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For a long time now, carbon fiber has been THE go-to choice for premium frames, regardless of the discipline. But - steel and titanium have been on a comeback trail these past few years, so when my friends at Turner asked me to try their new Titanium All-Road bike I lept at the chance. So let’s take a closer look at the Turner Cyclosys
I met Dave Turner about fifteen years ago when he visited Arkansas to ride with me and the crew at competitive cyclist - we were his largest dealer, and just about every single one of us rode and raced on his mountain bikes. Dave TURNER collaborated with Dave WEEGLE on the DW Link rear suspension, which were featured on both Ibis and Turner bikes at the time - it went toe to toe with Santa Cruz’s VPP suspension and I can’t tell you how many Flux’s, 5-Spots, and Sultans I sold in our heyday. My turner of choice was a barbie pink nitrous with full XTR and Mavic Crossmax’s. It was a 26er, but man was it nimble - I had some of my best races on board that thing.
Dave Turner is a cyclist who loves riding on dirt roads and he was never happy with out of the box gravel bike offerings. So... he set out to make something that lived up to his standards, but because Turner is still a boutique manufacturer, he simply couldn’t afford a run of a thousand carbon frames built to his spec, so he went with the next best thing - Titanium. And because we live 15 minutes from each other, he showed up at my front door a few months ago with one of the first frames off the line. And I was immediately smitten.
The welds are perfect. The geometry is spot-on, and the oversized BB shell means it’s as responsive to pedaling inputs as some of my carbon bikes. It’s also road bike stiff at the front end, and has clearance for up to 2 inch tires on 650 b wheels. My tires of choice are Ultradynamico’s 43’s on 700c ENVE foundation wheels, mostly because everything i ride is pavement or hardpacked jeep trails.
The main tubes of the frame are 3/2 titanium, which is slightly heavier but more compliant than the lighter and stiffer 6/4 titanium he used in the head tube. If you don’t know what those numbers mean: they refer to the blend of Titanium and other elements that forge the alloy itself. According to Wikipedia Titanium alloys are alloys that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. These alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance and the ability to withstand extreme temperatures.
All of which makes it an IDEAL material for bicycles. A titanium frame is a once in a lifetime purchase. It’s literally an heirloom quality material that will look the same until the day you pass it on to your son or daughter because it’s a very tough material. Where a carbon bike might crumple and crack after a hard impact, titanium will hold its ground better than steel.
But probably the best thing about titanium is where the ride quality falls on the material spectrum. At one end, you have a heavy, spongy steel frame and at the other’s a full-on carbon race machine like my R5. camped out somewhere in the middle, you’ll find a titanium frame: it manages to be both incredibly responsive and wonderfully compliant at the same time. Ti frames also generally feel very planted and have sure-footed handling in just about every situation.
And in the case of the Ticlosys that’s no different. Dave likes to call this one ‘the mountain biker’s road bike” but to be honest it’s a beast of a road bike all on it’s own and I was blown away at how well it pounds out the miles and grinds uphill. It definitely likes being off-road better, and since it can accommodate both 700 and 650 wheels it’s quite a versatile little scoot. You also get rackmounts, a third water bottle mount, and bolts for a top tube mounted bag, so if you’re looking for what I’d call a ‘high performance bikepacker’ then this is it )to prove that point, Dave loaded his up and rode all the way to Tahoe from where we live in SoCal). And if cyclocross ever comes back, I wouldn’t hesitate to strip it down, throw on some tubulars, and lift this one over the barriers for an hour.
At the end of the day, though, man... this bike is really rad. It’s the most stare-worthy bike I’ve built in a while and with the right setup it can do EVERYTHING short of technical singletrack and bike park downhill runs - neither of which I really do, so the Cyclosys checks a lot of boxes for me..
I’ve only owned one other Ti bike, and it was a merlin extralight mountain bike that to THIS DAY i regret selling. I don’t regret much, but letting that one slip away was a big mistake. It was a magical bike, and the Cyclosis has a lot of that magic too.
