dadge I know (and everyone I have ever spoken to) "downhill trails" to be dirt jumping. bikes are known as dirt bikes or jump bikes. Maybe Ireland is strange (I imagine this is the case)
xgame must have it wrong then. the trails books i've read must also be wrong. those would be books written by the professionals. not the cool kids on the street. my bad.
that seat weights only ~200g with seatpost. I don't want to fall between tyre and frame or even on the frame.. The thing is single geared already
This is a dirt bike for dirt jumping parks/trails. Dirt jumping is for hardtrail bikes. Downhill is a different thing with different trails and for full suspension bikes with more travel.
in competition most people would remove the seat only because it give a few more inches clearance for landing bigger jumps. and 200g less going over a jump is better than 200g more .
unless you were going into a competition, i wouldn't remove the seat. for everyday use, imo it's the wrong bike for the job. your bike is more of a specialist bike. it's a bit like using a racing bike on a half pipe.
if you have a trick that requires holding onto your saddle then it's obvious you would want to keep it attached to the bike. but if you're attempting a 15ft gap, i'd take it off.
not every routine has a seat grab. flairs require 0 seat grabbing. same for back flips and grinds. most/all handlebar tricks require no seat interaction either. manuals don't need the seat either.
I wouldn't take if off with a large gap at all. if you come down a bit awkwardly you want ass to land on a bit of padded and not have your arse cheeks ripped apart by your top tube :X
or be confident in your own skill level to know you're going to make the jump without having to cushion your bunger. are you just trying to be argumentative?
Trials mountain bikes are set up very specifically for the purpose of bicycle trials. Two varieties of trials bike exist, those with 26" wheels (referred to as 'stock') and those with 20" wheels (referred to as 'mod' - because historically they were modified BMX bikes). They typically have no suspension at all, though some still make use of some form of it. Competition rules require stock bikes to have multiple gears for competition, but most riders never use their shifters. Competition rules do not require mod bikes to have any gears. Many non-competitive riders run single-speed, choosing a fairly low-speed, high-torque gear. Most modern trials bikes have no seat at all, as the rider spends all of his time out of the saddle. These bikes are significantly lighter than almost all other mountain bikes, ranging from 15 to 25 pounds. This makes manoeuvring the bike much easier."
Dadge I don't see what you're missing. Dirt jumping is always done with saddles on. trials (the hopping about on back wheels like a loon) sometimes have no saddles yes. but you're getting them mixed up. (my turn to be patronizing and link you 2 videos now!)
if you think i was being patronising then that unfortunate. i linked the videos because it was easier than trying to explain in words. bike trails didn't start on the street. it started in the countryside. before seats were removed, ordinary bike were used. there design became more specific to their owners usage.
listen guys, i'm done with this. i've given the OP advice which i thought was sound. and now it's turned into a "it's called blah blah blah" match.