Dave, well both Dave's actually, are damn smart guys. The kind of smart that you can feel when you ride thier bikes. This partnership has the potential to bring out some of the best bikes the industry has seen in a while, through DW's suspension design and DT's fanatical quality control. We got Dave Weagle (DW in the article, duh)  to answer a few questions on the bikes, as well as a few things about the linkage itself. 

DM ::  So I guess the first question people will want to know is, why Turner?

DW :: I've been a Turner bikes fan since I first got involved in mountain bikes in the late 90s. I've always been impressed by the level of manufacturing quality and customer support that came with the Turner name. I first talked to Dave in 2000 or 2001 after he developed the ISCG standard with Bob Barnett. Of course our conversation went right to suspensions, and I liked his approach of basing everything off what the bike did on the trail. A few years later we had the chance to ride together and one thing led to another. One thing that I love about Turner is that they have been building suspension bikes almost exclusively in their line from day 1. Dave is an obsessive tinkerer and tuner, so coupled with the Turner attention to detail, I knew that together we could come up with some bikes that we could be really proud of.

DW :: The frame geometry and mechanical implementation is all Turner. I try to help where I can with suggestions in the form of hand sketches when we are trying to solve specific issues, but Dave and Todd (Turner's very capable engineer) are on it after that. For the kinematics, the actual suspension geometry, this is my realm. I treat this as a collaborative process. This starts off with a lot of talking, then riding, then more talking and riding. It's my job to interpret what Dave Turner wants the bike to feel like from a suspension standpoint and turn that into geometric locations. From an anti-squat standpoint and the balance of mass transfer, the bikes will perform similarly to other dw-link bikes that I have done. In my opinion, this is the base of a great performing suspension, because there are no bad performance traits that I have to "mask" later with compromises that might negatively affect the ride.

From a suspension "feel" standpoint, I've tried to engineer these bikes to build on the traits that have made Turners rider favorites in their respective categories. This is especially true for the shorter travel bikes. On the longer travel bikes, I was able to use some of my experience from the World Cup circuit and from working with shock manufacturers to develop a really unique evolution of the DHR and Sunday. I think that the new DHR really takes the best parts of both bikes and combines them into one with the early to mid travel suppleness and traction of the Sunday, and the end travel ramp and higher spring rates of the DHR.

DW ::  On the DHR, the links are close together and part of that was to achieve the dual progressive leverage rate curve that gives the early travel traction and late travel ramp that I spoke of before. These links are pretty close together, but if you look at the Ibis and Pivot Cycles bikes you can see that this is the general direction that dw-link has been heading. All in all though, link spacing is not something that is really a focus. I'm looking more at absolute suspension performance and structural performance. Turner has done a great job on the structural side with big oversize hollow aluminum pivots and their trademark sealed bushing system on some models. The bikes that I have ridden have been stiff and light. As with anything, the more you do it, the more you learn. Through experience, I've learned how to very precisely tune wheel rates, and for air shocked bikes, this is really important. Each bike's leverage rate is specifically engineered to work with a specific air shock and even air can volume to hit a desired wheel rate or wheel rate options. From there we develop damper tunes to meet the frame requirements. All of the latest dw-link bikes from Ibis, Pivot, and Turner take advantage of that evolving knowledge.

DW ::  You can't see it but the pivots are actually made out of carrots. Yes, actual garden variety carrots. They are awesome! and tasty! and good for you! Hah.

No seriously, Dave and Todd engineered large hollow aluminum pivots that are lightweight, strong, and stiff as all get out. Really though, links being close together does not present a significant stiffness challenge. You just need to know how much material to put where, and the closer the pivots, the less material you need to have to span the gap between the pivots. At anything other than spacecraft grades of optimization it's good either way in my opinion.

DM ::  Why does everybody get such a woody over the DW link anyways? What's the difference in the ride compared to say, VPP, Maestro or even FSR?

DW ::  I think it's because the people who are psyched on it are people who actually ride bikes. I've always had to just say what the suspension does and let the riders get out there and feel it for themselves. I've never made performance claims that the system couldn't back up or that couldn't be backed up with physics. In an industry where selling bike suspensions has come down to who can place the most print ads with outrageous, impossible claims in them I think that riders find that refreshing.

Most important though, to me, it seems that the bottom line is that dw-link makes bikes that are fun to ride. You don't have to take your riding time to think about flipping a lever or losing traction at a crucial moment or whatever. The system is as "transparent" as a suspension can be and that lets riders enjoy the ride more and tinker less. That's my take on it at least!

DW ::  Hmmm, where is my magic 8 ball?!! (Ed. note : this answer makes me excited in the pants.)

DW ::  This year we have Iron Horse in its last year of dw-link licensing, the bikes are the same in 09 as they were in 05-08 with new graphics and some new component specs. Ibis is killing is with the incredibly popular all-carbon Mojo. My lips are sealed on new Ibis projects but you can bet they are up to something. Newcomer as of 08, Pivot Cycles is coming off a really strong first year with the introduction (today actually) of an all new 167mm all-mountain bike called the Firebird. It uses a floating shock design similar to what we did on the IF Tungsten Electrode project a few years back. I have had the chance to spend some time in Arizona recently on this bike and I have to say that I am really looking forward to getting one here and ripping the XC trails on it hard, it was awesome. Also, their 429 has me saying something that I never thought I would. I like this 29er bike! I had a blast riding it, I really did. IF is still waiting in the balance. Someday my friends, someday.

Thanks Dave, appreciate it a lot!

Anytime Jeff, thank you!

To learn more, check out :: www.turnerbikes.com  ::  www.dw-link.com

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FastTimes - September 15, 2008 I'd ride one in a heartbeat.

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