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Future of the DW Turner DHR?

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
I wrote to DT and he confirmed there is no DHR plan coming. 27.5, carbon frames, enduro is what people want so...no. It's sad, I absolutely love mine : bought it 2d hand in Morzine for 1000$ in excellent shape. So I offered it a little rebuild and new stickers for 300$.
What do you think?
same thing I did.. tore the frame down, glossed the frame, packed bearings with fresh grease, and updated some components.
shes good to go for this season and next
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
I wrote to DT and he confirmed there is no DHR plan coming. 27.5, carbon frames, enduro is what people want so...no. It's sad, I absolutely love mine : bought it 2d hand in Morzine for 1000$ in excellent shape. So I offered it a little rebuild and new stickers for 300$.
What do you think?
same thing I did.. tore the frame down, glossed the frame, packed bearings with fresh grease, and updated some components.
shes good to go for this season and next
I also emailed Turner asking about the DHR several months ago, and I got a reply from Dave himself telling me the bad news. Since then I've had my eye out for a good used frame. I recently found a brand new unridden XL 2015 in anodized black, and sold my size large 2012 raw. Gave my components a refresh, some new parts, and a reach adjust headset adding 7mm to the reach. I got really lucky. This bike will have quite a long life left in it.

I took it to my LBS to have my 40 get new seals and have some new rims laced up. Also if any of you remember I bought some new T1's, I just found a smoking deal on some R0's, so the new T1's will go on the trail bike and the R0's will go on the DHR. I have a second pair of T1's with Goodridge hoses that will be going up for sale. I'll post pictures up of the DHR once i get the R0's and install them.
 
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Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,790
7,047
borcester rhymes
ceasar money. He upgraded to an XL and I was just curious on his thoughts. The turner XL is still shorter than the medium GT i'm on now, I think.
 

rhynohead

Chimp
Jul 8, 2013
5
0
I was also thinking about ordering some of those FR570 rims for my DHR. I'm still rolling on some old 823's but the front wheel has got a flat spot on the rim and some wobble. According to the LBS, not fixable. I'll still ride it for this season as I don't want to spend the money on a wheel build, but those 570's seem to be priced pretty well and who still makes 26 alloy rims anyways. So I'll probably pick up a pair, as I don't see myself changing DH bikes anytime soo; especially not just for 27.5. I bit the kool-aid on my trail bike and am happy, but not sure I "feel" the difference

As far as Turner not making the DHR anymore, I get it. He probably lost a lot of money on these frames and can't blame him for thinking about the future of his company.

My only problem with my DHR is that it's white, so I plan raw'ing or getting a new paint job down the line.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
whoa guys thanks for all the likes. I need to update my vital bike check and get some proper pictures.

ceasar money. He upgraded to an XL and I was just curious on his thoughts. The turner XL is still shorter than the medium GT i'm on now, I think.
@csermonet you got your seat moved forward a bit... how tall are you

for what its worth: im 6' on a large and its good
hey dudes, i'm 6'1. The large has a 408mm reach, and XL is 424mm. With my reach adjust headset its 431mm. To give a frame of reference, a large Devinci Wilson is 436mm and a YT Tues is 450mm. I haven't gotten to ride it yet, I just picked it up from the shop yesterday and will be riding it for the first time on Thursday. Gotta change some stuff, they routed my brake and shifter hose on the outside of the shock tower and need to apply some mastic to my chain stays. Going to spend the day tomorrow getting it properly setup. Riding around the neighborhood though the sizing feels good. I'd say the XL DHR with a reach adjust headset is in line with modern size large DH frames, just on the shorter end of the spectrum. I prefer shorter bikes though, I am looking for a size large trail bike with a reach of no longer than 440mm. Even playing with the idea of a large trail frame with a reach adjust headset set in the shorter position.

I don't imagine the new bike is going to ride very much different than my large, the thing I'm most excited t to try out is the rims. I used to have 823's so I'm interested to see how different 23mm inner width rims ride compared to the DT FR570 which have a 27.5 inner width.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,151
14,628
ceasar money. He upgraded to an XL and I was just curious on his thoughts. The turner XL is still shorter than the medium GT i'm on now, I think.
I'll try to post up a side by side of my XL against my wifes medium Fury.

