I saw the Bolt a while ago when it was first released, and I was attracted to the single-speedable aspect of it and the steel frame. But I figured it would be too short in the TT and ST, as it was designed as a slope-style/jump bike.

Anyhow, they now do a long version with an extra inch in the top tube and a longer seat tube. What attracts me even more is that Winstanley’s are doing the 2014 frames with £180 off – a brand new full sus frame with shock for £719 seems a pretty good deal.

I currently ride a Dialled Alpine (SS and geared depending on the time of year), and really like it….but fancy something with a bit more give 😉 Everything would swap over nicely between the frames, only leaving me a headset to buy.
From what I can see of the various reviews the Bolt is designed to ride like a hardtail, but with 125mm of bounce at the back. To my mind it sounds like the ideal fun bike……for my tastes anyway.
And I’d still have the Krampus for all day stuff.

Any reason why not to pull the trigger? Go on, persuade me one way or the other!

I’ve heard they’re brutally heavy…worth checking.

Yup, quite heavy, but remember I ride an Alpine which is no lightweight (about 6lbs afaik)
An extra 2 or 3 pounds will be neither here nor there to be honest.
I think as an SS build 30lbs or thereabouts would be doable.

If I were to ever go back to kiddie-sized wheels and skill-compensating suspension, the Bolt is actually top of my list 🙂

Then go for it! Should be a hoot of a bike!! 🙂

You can SS any full suspension frame with the right tensioner

I currently have an alfine (so same principle as SS) on a trance

My experiments with a commencal absolut sx (similar bb pivot to the bolt) led me back to the trance as while it’s a compromise it’s less of a compromise than the sx

seems to be well received HERE.

…but 170mm/ 120mm; what’s all that about?

Oh man I really want one now, haven’t even finished my alpine build yet, if I go FS this is way up my list.

I fancy one also but doesn’t seem to climb well..

Normal version is 9.1 pounds. Benji off of here enjoyed it –
http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/brief-blast-dmr-bolt/

Ah,, I’m not privileged to read it..what was the conclusion?

Shhhh. You ain’t seen me, right?

So how does it ride? The short answer is: amazingly like a hardtail. A slightly longer answer is: amazingly like a hardtail but so much faster when you get it on proper trails. I won’t pretend to have done any dirt jump sessions with the Bolt. What I have done is take the Bolt out on several ‘technical trail’ and ‘titting about’ rides. Where it’s fair to say, I developed a rather large, and wholly unexpected, crush on the Bolt.

Truth be told, I had half expected the Bolt to be an overly heavy, soggy bobby, ‘pointless’ bike. Albeit a cool looking one.

After the first corner, on the first descent, I was instantly converted. The Bolt just ripped around it. I had my inside foot all primed and ready to deal with a bit of washout tripoding, but there was no need. On to the next corner, trying to see how far over I could get. Same again, no fuss. It just slingshot around. The immense amount of standover was a great help here.

Rooty corners? Bring ‘em on. Buff berms? Love ‘em.

There was much more traction than a hardtail. Dig down with your heels and the tyres just obey. But the Bolt is no lifeless steamroller. There is loads of feel to be had. Whether you want to drift or stick is up to you. There’s much less dip and wallow than with some full sus designs. No odd things happening with pedal feedback when stamping out of the other side of corners. No real sense of delay to pedal input either.

Coming from a few months of riding other full sus designs I was surprised by just how much my riding took into account chain/pedal feedback. Getting on the Bolt, which exhibited none of this, felt great. Again, like a hardtail. No chaingrowth weirdness. There was a consistency to the feel of the whole stroke of the travel too. It felt the same at all points in its travel.

Oh look! There’s a lip – POP! The Bolt exhibits just the same kind of alacrity for airtime as DMR’s best hardtails. The back end doesn’t seem to blunt any takeoff energy. But there’s definitely 125mm of well controlled travel to be had when you touch down on the other side.

The X-Fusion Vector Air HLR played a big part in this handling. Although it’s a £200 upgrade I wouldn’t hesitate to say it’s worth it. The key thing it has over the standard O2 RL shock is adjustable low speed compression.

When I ran the Vector shock with minimal low speed compression damping dialled in, while it wasn’t the bobby mess I thought it might be, it didn’t have as much pop and pluck as it did when running some low speed compression. It didn’t need loads of compression, just enough to stop it from excessive bobbing on climbs. While the Bolt should never be about ‘climbing ability’, a bobby back-end robs you of energy that you want to have for playing out as long as possible. And you will want to play out on the Bolt until your legs fall off. Firming up the low speed damping also gives the bike just a bit more punch when you’re working the trail.

Heavier riders and/or riders who want to do massive jumps on the Bolt will be better served by the Vector Air HLR shock too. The adjustable piggyback is there to tune how the shock behaves on The Big Stuff.

Overall: I wouldn’t recommend the Bolt as an all-rounder, or to have as your main bike. It’s just too heavy to take out on pedalley rides (there isn’t a seatpost in the world long enough for taller riders either). And it’s not quite capable enough to mix it with DH bikes on push-uphill ‘gravity days’. Would I have one? Absolutely. In a second. Oh God yes. No thought required. I may not ride it week-in week-out. But for certain types of rides, certain types of trails, certain types of attitude even, the DMR Bolt would be my number one choice. A pointless bike? Fun is never pointless.

they climb like a bag of cats shaved and drenched in liquid kevlar…. great bikes though, my pal used it as a mini DH bike, so was swapped for a proper full on DH bike when cash permitted as his thinking was that if it didn’t pedal so well he might as well get a dh bike.

get a good long seat post and a tune for the shock. I’m sure its possible to make it peddle OK.

BB pivot frames don’t like you mashing the pedals, nice smooth circles is the best way

I love mine, it’s way too heavy (I opted for an alfine/coil fork and shock to really make sure I could barely carry it) – but it gets chucked in vans/covered in mud all day long and never misses a beat – Perfect as a “fun” bike but not great as an all day bike.

Nice, that’s almost the same build as my commencal, alfine & everything

Question…..does the frame come with the horizontal dropouts as well as the vertical ones, or do you have to buy them separately?

I’m pretty sure they come with one set of dropouts only, spares are around 20 quid per pair. Although I bought my frame 18 months ago so they may include more now.

New frame just arrived – Matt black, with a few red bits…

It does only come with vertical dropouts though, so will have to order the horizontal ones.
Looking forward to this 8)

Stop making me want one

Nice, let us know how it is. I currently ride a Scott Voltage but have had my eye on the Bolt since they first came out and I started riding on a trailstar so have a soft spot for DMR bikes! If i find one for a decent price i may be tempted to go for one of the older ones as I don’t care about weight and would probably be ok with the smaller size.

Very quick delivery from Winstanley’s too. They seem to be the best deal new at the moment – £699 for a 2012 standard frame, and £719 for the 2014 long.

A bad camera-phone pic of the Bolt.
Ignore the WB forks, they’re just on there to give an idea of what it’ll look like – I’m going to fit some Pikes (or maybe some DUC32s!)

lovely… well apart from that stem.

It’s terrible, send it to me for disposal immediately

The Bolt this afternoon…..

Had a quick ride around town to check all the bits and pieces stayed attached. I might flip the stem as the front end felt a little low.