Home > Feature Stories

Carbon Fiber Turner Czar 29er Full Suspension Race Bike Gets Official

36 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

If you’re gonna go carbon, you might as well do it where it makes the most sense. And to us, the new Turner Czar looks like a damn fine use of composites.

It’s their first carbon fiber mountain bike, and they put it into a 100mm full suspension XC race bike because “We’re going to place the carbon bikes in our line where we feel they’re most advantageous to the type of rider they’re aimed at,” says Turner Bicycles’ founder David Turner. “We’re going to look at those people who are hyper conscious about saving every gram they can.”

The frame uses specific layup design, resin selection and fiber moduli to impart the feel they wanted. They say it’s stiff but not at the expense of character. All that was built around a DW-Link rear suspension, which we’ve found to be a very efficient and plush design in or out of the saddle.

Hammer past the break for all the details…

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

The Czar has a head angle just barely on the slack side for an XC bike at 69.8º, which shouldn’t be enough to slow down the handling in the tight and twisties but add a bit of confidence on the descents. The 17.4″ (441mm) chainstays are skew on the short side, which means the wheelbase creates a tight footprint. So far, all good things for a modern XC race bike…especially since full suspension XC race bikes these days are called up for anything from marathon racing to aggressive trail riding on occasion.

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

The DW-Link design provides 100mm of rear wheel travel. Linkages are machined alloy and pivot on IGUS Journal composite bearings. The forward shock and pivot placements help keep the rear wheel tucked in.

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

Zerk grease fittings make lubrication and maintenance quick and easy. Rocker and lower linkage are both one-piece units, which should help keeps things tight, stiff and less creaky.

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

They’re calling the frame material C6 Turner Carbon, which is a mix of Toray High Modulus fibers. Bolt on cable guides keep the full length housing/hoses inline. Guides for a dropper post or shock remote are under the top tube.

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

The headtube is shapely. And massive, if rather short.

Turner Czar 29er carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

Other tech specs include post mount brakes, PF30 bottom bracket, 142×12 rear axle and two water bottle mounts.

Turner Czar carbon fiber 29er mountain bike geometry

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

36 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
AZBikeFreak
AZBikeFreak
10 years ago

Weight and price please?

2Turners
2Turners
10 years ago

I’ve been anxiously waiting for this bike to break cover. Can’t wait to throw my leg over one at Sea Otter.

AZBikeFreak: Frame weight is listed with the geometry above. I’m guessing price will be on par with Tallboy Carbon/Jet 9/Mach 429c.

neato
neato
10 years ago

cool bike. hope turner well! though i am bummed to see domestic alloy go the way of the dino. may have to get a new intense DH bike next year to keep the dream alive 😉

MMyers
MMyers
10 years ago

I see no indication that all of the other models in the Turner lineup won’t continue to be both aluminum and US produced.

Get a DHR!

Quickie
Quickie
10 years ago

Please quit covering this bike. I’ve seen it online three times now and have had to change my pants three times.

Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago

Made in the USA???

Hmmm
Hmmm
10 years ago

So glad the Burner is not carbon…I like having 2 testicles.

ascar larkinyar
ascar larkinyar
10 years ago

geometry fail!!!!!!!

too long chainstays with too slack of a head angle will make this bike slow to steer and the rear tire will slip while hard efforts climbing. bad bad bad. worst of both worlds

Miles
Miles
10 years ago

So glad the Czar is carbon…I like winning races. 🙂

I think aluminum has its place too though, and hope Turner continues to offer US made options. There’s something about a US made aluminum Turner that feels special, all the more so these days.

Bog
Bog
10 years ago

Wow, I’m massively impressed to see Turner catering to such tall riders, like myself, with a carbon frame. These molds are very expensive so that shows some major commitment to us tall guys. Thanks!

MSH
MSH
10 years ago

@ascar larkinyar – “too long chainstays”?? Other than the Devinci Atlas I can’t think of another 29er FS carbon bike that has chainstays shorter than the Czar’s 17.4″ stays….
TallboyC – 17.5″
Jet9 RDO – 17.9″
Ripley – 17.5″
Scalpel – 17.5″
Epic – 17.63″
Orbea Occam – 17.5″
Rocky Element – 17.5″

I disagree on the geometry fail comment. Yes, the HT angle is slightly more slack than the aforementioned bikes but not overly so. Having owned many Turners over the years I have no doubt that this bike will rip like all the rest

Mark
Mark
10 years ago

So much want. Not getting a 429C anymore!

MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
10 years ago

BB drop (or height, with what tires)?

Stack?

Reach?

Waldo
Waldo
10 years ago

Along with all the other details everyone wants, I wonder if you could run a 110 or 120mm fork on it to make it even more of an all-around trail bike. Seems like that’s what everyone’s done with their Tallboys, and with great success.

härbert
härbert
10 years ago

nice rig, neat details!

@MSH
just to mention: Specialized Enduro 29 has 16,93″ (430mm) Chainstays
with a lot more Travel… so i bet there is or will be more to come

But the behavior of a bike is much more than its lonley numbers…
Turner is one of the persons beeing in the bike buisness before it was one
So if he calls for a mould… it wil be dialed!