Old photo, now has Ti spring and RO's rather than the V2 brakes.
2012-05-12 14.18.50.jpg
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
One more note of reach comparison... as stated before an XL DHR is 424mm, and 431mm with my Works Components headset. a large Trek Session is 426mm, and 450mm for XL.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,151
14,628
the v2 are the four piston Hope's right? how do you like the R0's compared to the V2's?
V2's were two piston, I liked them a lot, but after having them for 5 years they were tired and needed a rebuild, so I took the opportunity to try the RO's.

Not enough time on them yet to give a solid opinion on heat management etc as I've only done a few days on them. But so far no issues. Despite all the scare stories on bleeds, I shortened the hoses with no problems afterwards.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
V2's were two piston, I liked them a lot, but after having them for 5 years they were tired and needed a rebuild, so I took the opportunity to try the RO's.

Not enough time on them yet to give a solid opinion on heat management etc as I've only done a few days on them. But so far no issues. Despite all the scare stories on bleeds, I shortened the hoses with no problems afterwards.
Yeah id take all the Formula hate with a grain of salt, ive had 4 different pairs of Formula's and currently have 3. Two pairs of T1's and one pair of R0's. I've never had any sort of malfunction or failure or any problems at all with any of them that wasn't user error
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
As a note about that user error.... if you ever remove the pistons out of the calipers for whatever reason, when you insert the piston back into the caliper body, make sure its nice and square and going in straight. If it goes in even slightly crooked, you can and will pinch the quad ring piston seal, and you can and will shatter the piston. Ask me how i know
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,067
10,632
AK
The only problem I had with the formulas is they would pack up during descents like they were closed-circuit systems, but after a few lever pulls, they'd go back to normal, then after about a season they'd get air in the system and the levers would go slack and have to be pumped up, and bleeding would help for about 2 rides, but other than those two catastrophic fails, they were nominal.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
The only problem I had with the formulas is they would pack up during descents like they were closed-circuit systems, but after a few lever pulls, they'd go back to normal, then after about a season they'd get air in the system and the levers would go slack and have to be pumped up, and bleeding would help for about 2 rides, but other than those two catastrophic fails, they were nominal.
if you dont mind me asking, was it the same pair of brakes that failed twice? what model and what model year were they?
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,067
10,632
AK
if you dont mind me asking, was it the same pair of brakes that failed twice? what model and what model year were they?
2014 C2 or something like that. One lasted a season, the other 2 seasons, after that totally unusable.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
2014 C2 or something like that. One lasted a season, the other 2 seasons, after that totally unusable.
That had to be the C1s. Total crap IMHO, not comparable to any other Formula product. They liked A LOT to suck air through the master cylinder's seal. Plus the threads where the duct connects to the MC are 1mm ahead of a hole used to fill in the wax used to create the mold. Hit it a bit hard with something and they are dead.
 
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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,067
10,632
AK
That had to be the C1s. Total crap IMHO, not comparable to any other Formula product. They liked A LOT to suck air through the master cylinder's seal. Plus the threads where the duct connects to the MC are 1mm ahead of a hole used to fill in the wax used to create the mold. Hit it a bit hard with something and they are dead.
Ah, so how much do you have to pay for brakes that work?
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,865
16,405
where the trails are
in case anyone is still wondering, these frames still kick so much ass. Economics aside, it's a cryin' shame these aren't still being made and refined year after year.
20160625_144355.jpg
 
