David Turner has been making full suspension bikes in America since 1994. Based out of Murrieta, California the small company came to fruition when David combined his racing roots and his suspension experience that cultivated at AMP research while working under Horst Leitner. Over the years Turner have established themselves as one of only a very small number of USA made full suspension frames. One of their most well known attribute is their legendary customer service. Recently, David has begun to venture overseas and manufacture his carbon fiber XC race bike in Taiwan. After fruitless searches stateside it became evident that it was just not feasible to make a boutique carbon bike domestically.
Located just 45 minutes from San Diego, we took a quick drive up north to check in and see what’s new at Turner Bikes. We got to cruise around the parking lot on the new “King Kahn” as well as poke around the shop and see some cool relics.
Welcome to Turner. Less than 10 employees and a relatively small space that is chock full of bikes.
Every Turner you buy comes through this facility and is assembled and hand checked for tolerances by an actual human being in America. Pretty rad, and also pretty rare.
As soon as you stroll in, you’ll see some history lining the walls…and maybe a little inspiration.
The “Nitrous”. Geoff Kabush won the Norba National champs on one. Anyone else miss the Norba series?
One off 4X bike.
The original DHR. A design that was way ahead of it’s time and is still imitated today to a varying extent.
The original DW-Link DHR proof of concept sled. The DW Link DHR was the first true “long low and slack” DH bike. It’s safe to say that it was the first production bike that utilized a 63 degree head angle. 4 years later, that’s now still a pretty safe standard in downhill design.
Part of the reason Turner has been able to retain such legendary customer service is because they are meticulous about keeping spare parts and rebuild kits handy for “dated” models. If they encounter a warranty issue or a frame that’s “beyond repair”, they don’t hesitate to offer their “Turner-4-Turner” trade in program.
Full build kits on hand, ready to ship. Aside from the actual fabrication of the frames, EVERYTHING is done here.
Remember that we mentioned that all frames are individually checked to ensure that they are perfect? Each bike that passes though their doors is dialed in by hand to ensure proper fitment of rear hubs, brake mounts, seat posts, bottom brackets, headsets and more. For a company that isn’t manufacturing everything in house, it’s refreshing to see that they still retain a great deal of tolerance oversight on what they send to their bike shops and customers.
If you buy a Turner, chances are Bobby put your bike together. He rips, he’s an incredible mechanic and he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. This is his customized Burner.
Speaking of assembly. Oogle over these perfectly welded front and rear triangles. They’re just hanging out and waiting to be someone’s baby.
A couple weeks back we showed you the “King Kahn” … well, we got to cruise around the office on one and snap some detail shots. We hope to see it in production. Aside from the Salsa Bucksaw, there really isn’t much on the market like it.
Thanks to the Turner family for letting us stop in and poke around with a camera. Visit www.turnerbikes.com for more details.
