Taking a slight divergence from mountain bikes without leaving the dirt, grass and mud, Turner is rolling out the all-new Cyclosys cyclocross bike. They’ve also updated the venerable Burner full suspension mountain bike and will offer the Sultan 29er as a 27.5+ bike. Full details are coming from Sea Otter’s pits, but here’s the preview.
The Cyclosys has been under Dave Turner’s butt on the race scene for about five years, being built and ridden as a personal project. Now, finally, he’s turning it into a production item for all to enjoy.
“In the 30 plus years I’ve been in mountain biking, I’ve seen the sport and the racing scene evolve and change over the years,” Turner says. “Some for better, some for worse. What I experienced at my first CX race in 2010 reminded me of the “good ol’ days” of MTB racing: a great sense of community and camaraderie, and a good dose of competitiveness.”
To make the most of those days, the bike uses modern features like a carbon fork, 43mm tire clearance, slick internal cable routing ports and (from the looks of it) geometry versatile enough to take it out for a day on the backroads.
The Turner Burner gets a makeover for 2016. It’s still made in America, but the frame has new “all mountain” tubing and a custom machined 62mm headtube.
The oversized headtube diameter should make for a stiffer front end.
Stealth dropper cable routing is added…
…and the seat tube is shortened by a full inch, allowing for taller dropper posts to be used.
As for the Sultan 29er, details are short other than to say they’re fitting in wide 27.5″ wheels with plus sized tires to make a bike that’s got trail cred with an insane amount of grip. As luck would have it, we were just talking with Dave about 27.5+ last week, so here’s a recap of his comments about this new style of bike:
Having mid fat capability is the future, if there is ANY good that can come of the Trek Boost 148 it is that the chain will be out further for fatter Plus tires, and this will allow riders to play with different wheels on same frame. I have a few rides on 27.5 Plus, and it is a blast, but for a little man like me I have ordered some surley 26plus to run in a Burner. It just might be the mama bears porridge of mama bears porridge, getting that happy medium of 27.5 diameter (or close) and the mid fat of a plus sized tire.
Do you ski? I think of this movement like that. FIS racers don’t ski 100+mm under foot for mogul and slalom, etc., competition, but on the other hand when standing in a lift line and see a pair of skinny skis under someone’s boots is truly rare, anything under 90 is now looking kinda twiggy. It’s either a racer, or the skier dug the crap from 1985 out of the garage for a day on the hill. Well, my theory is that the vast majority of us MTB punters will have more enjoyment from a set of Plus sized tires in the rocks roots and ruts and to hell with what the ‘pro’ uses. If we were pro we would do exactly what was needed to win. Since we are not, we should do what creates the most fun per ride. Maybe the group ride roadies can copy the pro’s the closest in terms of set up and equipment, but MTB needs to quit worrying about how Jerome or Anne Caro set their bike up and ride what their terrain and skill require.
We’ll get more info about any frame changes at the Otter, stay tuned.
