Turner Sultan 29er.
Now living in Hong Kong where this is pretty much the perfect bike. Rolls fast over undulating terrain. There isn’t much like the Peak District or the Welsh centres over here where agility and the ability to do twisty turny stuff matters. Mostly fast rolling stuff, where a 29er is perfect. Don’t get me wrong, there are hills. Oh boy are there hills! But they aren’t rock infested technical climbs, and I can’t remember the last time I saw mud so traction is never a problem. When I did last see mud, I made a 5 year old child style detour to ride through it, just for fun!
I had a 5 spot before (HL version), and despite there being several years in between the 2, and despite the rest of the bike world having moved on to other things, a Turner is still quite a classic, and timeless ride.
They have stuck with the times in terms of 44mm headtubes, integrated bb mounts, dropper post routing etc, but some things don’t change because they got it right first time. Not the lightest, not the blingest, but in my humble opinion, the best all round bikes that money can buy.
I just fitted it with a Reverb dropper post which has made things more fun on some of the steeper decents. Not sure there is now much I would change. Even the carbon wheels have proven robust.
I would have another in the blink of an eye, and think I might have settled on my ‘brand for life’ if not my bike for life. They remain small, well thought out, unique, with great customer service. The geometry is still a bit upright in the seat tube, but somehow it just works.