DMR Wingbar and Defy Stem – Review
Tom’s had the DMR Wingbar and Defy Stem out the front of his long termer for a good long while now – is 35mm the future?
The 35mm diameter clamp for bars and stems has been knocking about for a couple of years now with a number of companies championing it for gravity fueled applications, The arguments for the “standard” are an increase in stiffness for wider bars without increasing weight.
There’s plenty of writing on the subject of pros and cons of the 35mm clamp, to sum up – more stiffness without an increase in weight vs. too much stiffness causing arm pump. Grab a brew, have a read, it’s quite the bike-geek’s dream….
Defy Stem
The Defy Stem is pitched by DMR as perfect for your all-mountain bike, and with true to their burly style the Defy is a pretty hardy looking option. The clean lines of the back of the stem are thanks to the internal steerer clamp where two bolts pull wedges to clamp it in place. This cleanliness was much appreciated during one of the many recent crashes I’ve been enjoying (all in the name of testing!), and I’ve not had any issues with it creaking or slipping. Likewise the widely spaced twin-clamp holds the bars without creaks or any sort of slippage.
The low stack height combined with the clean back end mean you can run a really tidy looking cockpit. Weight wise, it’s not the lightest 50mm stem on the market tipping the scale at 245g, but what you gain in 90 or so grams, you also gain in wallet friendliness. At £49.99 it’s one of the cheapest 35mm diameter stems on the market.
In terms of options, you only have the 50mm length option, that gives a rise of about 5mm, in both 35mm and 31.8mm clamp sizes. Matching the colour scheme of your pride and joy is all part of the game with black, red, blue, green and nickel options, and each colourway comes with a colour-matched top-cap.
Overall it’s performed faultlessly through a pretty tough winter of riding and crashing, and has paired beautifully with the Wingbar 35.
Wingbar35
The Wingbar has been the name of DMR’s handlebars for many years now, and the Wingbar35 has been available for a couple of years now. Designed to run out the front of your burly trail bike and to pair with the Defy stem. The numbers add up to a solid feeling cockpit – at 800mm wide with markings to trim them all the way to a now classic 690mm they cater for all builds and tastes of rider, while the 8degree backsweep and 5degree upsweep give them a nice feel, just up slightly from the trend of super-flat bars of a couple of years ago.
When I first fitted them I promised myself I’d have a few rides at 800 wide and then trim them to about 770mm. 8 months on, they are still at 800mm wide and I couldn’t be happier. While on long climbs they can feel slightly too wide, for fast and wild descending they are right on the money. There are few gaps they don’t fit through, predominantly where trail-centre builders wanted to make a point as far as I can tell.
Out on the trail they feel very stiff, perhaps even overly stiff as I have occasionally found myself getting slightly achey hands. It’s hard to tell exactly what is causing this, but a few different grip and glove combos haven’t caused much of a change. My suspicion is that I need to man-up a bit, mixed in with some confirmation bias (where you overly detect things because you are expecting them to be there) and the stiffness gives amazing control on the roughest of trails.
For those who aren’t up for trying 35mm, the bars are still available in 31.8mm clamp at 780mm wide. Both sizes are available in 20 and 35mm rise options with the same sweeps. The 31.8mm version is 345g, while the 35mm at full width tipped our scales at 324g, despite being 20mm wider. All the bars are available in both black and nickel colourways. As with the stem, the bars are friendly on the pocket money at £49.99, again cheaper than similar offerings from other brands.
If you are after a new cockpit for your hardcore trail bike and demand stiffness and control at a great price then these are a great option.
