Just before Sea Otter, Turner Bikes teased three new models with limited details: The all-new Cyclosys cyclocross bike, a completely redesigned Burner and a Sultan with 27.5+ tires replacing its standard 29er rubber. Here’s the complete story on the new bikes…
“I’m buried in cross all fall,” Dave Turner said. “I love it. I race it all winter long. But I don’t think you need a twitchey handling race bike. And I think most ‘cross bikes end up seeing a lot of other uses the rest of the year, whether for commuting or just regular old riding. And I don’t think most people need a true gravel bike either, most of those look like a 1982 Fisher or Ritchey mountain bike. Unless you’re racing the Dirty Kanza or riding gravel across an entire state, something like the Cyclosys is plenty stable with the right kind of tires. I’ve tried to split the difference.”
Top tube is flattened on the bottom throughout the back third of the tube. While most of Turner’s alloy bikes are made in the U.S., the Cyclosys is made overseas but is still 100% their own design.
Dropout was designed to allow for direct post mount rear brake with no adapters.
The bike comes with the new TRP disc brake ‘cross fork. Cable ports are ready for anything.
Chainstays are asymmetric, a rarity for metal stays. Non drive side is big and round (25mm) and the seat tube flares to increase the stiffness at the BB for better acceleration. Seat stays are sorta thin (for an alloy bike) to make it more comfortable.
Frame and fork are $1,399, or get a complete bike with Ultegra ($3,676) or CX1 ($4,137). Paint options are the black with sky blue shown in the original story and this raw metal with black graphics. Or get a custom paint scheme for $250 extra.
The Sultan 27.5 plus came about because, quite simply, Dave believes the plus sized tires are going to be a good thing for most riders not trying to beat the clock on an XC circuit.
This is simply the Sultan 29er fitted with 27.5+ wheels and tires. Turner always builds in lots of tire clearance, so the frames could be run with 29er tires and wheels or the 27.5+ for those just curious or not wanting to buy a whole new bike. Max tire size could be up to 3.0 depending on brand…
…but 2.8 might be a safer bet in the back. Complete bikes will sell with the new 110mm forks to let you go even wider in the front, though.
The Burner has long been one of Turner’s best selling models, and now it gets even better. More aggressive butting and non-round tubes is what makes the “all mountain” tubing, which make it stiffer and sexier. It also fits the larger head tube better. These tubing shapes were introduced on the Flux, but they’re bigger here. They’re mechanically formed by Zen Fabrications, who makes the frame. (Compare them to the round tubes still used on the Sultan and DHR)
The new tube shapes let them get rid of the gusset under the downtube where it meets the head tube. A massive new headtube has an ID of 49mm top and 62 bottom, which lets you run an FSA angle adjustable internal headset. Or just run the plain Zero Stack headset from FSA that comes with it.
The other big change is the full inch cut off the top of the seat tube. That lets you run a longer travel dropper seatpost, of just make a dropper post fit better for those kinda in between frame sizes. Dave says this is gonna freak people out when it comes to choosing a frame size because they all look smaller now, so pay attention to the ETT (effective top tube), because the seat tubes are all going to seem short on the geo chart. Or just trust their suggested sizing.
The Burner has 140mm rear wheel travel, Cane Creek DB Air highly recommended to make the most of it.
