Considering a DW 5 spot for a bit of a change.
The 2010 ones with the steeper HA are going cheap. I see that the HA is 68.6deg based on a 515mm AtoC, what is this like with a 535 or 545mm AtoC?
Am I best off digging deep and getting the 2011? I do like a slackish bike.
Any problems with quality? Are the raws as nice in the flesh?
Thanks

Got a 2010 5Spot with 150mm Revs on- it’s ace!

I don’t find it too steep at all. iirc, DT only slackened the HA and made it bigger through pressure from the fact that fashion was going that way. Too slack= too slow sometimes!

Had a problem with my first 09 Spot- seatpost wouldn’t go down very far. Turner replaced the whole frame with a new 2010 model within 3 days.

I would definitely buy Turner again. In fact I just did 🙂 A 2010 Flux in raw. Wasn’t so keen on this finish as I unwrapped the frame, but love it now it is built up.

Get a 2010 one and save a wedge. This magazine led nonsense about bigger headtubes being stiffer is rubbish. It gives LESS weld area on some frames.

Thanks Stanley. Im not bothered about a bigger head tube, the forks will be 1 1/8 anyway.
I do like a HA around 67deg though, wondering how much my 36s will change the geometry. I currently run them at 150mm but can run them at 160 if required.

just got a raw flux – great finish (or not). I’ve recently posted loads of close up pics of the frame 😉

Got a raw 2010 5 Spot with Lyrik’s. Head angle fine, but then I never really take much notice of the angle numbers part of a frame anyhow. Love the raw finish. Turner are great to deal with, helped me with any questions. Solid frame, not the lightest, but a right blast in France/Italy last year.

Hey coogan, what coil shock are you running? Has it affected the climbing behaviour of the bike.
Looks very very nice. That flux of seftons looks fast and has sold me on the raw.

I run a 150mm Rev on mine (2009). Just changed it from a U turn to a dual air. The 5 spot BTW is built around a 525 A-C. ie a 150mm Fox/Rev.

I Changed from the u-turn because it does not need it. The bike is so composed whilst both climbing and descending it really is a superb ride.

Used it in the lakes yesterday down some rocky and steep descents and it was great.

I am trying a coil ATM to see what they are like. I must admit I like it, just the weight that puts me off a bit

P1030566 by eastham_david, on Flickr

Thanks vortex, this was where I got the AtoC measurement from
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/frame/2011-turner-5-spot-8671.html
Turners site doesn’t state one as far as I can see.
Edit: anyone Bristol based and willing to let me have a go on one?

try here

http://www.turnerbikes.com/011/spot.html

it’s in the geometry tab and along the top of the table

it reads

{ Listed geometry based on a 525mm axle to crown fork with a 26″x2.3″ tire, acceptable fork travel range: 130-160mm }

1 1/8 offset headsets are available now and more coming soon from cane creek and works components.

as for the 5spot, not perfect but very,very good!
with a 160 fork and one offset shock bushing ha=67 bb 13.8/9
when i can get a offset headset, ill drop the fork to 140 (525 a to c) it should keep the ha about the same
but lower the bb a little…

running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently 😥

running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently

do you mean at full travel it hits the seat tube?

Apologies vortex, I trust your source more than mine!
Past caring, an angleset would be the perfect solution. I could run the 36s at 150 and still have a nice HTA and low BB. What size are you 6 footers riding?

backhander – it’s a DHX4 with a ti-coil. Climbing isn’t affected at all. Like I say, my build is quite heavy but doesn’t effect the climbing ability, climbs superbly. Plus, it has the granny ring after all.

Trekster – Member
running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently

🙄

£60-£70 and should be available very soon?

pastcaring – Member
Trekster – Member
running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently

Someone I know is awaiting a new warranted frame for this very reason 😯

vortex, have you tried running the saddle a bit more in-line with the blocks of the house? you must have so much weight on the bars running it at that angle.It`ll do you no favours.

running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently

Not heard that one before. Mine are both large frames; during building the bikes, I let all of the air out of the shock so to fully compress it to check cable and hose movement. Mine have plenty of clearance there.

A possible inherent problem with the DW system, is that the movement of the lower DW link on compression, creates a closing gap. Possibly waiting for a stone to flick up into this gap just as the suspension compresses?
I noticed a gouge on mine where this had happened. Reckon it could have been worse. A couple of strips of tape would prevent this, or an adapted “Neo Racer”, or a bit of sponge wedged into this gap.

