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GT SENSOR CARBON EXPERT TESTED | We put it through its paces so you don’t have to.
Apr 11, 2019
GT has released an all-new Sensor trail bike for 2019, and on paper, this 130mm travel 29er looks like an absolute ripper!
Did it live up to expectations? Rob swung a leg over the GT Carbon Expert model to find out.
See the full review online @ singletrackworld.com
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0:01
[Music]
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[Music]
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hello this is Rob from single track and
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today you join me here with the GT
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sensor expert that I've had on test for
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the past couple of months now the sensor
0:20
is something that we've seen from GT
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before but for this year for 2019 they
0:24
have had a complete overhaul of the
0:25
design and it's a completely new bike so
0:28
away with the old AOS and ey Drive
0:30
systems and over complicated suspension
0:31
designs and in has come a nice simple
0:34
four bar suspension system overall it
0:36
makes a much cleaner looking bike a much
0:38
simpler looking bike now along with
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bringing back the censor back in a whole
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new shape GT have also brought the back
0:43
the LTS name now the LTS name was first
0:45
introduced in 1995 I think something
0:48
like that uh with riders such as Steve p
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and Hans Ray riding that bike and
0:52
linkage tune suspension is back on the
0:54
sensor GT has also released uh the force
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which uses the same kind of platform but
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is the bigger sibling to this so that's
1:00
160 mm travel uh urro bike but the
1:03
center is 130 M travel front 130 M out
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back 29in wheels do everything trail
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bike so what have we got then well we've
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got a carbon front triangle bolted to an
1:12
alloy rear triangle through a neat
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rocker link here uh we have uh neat
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features all over the bike we've got a
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Groove Tube on the down tube here on the
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uh the carbon frame which neatly tucks
1:21
away all the cables no internal cable
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rooting on the center apart from for the
1:25
stealth dropper post so having all those
1:27
cables tucked away neatly In the Groove
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Tube is really nice there's also two
1:30
bottle bosses here for a bottle cage so
1:32
along with the Groove Tube we've also
1:34
got this down at the base of the shock
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now this is a little flip chip and we've
1:37
seen this a lot from different bike
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manufacturers at the moment and it's
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basically a way of adjusting the
1:40
geometry when out on the trail all you
1:42
need is two Allen Keys one in each side
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flip the chip around all it back in and
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your geometry is changed so how much
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does it actually do well in the lowest
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setting the sensor is running a 65 1 12
1:52
degree head angle which for a bike of
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this style is very Progressive it's very
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slack and into the high position you're
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go to 65.9 five so it's about half a
2:00
degree in it it'll also raise and drop
2:02
the bottom bracket by about 8 to 10 mm
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and also alter the seat angle by about
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half a degree so looking at the spec on
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the GT sensor expert then and what have
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we got well Rock shock look after
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suspension front and rear we've got a
2:13
revelation out front with 130 mm of
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travel this also has the charger damper
2:17
in it and out back we've got a rockshock
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deluxe rt3 onto other bits of spec then
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and Shram look after the group set so
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we've got a GX Eagle shifter this is
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coupled with an x01 rear Mech and
2:28
cassette and we've also got the
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level TL brakes on this bike a nice
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setup from Shram you know it keeps
2:34
everything nice and neat the brake lever
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and the shifter can all click together
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so it's super neat up front up front as
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well we've got 7 18 mm bar and a really
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nice short stem on here really neat
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cockpit uh we got fabric saddle and a KS
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L dropper Post in terms of wheels and
2:48
tires we've got stands no tubes flow S1
2:51
wheels and these are coupled with the
2:53
beautiful opinion splitting Gum Wall nox
2:56
from schw so in terms of the model range
2:58
then the expert sits in the middle of
2:59
three carbon bikes with two alloy
3:01
iterations below it uh there's the pro
3:03
above the expert and also the elite
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which sits below all three of the carbon
3:07
frame bikes use the carbon front
3:08
triangle bolted to the aluminium rear
3:10
triangle and all three bikes use the
3:12
Groove Tube on the down tube now this
3:14
isn't available in the alloy bikes it's
3:16
only the carbon models that have this
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feature so the looks of this bike is
3:19
certainly going to split opinion the gun
3:21
wall tires and this Shater deap frame
3:23
color isn't going to be for everybody
3:24
but I like the overall aesthetic the
3:26
only thing I would say though is this is
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an XL frame and the frame does look big
3:30
the stand over height does look large
3:31
compared to other bikes on the market so
