Big changes afoot for Turner in 2009, as the company that pioneered chainstay-pivot, four-bar suspension designs moves wholesale to Dave Weagle’s DW-Link design. Turner had actually already moved away from chainstay pivots for the 2007 model year in the interests of sidestepping all sorts of increasingly-onerous licensing deals, shifting the pivot to the seatstay.

Those bikes looked at first glance just like the Turners of old, a claim that certainly can’t be made of the 2009 range. DW-Link means that there’s a second linkage above the bottom bracket and no pivots in the rear triangle. That necessitates some extra bracing between the seat- and chainstays, and the stays are also elevated. The new design features across the range – the 8.3in travel DHR, 67.in RFX, 5.5in 5 Spot (pictured above), 4.7in (and 29in wheeled) Sultan and 4in Flux.

It’s bound to be a controversial move – Turner is one of those brands that’s built up an enthusiastic (not to say evangelical and certainly not to say fundamentalist) following, and the change in a single pivot a couple of years ago led to much wailing and gnashing of whatever passes for teeth on the internet. The adoption of DW-Link is a much bigger deal, but Turners have always been about much more than a suspension design.

We’ll aim to get a spin on a new Turner at Interbike’s Outdoor Demo in a couple of weeks, but until then have a look at www.turnerbikes.com for more details of the range.