Trekster – Member
pastcaring – Member
Trekster – Member
running the rear shock on the soft side can cause the rear triangle to interact with the seat tube apparently

Someone I know is awaiting a new warranted frame for this very reason

i checked clearance (bottomed out no spring) when i fitted the shock and again when i fitted the offset shock bushing. (offset bushing moves the rear triangle closer to the seat tube)
no clearance issues.

never heard of this issue on the turner forum? pics?

Managed it on my Flux DW when initially playing with shock pressures… bottomed out and it left a tiny mark on the back of the seattube just in the paint. Back home I couldn’t re-create it with no air in the shock and the clearance seemed fine. FWIW I’m under 12st all kitted up and the pressure I set the shock when it occurred was pretty much what Turner suggested for initial setup…given a 5Spot is a very similar overall design, I’d say it was plausible that it could occur.

Thanks for the replies so far chaps.
Overall are you entirely happy with your bikes?
What else did you demo/consider when buying and what did the spot do that the others didn’t?
I’m still a bit conflicted wether to buy the 10 or the 11 model.
Size large for a 6 footer sound about right?

when i can get a offset headset, ill drop the fork to 140 (525 a to c) it should keep the ha about the same but lower the bb a little…

Mate (JPCapel on here) has just fitted one of these to an 09 DW Spot that he got from the bloke in Israel.

Yep- large.

Try mine for size if you like- Stockport area.

Entirely happy?

Er, well, Yes. I think so! I’m the pickiest, perfectionist, OCDist person ever! Could criticise the decals maybe.
I’m more than happy with the frames, as mentioned above, my initial problem was sorted out quickly and beyond the call of duty. Had Oranges, S-Works, Cove, Global Ti, Voodoos, amongst many others as a comparison.

backhander:
Its a really versatile bike.
I have the 2009 model which does have too steep a HA (IMHO) at 69degrees. I originally ran Fox rc2 160mm forks so slacken it off, however this raises the BB height.
I have attempted to make my 5spot as light as possible, it has 1×10 XTR gearing, Roval EL wheels, XTR brakes, etc. Overall weight is 26.75 lbs incl dropping seat post which seems really good and does feel light.
I have recently been close to selling it, wanting something slacker and possibly in carbon. The Santa Cruz blur TRC has appealed as has the Ibis HD (which Hei Hei rides). I decided to try the 1/1.8 headtube angle set that a guy called Saar sells from Israel. He was brilliant to deal with and the headset arrived within 5 days of order, was £125. It has slacken the HA by 1.5degrees, so now sits at 67.5 which feels really good, not ultra slack so steering speed is still reasonable, but much better on anything pointing downhill.
The DW link seems a really good system, the pedal action pulls the suspension taught so you get very little “bob”.
If you run the correct amount of sag it does blow through its travel all too easy (the RP23 has the minimal rebound tune on the 5spot), if you run pro pedal (not to counter bob) but to use this as low speed compression damping you loose the small bump compliance of the RP23 and you get some brake jack, so it seems its a “soft bike” in terms of its suspension feel – think the original HL 5spot design of a really active system, tempered with the DW link design.
I took mine to UKbikeskills last week (Jedi on here), nailed a 10foot gap jump with 3 foot step down more than happily. I’ve ridden it off the ladder drops at chicksands, it seems strong and has taken all abuse dished out. I run my front end low, whack down the saddle and it then feels BMX like, I ride a medium and am just a smidge under 6ft.
Currently I am tempted to keep mine as the slacker HA has made it more enjoyable to ride and kept the BB low.
Am emailing hei Hei a photo to post, any questions come back to me.

Happy with mine. Hammered it for the last two years.

At 6′ a large would be spot on.

Loved mine (size large 2009) – just the right sort of 140mm travel bike for me and the engineer geek in me still gets off on the quality of manufacture. Alas whilst this was the right 140mm bike if I was to own a 140mm bike, actually a shorter travel xc bike was what I needed so I have just bought a Flux instead. The 5 spot is still for sale – goes to ebay in a day or 2 when I get around to it. To be honest after owning a Turner whilst I did ponder other makes it was a no brainer to buy another.

Customer service is second to none. Very easy to speak to Dave Turner direct.

