Turner Bikes Fabrication

The frame ideas and designs come from a world none of us can really understand, no not another planet, but David Turners mind. All of the design works are done in Murrieta, CA; in a tiny office with insufficient air conditioning in the summer and not enough heat in the winter. Out of the same office we handle all of the marketing, sales, quality control and final assembly. Every frame is handled with love until it has been delivered to its proud new owner. As for the actual fabrication, our frames are built by Sapa; A facility in Portland Oregon who in their spare time tinker with spacecraft and jet airplanes.

With over 40 years of experience in aluminum, Sapa is a perfect fitment with Turner Bikes since they have the ability to turn fresh raw aluminum and recycled aluminum into a high precision bicycle frame. Yes, that means your empty cans of PBR are then reclaimed, refined and combined with fresh aluminum to be used for billet, 23% is recycled material to be exact. Sapa has such high standards due to their involvement with aircraft and auto manufacturing, that their Aluminum has a higher chemical composition standard than most. This aluminum billet is then made into tubing and frame pieces by cutting, then machining, and finally welding them into every Turner frame. From there Sapa will then heat-treat, check the alignment and then send us the built front and rear frame components.

We then handle each frame component for final quality control and mark which frame components are to be sent off to paint and hang the others in their natural raw beauty. Once marked to be built, each frame component is then sent to the frame prep department. Here, first the head tubes and bottom brackets are faced. Next every pivot bore is reamed and re-checked, since our journal bearing system is fully integrated into the frame design, it is vital to insure that every pivot system will work flawlessly for the life of the frame. Remember, we do not merely press a cartridge bearing into our frame and call it good. Each pivot bore is then faced and the kevlar composite journal bearings are installed, which then the outer edge of the bearing surface is faced to insure a tight fitment with the bearing seal. Next the threaded zerk (lubrication) fittings are installed and the frame components are sent over to assembly.

In assembly, the frame components are put together to make a complete frame. This includes installing the pivot shafts, bearing seals, rockers, dw-link, shock and tightening each bolt to its specific torque requirement. We then charge the journal bearing system with grease and do a final frame check before the decals, Turner head badge and seat collar are installed. From here it is just a matter of boxing the pristine Turner frame so it is ready to be shipped to its new home.

In their cutting edge facility, Sapa fabricates every Turner frame to our strict specifications. We maintain a constant line of communication from early designs and prototypes to final tolerance checks before we assemble and ship out your new Turner frame. Every frame that leaves here goes through this same arduous process, just to make sure perfection isn't merely an interpretation but a solidified standard.

All of our frames are made from 6061 -T6 Aluminum, which is a sustainable metal. Every frame that is traded-in, sent to us through warranty, or does not exceed our quality standards and every scrap that we can sweep up off of the floor is then recycled. So much to the fact that we have created the Turner-for-Turner Trade-in program, we'll take any Turner frame, no matter what the age or condition to be applied towards the purchase of a new one. And we will then recycle the old one, thus creating a cycle of material and pushing the evolution of Turner Bikes forward.

Here are a few aluminum facts to think about.

• Discovered in the 1820s, aluminum is the most abundant metal on earth. The 3rd most plentiful element behind that of oxygen and silicon.
• Aluminum is a durable and sustainable metal: two-thirds of the aluminum ever produced is still in use today.
• It takes about 400 years for aluminum to break down naturally. That PBR can you just drank from will probably still look about the same in another century if not recycled.
• Aluminum can be recycled over and over without breaking down. In theory, we have an inexhaustible supply of it in circulation right now. If we recycled all our aluminum, we'd never have to make more.
• Most people don't realize how strong aluminum metal is. Four six packs can support the weight of a 4,000 lb. car.
• One pound of aluminum can replace twice that weight in steel in most applications.
• Aluminum has a phenomenally high melting point - 1,220 F, to be exact.
• Aluminium was also the spelling here in the U.S. until 1925, when the American Chemical Society officially decided to use the name aluminum instead. So yes, the rest of the world does call it Aluminium.
• Aluminum is light, strong, corrosion-resistant, nonmagnetic, nontoxic and naturally good looking.