Turner 5.5 Spot

5.5″ trail bike

The TNT 5 spot was one of my favorite bikes of the show last year so I was a bit skeptical that the new DW Link Spot could surpass it. First off, I think the new DW linked frames look great. Even better than the traditional rocker arm look of the previous Turners. They are built with typical Turner precision and stiffness and still retain a distinctive Turner look and, more importantly, feel. All the links and CNC’d bits are beautiful, purposeful, and appear to be well thought out. Lateral stiffness is on par with any (and better than some) of the current bikes in its class. Whether it rides better than the old TNT or HL versions is a question for the hair-splitters to debate. I thought the old ones rode beautifully but , yes, I do feel like the DW-link stuff rides even a bit better (call me a hair-splitter).

The first thing you notice when you get on the new Spot and start to pedal up a smooth road is the absolutely level ride. Anti-squat seems to be the real deal seated or standing. It’s not like you notice a problem with the old TNT link….. until you ride the DW. Not worlds better…. but definitely noticeable. And unlike the VPP bikes which also stay flat on sprints(actually rise a bit), the DW-link seems to remain pretty active when encountering bumps. I also thought small bump compliance was pretty good.

The sag on my demo was set at 33% while sitting but felt a bit too stiff while standing and hammering up several short rocky climbs on the West Leg descent skipping over some of the square edged rocks not unlike the Tracer. These same sections felt pretty smooth if I sat down and cruised through them. Maybe it’s just my riding style but I think I would set it for 33% while standing with my head over the front wheel like I ride while attacking a pedaling descent. It would be interesting to see how the DW-link responds with too much seated sag… say 40-45%. Anyone try it? Is much, if any, of its stellar behavior lost?

I was excited to try the new Fox32 140mm forks with the 15mm QR TA. I was hoping they would be stiff enough to replace the 36 in most applications. The damping characteristics were pretty good but the stiffness is not really comparable to the 36 with 20mm TA as you might expect. It is adequate for this application and a nice fork but I wish they bumped up the tube diameter to 34mm. It won’t be long ’til we see some folks putting bigger forks on the Spot and it will be interesting to see how it responds to that.

Overall, a terrific trail bike. Just like the old 5 spot and a bit better yet. Nicely done, Dave.

The Joplin seat post was a nice touch as I’ve been totally addicted to my Speedball… but I about killed myself trying to raise and lower it without the remote.

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