The cool thing about carbon? Its properties can be changed in targeted places. Need a carbon tube to be stronger around the headtube juncture? No problem, just change the orientation or weave of the carbon blend in that area. The downside of carbon? In order to capitalize on the advantages of carbon, you’ve really got to have one hell of a dialed-in fabrication process. Said more plainly — a carbon frame is only as good as the years of experience you’ve got in developing it. Fortunately, GT began experimenting with composites over 20 years ago. Our legacy of composite construction is manifested in our proprietary methodology of carbon fabrication — Force Optimized Construction. GT both ensures that we’re building the most reliable carbon frames possible and tunes its frames to a specific riding style using three different FOC fabrication techniques.
foc ultra FOC Ultra takes a minimalist approach to carbon fabrication using the fewest layers of hi-modulus carbon possible to achieve a stiff, reliable, responsive ride. Not only is FOC Ultra light enough to be used in peloton-ready machines like the GTr Carbon Team, but also it’s the fabrication process that X/C MTB pros Céderic and Cécile Ravanel trust to deliver them 2012 Olympic berths in London.
foc am
materials
We started working with carbon before Cho was born.
GT’s FOC AM fabrication yields a frame that’s almost as rugged as our XM blend, in a lighterweight package by using smaller tube diameters and different lay-up protocols. But don’t let that fool you. Even though the force carbon — an FOC AM bike with 150 mm of rear-wheel travel — is lighter than many 120 mm (or even some 100mm) bikes, it’s still strong enough to handle a good whipping. Just ask Hans, who issued a whipping of his own to pros less than half his age aboard an FOC AM bike at this year’s Cabo Verde Race.
foc xm
FOC XM optimizes our XM blend of carbon to withstand the abuse of the UCI World Cup DH circuit. The proof ? It’s in the pudding. The first (and only) full-carbon frames to take home both a DH World Cup win (nice work, Marc) and a DH World Championship Podium (nice work, Mick) feature FOC XM fabrications.