3-BIKE GARAGE

Our favourite people pick their ultimate bike stable

ROB WARNER, EX-RACER & COMMENTATOR

FIRST RACE RIG

1994 GT LTS

I’m going to say the LTS is from 1994 – I’m sure it is. My first real mountain bike race was the World Championships in Métabief France in 1993. I literally turned up with a hardtail and had a go-to get 19th, with no bloody chain. The good news was that John Tomac was 20th so I was some news at least back home. For 1994 MBUK picked me up and gave me a GT Zaskar and RTS to ride. That year I got third in Mt St Anne, my second-ever World Cup race.

Later that year, before it was released publicly, I got the GT LTS. It was a stunning-looking bike and it worked. The back end didn’t lock up under pedaling, it was fully active. Miles better than anything I’d had at this point. It used to kind of make a tapping noise as you rode it, I really liked that about it.

GT were the bike sponsor to the team and because they saw I had some pace, I got the LTS about the same time as Vouilloz. It was one of only two or three in Europe at the time.