DMR Bikes are not known for saddles that are aimed at bikes that pedal not just Jump. In fact we were really happy to try the Stage 1 saddle, as DMR have been expanding their range of products this year to meet the growing demand for Enduro related products. Their attention detail and quality is something that typifies DMR. The Stage 1 saddle displays all of these attributes.
Specifications
DMR focused on producing a saddle with a light weight foam and cromo rails, they have included a strap for tool storage, and have spent a lot of attention of the form of the saddle. The nose is rounded for easy movement in front of the saddle when climbing and the base is flexible. The saddle is fairly light weight coming in at 270 grams. The width of the wings is around the average 130-140 mm mark, which fits most people. The saddle is available in a range of colours to fit most bikes for the style seekers out there and blend with the various bikes, stealth black is also available.
The construction is robust and well finished with solid cromo rails. Although not titanium like a super light weight saddle might have, we found that the use of cromo managed to balance weight and strength well without adding a huge cost. We have bent titanium railed saddles in the past, although we cant be technically specific and our opinion being based on experience alone, in our opinion cromo does seem to be a bit more of a tougher material. In this application as saddle rails. If mis-judging a jump and landing badly on the saddle it tends to be the cause of breaking/bending rails. Despite doing this a few times on this saddle, our 90 kilo weight was well resisted.
On the Trail
We tried the saddle over a period of a few months and have to say it surprised us about how comfortable it was. The surface finish was good in all weather conditions, and we could feel that the claimed mobility in front of the nose was actually an accurate description of what DMR claimed.
The middle channel definitely added to the comfort factor and we felt no undue pressure on our lower regions after many hours on the bike. In the durability stakes we crashed a few times and threw everything we had at the bike, we can honestly say that is stood up to all the abuse we dished out. We rode with the saddle around Punta Ala, our test center and particularly on trail 301 which has become a standard when it comes to our test trails. The 301 trail features test pretty much every thing a rider might do on a bike and this gave us a good insight to the performance of the saddle. Even the ride up is fairly tough and we had a comfortable ride up and around with the stage 1.
Conclusions
We were not expecting to discover what we could call a gem of a saddle with the DMR stage 1. It should never be forgotten that saddle choice is highly personal and a rider should always try before they buy. Our on the bike time was comfortable and left us impressed with the product. We liked the idea of the strap system, but we actually prefer to store our parts in another location so we removed it, by Enduro’s nature it tends to be muddy, so we prefer not to put our tools in the direct line of fire of trail dirt from the rear wheel.
Overall we have actually put this saddle up there as one of our two favourite saddles, this is quite an honour in our mind as we have tried so many and to have found another one that we really like is great. Remember that saddle choice is personal, but if looking for a good value quality comfortable saddle, the DMR stage 1 just jumped to the top of our list of saddles.
Weight: 270 grams
Price: € 69,99
