[Uphiller]

Since no bikes are out yet, I was wondering what people thought of the design. The chainstays appear to be really high with the new design.
I wonder why they abandoned their TNT in favor of the DW (obviously because they think it works better - but is there proof in the public domain?)?
www.turnerbikes.com

 

[ire]

They probably went with the DW design becuase it works really well and there is a lot of hype surrounding it. Since Ironhorse is not going to be producing DW bikes anymore it opens the door for someone else to build on their success/marketing. I think the bikes are cool looking, I hope I get to ride one at some point

 

[Ian F]

I'd say the best guess is money: The TCT (Horst-Link) was probably more expensive than the DW-Link... and it seems that licensing the DW-Link also gets you some Dave-time to tweak your design - always a good thing. And I'm sure Dave is happy to be working with a company that is less constrained by a price-point.

All speculation, of course... I'd love to hear DW's comments about the whole thing at some point.

 

[JRogers]

I'd say the best guess is money: The TCT (Horst-Link) was probably more expensive than the DW-Link... and it seems that licensing the DW-Link also gets you some Dave-time to tweak your design - always a good thing. And I'm sure Dave is happy to be working with a company that is less constrained by a price-point.

All speculation, of course... I'd love to hear DW's comments about the whole thing at some point.

I don't think Turner has been using the Horst link for a year or two. They moved the pivot to the seatstay.

 

[moff_quigley]

I don't think Turner has been using the Horst link for a year or two. They moved the pivot to the seatstay.

Turner made the switch from Horst/ICT to TNT for the 06 model year.

Personally, I think this is a great move for Turner. Lots of bike geeks didn't like that Turner went from the horst/ict linkage to "glorified kona." Crap, I even sought out a gently used 05 horst Spot over buying a new TNT one. SpecEd and Ellsworth have lots of us convinced that nothing is better than the horst link. It's kinda odd how DW went from IH to Turner while ICT went from Turner to IH. Makes me wonder if there's a behind the scenes story.

The rear end of the new bikes look a tad funky with the raised stays, but I like 'em. Once used ones start showing up on the market in a couple years I'll look to get a DW Spot or Sultan.

 

[Ian F]

I don't think Turner has been using the Horst link for a year or two. They moved the pivot to the seatstay.

Ahh right... forgot about that switch to the faux-bar a couple of years ago... :huh:

 

[NJ-XC-Justin]

It's kinda odd how DW went from IH to Turner while ICT went from Turner to IH. Makes me wonder if there's a behind the scenes story.

I think the story is that one of these companies is doing well and the other isn't. Would you be surprised to see either Ellseworth or IH go under for one reason or another in the next five years? Meanwhile, would you be surprised to see DW on even more bikes (Norco, Knolly, Felt, Kona) and Turner increase units? No and no for me.

DW and Turner, as strange partners as they initially seemed to be, make great sense together.

 

[ire]

I would be surprised to see IH go under, I think their market shift makes sense; the world economy is not doing well and as the gas prices have gone up people have been buying lots of low level bikes. They are shifting away from the high end and back to the low end where there is a lot of growth right now (at least in the U.S.).

 

[NJ-XC-Justin]

Maybe I'm wrong, since Ibex seems to succeed, but it's hard for me to imagine selling high-items bikes exclusively through one web site. Maybe RS and IH will merge at some point (it's all family anyway), or maybe IH will go exclusively department store-bike quality, but I just don't seem them competing with the major bike makers anymore. The bang-for-the-buck factor better be through the roof.