DMR’s Sect has been available as a frame for a year now, but with the brand’s vast range of Sect components, we figured it was only a matter of time before it would be available as a complete bike. Lo and behold it finally is, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Frame and equipment: own-brand excellence
The heat-treated, double-butted chromoly steel frameset is identical to the one you can buy separately and has a tapered head tube and ‘euro’ bottom bracket shell. That means you can run a lighter mountain bike BB and crankset or a burlier BMX style three-piece set-up. Short 395mm chainstays keep the back end nice and agile, while handling is kept under control with a 68-degree head angle and 320mm BB.
Our bike was entirely decked out in DMR’s own components. The Sect stem with matching headset cap is slim to keep the stack height down and accepts DMR’s 31.8mm Wingbar, making for a stiff combination. Long slide-on Sect grips keep your hands comfy. The Tektro disc brake lever took a bit of dialling in until we had it in a comfortable position, but after that it worked reasonably well.
Our build differed slightly from the stock bike, with a 32mm stanchion X-Fusion Velvet fork instead of the 34mm Slant you’ll find the Sect fitted with in the shops. Despite its skinnier chassis, our fork worked well and was still stiff enough for tight pump track berms. On the final complete bike you’ll be able to spec the gearing before you buy – which is good, because we found ours a little on the easy side.
Ride and handling: most fun you can have on two wheels?
Standing on the pedals of the Sect, you can feel that it’s calling out to be taken down to the dirt jumps, but it’s pretty handy on the streets too. We cleaned all the local spots we hit first time and with an unusual degree of laidback ease.
The short chainstays make it easy to find and hold the balance point for manuals and keep the back end whippy for 180s, while the low BB and slack (by jump bike standards) head angle give the bike a stable feel that gave us the confidence to hit big street lines even faster.
This theme was carried over to the BMX track, where the Sect flowed through the jumps and made it easy to pop or squash as required. Most of the time though, we found we wanted to get the bike as high or as sideways as we could – it’s that much fun.
On pump tracks, the Sect’s geometry shone through again. Building speed through pump bumps with manuals and flying into gravel berms, it felt planted and confident, even with the tyres pumped up to 60psi. The wheelset, built with DMR’s Thret rims and own hubs, stayed stiff and true, and the wide, low bar puts the rider in a position more like an aggressive trail bike, which helps when things start getting a bit competitive!