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that's something to take into
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consideration out of the box the bike is
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pretty much good to go the tires are
3:37
tubless with the wheels but they come
3:39
with tubes installed you'll need tape
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and valves to get these running tubless
3:43
and everything else is pretty much good
3:44
to go the cockpit is are very inspiring
3:46
it's a nice Wide Bar nice short stem so
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you don't feel too out of control when
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you're getting up to speed and getting
3:51
up to speed on this thing is incredibly
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easy getting the bike out onto the trail
3:54
then and this is a super fun bike I've
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had an absolute riot ride in it when you
3:57
get up to speed this thing absolutely
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rips into the car is it's super grippy
4:00
it's got loads of traction and it really
4:02
is confidence inspiring the suspension
4:04
on the bike is set up quite firm and
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that is something that you will notice
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the Small Bump sensitivity may not be as
4:09
compliant as other bikes on the market
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but getting this thing into Corners you
4:12
feel planted you feel good you feel
4:14
solid on the trails when it comes to
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climbing obviously that firm shock
4:17
setting does help on the climbs you
4:19
don't feel like you get bounced around
4:20
there's not an awful lot of Bob from the
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rear shock and when you get onto those
4:23
climbs especially sort of longer Fire
4:24
Road as sents you just feel comfortable
4:27
obviously outb with the 10 to 50
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cassette that 52 you can crank up
4:30
absolutely anything and having this
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large frame you do feel nice and high up
4:33
your upright position is really good for
4:35
climbing on the note of climbing and
4:37
looking back at that flip chip design in
4:39
both the high and low settings I've had
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minimal if not no pedal striking when
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I've been riding which is really
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impressive for a bike like this over
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super slabby climbs and on even on some
4:47
descents when you're leaning in and
4:48
you're dropping pedals to adjust your
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body I've had no issues with any pedal
4:52
strikes at all so on the trails then
4:54
these tires have performed relatively
4:55
well these are the slightly lighter
4:57
casing from schw so people have said
4:59
that they encounter of slashes in the
5:00
side walls or P punches on the trails
5:03
but I've not noticed any of that they do
5:04
roll really well on harder pack Trails
5:06
but when you get into sloppy stuff they
5:07
do lose their way a little bit again on
5:09
the topics of wheels and tires these are
5:11
the heavier wheels from stands these are
5:13
the s1's so they slightly heavier rims
5:15
and you do notice that going through the
5:16
corners they don't feel quite as poppy
5:18
as lighter Wheels but you do have that
5:19
traction when you're going and that
5:20
confidence to really throw your front
5:22
wheel into the corners and know that the
5:23
wheels going to stand up to a bit of
5:25
abuse so onto a few durability issues
5:27
and little bits of bobs with the spec
5:28
and what I'd look to change if this was
5:30
my bike the brakes just aren't powerful
5:32
enough for me and the dogs are here
5:34
hello on those longer descents you just
5:37
pulling through the travel and I've
5:38
started to notice quite a lot of
5:39
creaking coming from the levers another
5:41
thing to note is the KSL dropper post
5:43
that comes in stock on this bike I just
5:45
haven't had that immediate feel from The
5:47
Dropper post that you need when you're
5:48
on Trails when you come down a descent
5:49
and you want to get straight back into
5:50
the saddle to climb up the next bit on a
5:52
bike at this price point you really
5:53
should be getting a post that returns
5:55
immediately and is really confident so
5:57
on the Trails End the bike feels
5:58
incredibly raw if it feels good to go
6:00
straight out of the box it doesn't have
6:01
that Supple composure that a lot of
6:03
other bikes at this price point do but
6:05
that's not necessarily A Bad Thing I've
6:06
really enjoyed the sort of get up and go
6:07
nature of this bike on a whole then the
6:09
character of this bike is a really
6:11
really fun one you want to get out and
6:12
ride it and it wants to be out and
6:14
ridden take it out for longer days is a
6:16
comfortable bike but there are areas of
6:18
the spec that I just do think are
6:20
slightly compromised I think GT have
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spent a lot of time developing and
6:24
making this really nice carbon frame and
6:25
in doing so have had to compromise in
6:27
other areas for me there are areas where
6:29
G could have saved a little bit of cash
6:30
and pumped it into something a bit
6:32
different for me I don't think there is
6:33
any need for the x01 rear Mech and x01
6:36
cassette making this a complete GX Eagle
6:38
drivetrain would have saved a little bit
6:40
of cash that could have gone into the
6:41
brakes to get something a little bit
6:42
more powerful and again looking at
6:44
things like the tires having that harder
6:45
case in that thicker sidewall would make
6:48
this bike a bit more aggressive for me
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though it's a great bit of Kit and I've
6:51
really really enjoyed my time riding it
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like I say when you're out on the trails
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it just wants to impress you all the
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time and it throws itself at full Pelt
6:57
into everything on the climbs it's very
6:59
stable it's very agile you can move
7:01
around the bike plenty and on the
7:02
descents it's a really really fun bike
7:04
that gets up to speed well so this has
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been Rob from single track with the GT
7:07
Center expert make sure you click
7:09
subscribe down at the bottom and head
7:10
over to single track world.com to read
7:11
the full review if you've got any
7:13
questions about the bike or any other
7:14
bikes that we've had on test leave them
7:15
down in the comment section below and
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we'll do our very best to get back to
7:18
you soon but for me and the GT sensor
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that's all for now and we'll see you
7:21
later bye-bye
#Sports