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4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
450
crazy to me to think that some of these rad small company bikes (intense, turner, etc) rarely get a chance on the WC circuit. It make sense due to financing top riders, etc. but a shame not to see how they can stack up on the highest level riding under the best riders.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,067
10,632
AK
crazy to me to think that some of these rad small company bikes (intense, turner, etc) rarely get a chance on the WC circuit. It make sense due to financing top riders, etc. but a shame not to see how they can stack up on the highest level riding under the best riders.
No, it's not crazy. They don't have budgets that allow for teams and all sorts of race-support. I think you'd find that Turner is quite a bit smaller than Intense even. At the levels that pros race at, the bike doesn't make much difference, AS LONG AS it meets certain criteria, but most everything these days will do it and with custom-valved suspension (on the bikes made for the pros from the big companies), the bike is pretty much out of the equation. It comes down more to money, sponsoring training, coaching, practice, throwing as much shit at the wall to see what sticks. As I've become more successful racing, I realize how much dedication, time, energy and $$$ it takes. Bikes like the DHR were always great for the privateer, because the bike was backed by a company that really cared about the products and riders. So usually the bearings and other parts work for years and years with little fuss, the bike remains nice and solid, the bike doesn't have much if any stupid proprietary stuff that is out of production in 2 years, etc. Most of this doesn't much matter if you buy a new Giant or Specialized and just use the hell out of for one or two seasons and dump it, and if you are a pro, it matters even less. This though is the niche usually filled by companies like Turner, Pivot, and others. Bikes that you can count on that are worth upgrading over the years. In a lot of cases, the "stars" of today did break through riding stuff like DHRs and Czars. Once they started getting consistent results, they got picked up by the "team" and then with all the extra stuff that comes with it, they were able to do even better as far as results,. but again, that's because of the entire effect, at that point it has zilch to do with the bike.

I'll pay more for a bike that'll last year after year, rather than something that gets clapped-out after a season and a half. My Enduro was a pretty good example of that, bearings all blown out after 1.5 seasons, and while yes, they could be (and I did) replaced, you were able to quickly tell they weren't intended to be replaced, as the design wasn't at all conducive to changing them. The bikes were just made to "go away" after a few seasons, especially with those proprietary shocks.
 

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
My only problem with my DHR is that it's white, so I plan raw'ing or getting a new paint job down the line.
Polished Aluminum then clear coat is sweet. Aluminum oxidizes super quick so it will be a flat raw.. I wanted alittle bit of shine on my frame so I got 'er clear-coated

you can see the shine on the downtube





and yes.. just got back from Killington and Mt Snow back to back this weekend and this bike feels soo damn good in the fast rough... now my f*cking boxxer on the other hand
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
17,317
14,125
Cackalacka du Nord
Polished Aluminum then clear coat is sweet. Aluminum oxidizes super quick so it will be a flat raw.. I wanted alittle bit of shine on my frame so I got 'er clear-coated

you can see the shine on the downtube





and yes.. just got back from Killington and Mt Snow back to back this weekend and this bike feels soo damn good in the fast rough... now my f*cking boxxer on the other hand
rux it now?
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
450
No, it's not crazy. They don't have budgets...
That's why I mentioned that. My point was simply that it's a shame these bikes can't be on the world stage more often, that's all.
Don't worry, that can be corrected. :D

Mine was white before...


Now it is purple...
holy crap that looks rad! Paint or anodized? If paint, what type?
 

saruti

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,173
75
Israel
I owned an IronHorse sunday since 2006, (created the first angle set headset for it to make it 63)
than sold it and bought a DW DHR in 2012 (created the first angle set headset to make it shorter). it felt like the CS was too long and over all didn't find it too comfort, so sold it and bought another sunday.
last wee me and my friend was in Morzine.
he own a DW DHR. me still on the sunday.
took his bike for a run, and it felt like when you hit the brakes, it really kick you ..
got into the linkage design site and checked the bikes, it looks like the DHR really have more BS.
both bikes with same rear shock and same new 2016 boxxer up front.
so what am I saying?.... this bike is good looking and fast. but if you are looking into the future, and want a 27.5... there are probably better bikes out there.
 

csermonet

Monkey
Mar 5, 2010
942
128
i agree it's a shame that we didn't get to see more DHR's on the WC circuit. I do remember though around the 2011 season seeing quite a bit of privateer riders on them, there was a good sized Kiwi contingent of privateer riders that preferred the DW DHR. Turner is quite a small company, I have sent them numerous emails asking mundane questions about warranty and stuff and would get a reply from Dave Turner himself. And he continues to do reply when I send them emails. Not often these days that you email a bike manufacturer and get a reply from the founder and CEO.
 

TrumbullHucker

trumbullruxer
Aug 29, 2005
2,284
719
shimzbury, ct
put some more lipstick on the pig ( installed air upgrade for my '11 boxxer )

friggen love the bike now with a good feeling fork .. 3 tokens at 80psi with 4 clicks in of compression from charger side. felt great at windham.. ripped citizens DH lots of times and took a digger on the UCI WC Track :p