Great feedback thanks.
I’m still pretty keen on a 5 spot, however your comments about blowing through the shock travel concern me a bit.
If I go for a ’10 version, would a CCDB go straight on? Would a properly set up CCDB perform better than a RP23?

I’ve tried a CCDB on the 5spot- bloody brilliant, however weights 1lb more than the RP23 and I like my bikes light weight.
I still half wonder whether its worth carrying the weight penalty of a CCDB it really was superb, made the bike pop off lips and feel like you could never use full travel, but still had small bump sensitivity – suspect the endless adjustment of the CCDB is why, also coils always feel a bit better IMO.
I currently run about 25% sag on my RP23 shock and it doesn’t bottom out much, but would prefer 30-35% sag but then the travel blows through without using pro pedal – which the DW design doesn’t need.
In answer to your questionm, the CCDB out performs the RP23 by miles. Mine was set up for Hei Hei who uses a heavier spring than me, yet still felt loads better than my own RP23 shock which was set up for my rider weight.

How much does a Ti spring reduce the weight of the CCDB by?
Worth a look?

Ti spring will reduce weight, however the CCDB is simply heavy versus an air can (RP23), you’ll cop about 1lb extra weight.
A lot of people would argue that the increased control from the CCDB is worth the weight, I;d agree myself but have made the decision to go light and accept the limits of the RP23 shock.

Turner frames do appear really nicely made and finished, they ride well, go for it. Just consider the HA you want, which will dictate whether to go brand new, or find an older, steeper HA model for cheap money. The angleset I am using seems great, perhaps buy a 2010 model and one of these (£125 for head set) and still save some money!

There are advantages to a steeper HA too – when I test rode the spot back to back vs other similar travel bikes it was definately a better climber and more responsive on the twisty flatter terrain stuff and I’m sure some of that comes from the the slightly steeper HA and not just the DW back end. You can learn to have more confidence going downhill without the safety net of slacker angles – just look what xc racers can throw themselves down at speed on steep angled bikes. IMO slack angles is just a lazy way of riding until it’s all about being gravity driven (DH bikes). These are trail bikes and should be just as much about the ups as the downs and the pre 2011 bikes are the perfect compromise. The 2011 bike was just Dave Turner responding to consumer “percieved wants” generated by other brand’s marketing rather than actual rider need primarily to remain in business – fashion not function. He has said as much on another forum.

Do you think Tf or mojo could do something with the RP23 to improve the ride or is it just a characteristic of the DW link?
Ive kind of got used to and prefer a slacker HA but the angled HS seems a very good solution without raising the BB IMO.

I have to question the weight thing here, surley if the ride is much better for an increase in 1lb of weight then it must be worth it. I have recently built up a small Blur LTC with Industry nine wheels, Bos forks, Xt and Xtr stuff with Easton carbon finishing kit and the bike weighs 28lbs, which I thought was a little heavy for such an expensive bike but the more I ride it, the better it gets and the faster I’m getting. I think the CCDB would be a fantastic addition to the 5 spot and the weight would soon be forgotten.

Had both the HL and the new DW. The latter isn’t perfect and is in some ways a step backwards (for me anyway). Shorter top tube on the large means I have to run a longer stem than before. The suspension squats down when you manual meaning that you have to really manhandle the bike to pop over waterbars on a descent. Bushing replacement kit costs double the older style kit – £110 is pretty eye watering price to pay. 😕

All told, a good bike but not as good as the old HL version. If I could get my hands on a large older one in good nic, I’d buy it.

Hope this helps?

you can do the dcg mod to the rp23 (look for the thread on the turner forum). it increases compression, stops it bottoming out/blowing through its travel as much…
2011 5spots have a similar mod as standard.

for me the rp23 was crap, better after the mod but not great. the rp23 was my first air shock so may explain why i thought it was crap. putting the ccdb on transformed the bike and i didn’t notice the extra weight, only the feeling of extra traction…

i have the opposite opinion to sanny. i had an old rfx hl and prefer the dw link

Looks like it could be a ’10 5 spot with CCDB and angle change headset for me!
Is there anywhere that can tell me what spring is right for me? The TF one isn’t for CCDBs.

The spring rate should still be the same. The spring controls the ride, the shock controls the spring.

67 degree HA on pre 2011 Spots…

mtbr thread

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