Steveb]

Maybe it's a case of two sides to the story. What did Lopes want in his paycheck?

[mccreaky2000]

Lopes sis 38 and Steve Peat is 33

[barry_kellett99]

Age means nothing when you destroy the opposition like he did in fort william.

[davy]

why did Honda drop that Finnish bloke Leikowhatever when he was 2nd in the world champs?

So he can now be lead no.1 rider for MS intense

[chris hagan]

Of more interest though is what is the big bad leader of Team Real Cycles going to do with his line up for next year? Lopes on an irish commencal??:)

[DOC]

what are you waiting for steveb?....sign him up for realcycles.com

[chucky]

I wonder if you emailed asking him if he wanted to join a local company with global ambitions would he actually reply.

[Steveb]

Of more interest though is what is the big bad leader of Team Real Cycles going to do with his line up for next year? Lopes on an irish commencal??:)

Get them on the way to the top, not when they're at the top, cus from there, there is only one way to go.

[chucky]

If your after somebody who has all to gain, and nothing to loose, im here.

[marko]

lopes is a true legend of the sport, gt are silly and very stupid. i hope lopes makes his new company bucket loads of money!

[monty]

I bet he'll go for commencal or santa cruz

[marko]

santa cruz for sure, putting him with peaty again would be genuis!

[monty]

good point, santa cruz have quite a few riders at the minute though

[marko]

rennie has left though, remember reading that somewhere on the net so there is space.

[keith]

Even if Rennie is still in the syndicate adding lopes to the crew wouldnt make a difference. Neither steve or rennie do any 4x and lopes doesnt race downhill, so there is definitely room.