I don't think you can be a mountain biker without owning a DMR bike at some point, can you? Whether it's your regular ride or an old frame somewhere in the garage, DMR is a brand which everyone has been involved with in some way. Having been around for 15 years, the UK brand has firm roots in the mountain bike community. You can't really go anywhere bike related without seeing one - from skate parks (Drone), to tough XC trails (Trailstar LT). Personally, I've had two, a Sidekick was my first proper b-spoke bike with Magura HS33's, Marzocchi Z1 forks (which were old even back then) and a few other DMR went without saying. Then when I finally saved for a DH bike, I still had the bug, and grabbed myself a brand new Rhythm from the first batch in production made (which only just left my hands in the summer 2009). Sad times really seeing it leave, but then DMR phoned and sent me over a Drone for long term test over the summer, which cheered me up!
The Drone comes as a full bike with either 24 or 26 inch wheels with the option of the front suspension disc set up or rigid with V's. We had the 26" version with suspension and discs for test named the Drone Reptoid which comes in at £599
I recently got a set of scales from Bike Tart and am going to be weighing everything that hits Southerndownhill from now on. So, although maybe not that relevant the Drone weighs in at over 36LBS, which is far from light for hardtail, but then this bike isn't trying to be light, far from it.
Scales avalible from
So what is the Drone trying to do? Well after riding it for quite some months myself, and passing it over to Southerndownhill team rider Micky Boswell we can't really put our hand on it as being dialled in to a certain aspect of riding. That's not a bad thing though, this bike is a fantastic bike to get started on and all the parts are going to last some hard days at the local skate park, the trails you aren't meant to be riding and a day on the 4x track which was a little further out of its comfort zone.
Holding the bike together is a heat treated steel frame with all the gussets you need for reinforcement and horizontal dropouts that keep the gearing simple. The back end is quite short making dialling in the back of the frame but it always felt a little low and long even after a few spec changes. A standard MTB size BB holds the DMR 3 piece cranks making the opportunity for putting something lighter on a little easier whilst powering the bike with a good all round gear ratio.
Spec wise this bike is built to be hard, take the hits and keep on going but without breaking itself or the bank. The forks are a simple Marzocchi dirt jump fork, you won't find any adjustments on this fork but after months of abuse and heavy landings on occasions the forks are still taking the hits. When riding across rough terrain the fork really lacks in pretty much the whole stroke of travel, however as a fork designed to take the shock out of a landing they do the job just fine.
The wheels really surprised me on this bike. Not having ridden trails for some time and coming up horrifically short trying out some bigger jumps I really expected these wheels to go out of true, but they didn't. They stayed as true as they were on delivery without a ding on the rim or a loose spoke in sight.
DMR rider Olly Wilkins showing what you can do on a stock Drone if you got the skills!
Being a DMR bike, it is equiped with a wide selection obviously full of DMR components. The pedals on this bike need no introduction, the DMR V8's are a well known classic in the mountain bike world. They give great grip and are bomb proof as well with some replaceable pins. If you haven't ever owned a DMR bike, you must have had some DMR pedals at some point in your riding history? The rest of the controls are all pretty proven bits of kit from DMR. Zip tie grips work well, seat and post fit well without budging, and the stem kept the bars point the right directing even after a few interesting bails. The original style of DMR wingbars are upfront and, although a big seller, I couldn't get on with them. The back sweep and rise just didn't seem to fit well so a set of bars with slightly less of a rise went on.
The one thing I felt did put this bike down a little was the Tektro cable disc brakes. They never really had the bite or power I was after and are a bit of a pain to set up. That said, this bike is disc ready so upgrading the brakes really wouldn't cost too much. The front brake isn't routed through the head tube on this bike, and although it's far from a necessity it would have added a nice touch to the bike for busting out those bar spins or tail whips. The frames disc mounts also don't have any adjustment in them, which could cause problems getting the perfect fit down the line.
We even took it racing
The DMR Drone is a great price for a bike that is going to keep on going whatever you ride it on. It might not be the most dialled frame geo wise or have the best kit on it but it's the perfect budget bike that you can just get out on ride on straight away without worrying about anything not being up to standard.
Mr Ride Street and DMR's Tom Marchment
The Drone and Drone Reptoid are changing a little for 2010 - check out their brown sidewalls! Check back next week for some more images on the 2010 bike from the Core Bike Show.
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