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Are these any good for a bit of a do-it-all bike? I currently ride an NS Surge Evo and was thinking about trying a full suspension. Always liked DMR's stuff and the Bolt caught my eye.
I do a bit of everything on the Surge and the DMR seemed like it would be capable of much the same but with some added comfort, would it handle an easyish day ride on Dartmoor/Exmoor or is it more confined to your jump park, mucking about in the woods etc?
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/reviews/brief-blast-dmr-bolt/ ]http://singletrackmag.com/reviews/brief-blast-dmr-bolt/[/url]
I've always fancied one, stick an oval ring on it to help reduce pedal bob
I had a quick spin on one at Swinley, TBH it rides exactly how I imagined it would.
Pedaling - yes it pedals like something from the early 2000's even with a platform shock, it's a bike for flowing down trails and carrying speed, not sprinting between corners. Uphill it's fine as long as you accept it's limitations and sit and spin. It didn't reward standing up so pick your gears carefully, it won't reward a big chainring and 11-36, more like 30t and 10-46. If you wanted to SS it, you would need a shock with a very firm tune in the pedaling mode. Likewise I think it would work better with a better shock than the X-fusion which didn't feel completely consistent (bobby when pedaling, randomly wooden to undamped over bumps, then spiked on fast stuff, maybe it if was tuned for my weight it would at least be consistent and it's limitations could be ridden around).
Everything else - yes it's heavy and not particularly long or slack compared to more recent bikes, it's more "DMR bolt medium". The simple rear shock made me want to lean forward (like a hardtail), then the lack of front length meant a lot of movement was needed to keep just the right side of not going OTB.
That said, if I was <5ft10 or it was an inch or two longer it certainly scratches an itch as a bike that rewards you when you get it right rather than just making up for your mistakes. It's basicly a 5" travel hardtail for when you f*** up the hardtail line rather than a FS bike for taking the rougher line if that makes sense? I'd stick an old Float RP2 or similar on it, and get it tuned by TF/Mojo first though.
It's basicly a 5" travel hardtail for when you f*** up the hardtail line rather than a FS bike for taking the rougher line if that makes sense?
Sounds like it would be worth it's weight in gold to me then 🙂
When you say it pedals like something from the early 2000's do you mean it's a bit pogo-like, is there much that can be done about that, rider style/shock setup etc?
I wish I didn't like the look of the damn thing so much, then I could put this upgrade notion out of my head...