Singletrackroadie
Singletrackroadie
10 years ago

Great looking bike and would love to see how a direct review versus the SC Tallboy C stack up.

Richard
Richard
10 years ago

The problem with the Specialized…. sure you can have shorter chain stays but at the expense of a mediocre suspension design.

Chain stay length is grossly over rated. My old Giant with 18.2 cs length rode better than a few of the 17.5″ bikes listed above.

Demo and choose which one you like best. Don’t get hung up on chainstay length! A better suspension design trumps chainstay length!

Dan
Dan
10 years ago
Eric
Eric
10 years ago

Those are to keep the motorcycle from flipping over backwards! 17″ c.stays and 29er BB drop are enough to keep the bike from flipping over backwards on steep ups. The TBLTc rips with a little longer stays, but I prefer short as possible on a 29er.

K11
K11
10 years ago

everyone number crunching, stop and take a deep breath. obviously this is not a hard tail so the suspension design (all the details involved with it) changes the numbers. turner has been at this a long time so just because it doesn’t match what the huge bike companies are doing, does not make it wrong. really.

Jake
10 years ago

With that geo, it looks like this bike will eat technical East Coast races for breakfast! I can’t wait to get one! And by that, I mean find out the price and sadly walk away… I’d imagine something on the upper end of $2500 since all their metal frames are around $2000

Carlos
Carlos
10 years ago

Short chainstays and dw-Link? what else could we ask for?

Izzy
Izzy
10 years ago

Awesome

Mindless
Mindless
10 years ago

$$$$$$$

Diesel
Diesel
10 years ago

Nice to see the XX size. Thanks from the tall contingent!

Espen
Espen
10 years ago

I’m sold!

Amazing frame!

The best looking (and most likely best performing) modern bike I have ever seen.

Only thing might be rear tire clearance?

This bike can be a killer allrounder.

e

chasejj
chasejj
10 years ago

As I would expect DT hits it out of the park.

Next up should be a CF Burner I would expect.

I don’t see myself getting this but but my 13yo racer son will likely be on one soon.

gator
gator
10 years ago

I’ll take the Ibis Ripley Thanks!!! They know how to make a carbon frame!!

Woof
Woof
10 years ago

@Carlos

… we could ask for a Fox 34″ 29’er fork that has travel from 100mm to 120mm.

Solo
Solo
10 years ago

This is my very first love-at-first-sight-moment with a Turner. Wow!

Strongwill
Strongwill
10 years ago

This bike looks SO good. In comparison, I could never get the styling of the Jet RDO Carbon..it just looks like a queer’s bike to me.

I am interested in this frame paired with a carbon Lefty fork at 510mm A-C (Lefty Max 130 converted to 29er). Should be a PERFECT fit! This I am sure will be my next purchase…well done DT!!!

Dan C
Dan C
10 years ago

‘It’s their first carbon fiber mountain bike, and they put it into a 100mm full suspension XC race bike because “We’re going to place the carbon bikes in our line where we feel they’re most advantageous to the type of rider they’re aimed at,” says Turner Bicycles’ founder David Turner. “We’re going to look at those people who are hyper conscious about saving every gram they can.”’

How refreshing a viewpoint is that? Kudos.

MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
10 years ago

The weight puts it into a trail bike category. Giant’s Anthem X 29 alloy weighs about that much and you can see an entire bike with great support at a similar cost of one of these frames. I just don’t get it. Lots of options out there… is this just one for the Homers/Turner fans or the guys that want whatever’s got a lot of recent buzz?

Stongwill
Stongwill
10 years ago

The weight puts it into trail bike category?? the complete high end build with carbon wheels comes in around in the high 22 or low 23 pound range. That is inline with the Sworks Epic 29. I think the great support comment is from someone who hasn’t dealt with Dave before. If you call up Turner, you can talk to Dave directly and their support is fantastic.

Dave
9 years ago

2014 Pivot Mach 429 is a better bike, way more stiff. Never buy 1st year of carbon, the carbon feels way to thin. The Pivot frame is stiff in all the right places, it weigh’s more but you don’t feel it. Ride the 429 Carbon, than the Turner. You than will know why Pivot is the fastest growing company in MTB.

Darrin
Darrin
9 years ago

“Dave – 07/03/14 – 11:16pm
2014 Pivot Mach 429 is a better bike, way more stiff. Never buy 1st year of carbon, the carbon feels way to thin. The Pivot frame is stiff in all the right places, it weigh’s more but you don’t feel it. Ride the 429 Carbon, than the Turner. You than will know why Pivot is the fastest growing company in MTB.”

Have you read any of the reviews on the CZAR? First off, it wasn’t designed to be completely stiff. They wanted the feel to be stiff, but playful. The main concern was to removed any looseness/flex that has been reported with the Ripley.
Not sure how long you’ve been riding, but back in the day aluminum bikes were so rigid that manufacturers actually started going back to steel frames.

So, it’s a preference thing. Go ahead and buy your 429c, and we’ll sport our CZAR’s! Dave Turner has a reputation for building some of the best mountain bikes for the past 20 years. PIVOT may be up and coming, but still don’t have the history or the reputation of TURNER BIKES. I’m sure the owners at PIVOT use TURNER bikes as benchmarks in some of their testing. All good manufacturers do.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.