First Ride: Focus Vam² SL - Electric Downcountry?
We're in the middle of an arms race to build the lightest possible e-mountain bike. Focus have fired off the Vam², a short-travel electric trail bike with a claimed weight starting at 16.2 kg (35.7 lb). While some other e-bikes make similar claims, most weigh significantly more in the flesh, but my XL test bike weighs an impressive 16.7 kg (37 lb). That's lighter than a Trek Fuel EX-e but not quite as svelte as Scott's Lumen. But Focus boasts more power and battery capacity than either.
It's a dedicated 29er with 125 mm of travel at the rear and a 130 mm fork. Like many modern cross-country bikes, it uses a lightweight flex-stay single-pivot suspension system, along with a full carbon frame and one-piece cockpit. While it would be tempting to call it a "downcountr-e" bike, Focus say that "the VAM² SL isn’t defined by a specific terrain, but it defines your way of riding. Direct and playful for more speed and smiles on your rides."
It's a dedicated 29er with 125 mm of travel at the rear and a 130 mm fork. Like many modern cross-country bikes, it uses a lightweight flex-stay single-pivot suspension system, along with a full carbon frame and one-piece cockpit. While it would be tempting to call it a "downcountr-e" bike, Focus say that "the VAM² SL isn’t defined by a specific terrain, but it defines your way of riding. Direct and playful for more speed and smiles on your rides."
Focus Vam² SL Details
• Full-carbon frame, flex pivot suspension
• 125mm (r)/130 mm (f) travel
• Fazua Ride 60 motor: 60 Nm, 450 W peak power
• 430 Wh battery, optional 210 Wh range extender
• 29" wheels
• Weight: 16.7 kg / 37 lb (actual, XL )
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL; 420-505 mm reach
• Price: €5.799 / £5,099 to €10.999 / £9,699
• focus-bikes.com
• Full-carbon frame, flex pivot suspension
• 125mm (r)/130 mm (f) travel
• Fazua Ride 60 motor: 60 Nm, 450 W peak power
• 430 Wh battery, optional 210 Wh range extender
• 29" wheels
• Weight: 16.7 kg / 37 lb (actual, XL )
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL; 420-505 mm reach
• Price: €5.799 / £5,099 to €10.999 / £9,699
• focus-bikes.com
Motor & Battery
Focus say they chose the Fazua Ride 60 motor because it's lightweight but still offers enough power (up to 450 W and 60 Nm of torque) to keep up with "full-fat" e-bikes. The 430 Wh battery is also bigger than many other lightweight e-bikes. For example, the Scott Lumen is perhaps the lightest on the market - with a claimed starting weight of 15.5 kg - but it uses a TQ motor with a peak power of 300W and a battery capacity of 360 Wh, so the Vam² should offer considerably more assistance and/or range. Fazua will offer a range extender with an additional 210 Wh of juice.
A remote toggles between the three assistance modes, which are shown with green, blue or purple LEDs on the top tube. The number of LEDs indicates the battery level from 1-5 bars.
The battery is enclosed inside the downtube and cannot be removed for off-bike charging without first removing the motor. This helps save a little weight compared to a removable battery.
Focus kept things simple and lightweight with the suspension too. The carbon seatstay flexes slightly as the suspension compresses to follow the arc of the short rocker link on the seat tube. The rocker link is aligned so this flex is kept to a minimum, and the bending barely contributes to the suspension forces. Compared to a conventional seatstay or chainstay pivot, this sheds weight and reduces the need for bearing swaps.
Focus claims their 9. series frame (with the lightest carbon layup) tips the scales at 2,172 g, while the more affordable 8. series frame weighs 2,545 g. Those numbers are for a size medium, including linkage and bolts but excluding motor, battery and shock. It's interesting that e-bike frames can have a similar weight to regular ones - excluding the electronics.
Cables must be run through the headset, but unlike other Focus bikes, they don't go through the stem. More affordable models use a two-piece bar and stem (left), while the top two models use a one-piece carbon cockpit (right). An included accessory mount can hold a computer or GoPro.
The frame is strength tested for enduro use and it's rated for a 140 mm fork should you want to make it a bit rowdier. The headset offers two head angle options: 65.5 or 66.5-degrees. Unlike a flip chip, it does this without affecting the other geometry measurements much. Fitting a 140 mm fork will knock another half a degree off the head angle.
Geometry
Given the travel bracket, the geometry would not look out of place on a modern muscle-powered downcountry or short-travel trail bike. In particular, the 440 mm chainstays are pretty standard on regular bikes these days, but many e-bikes regularly exceed 450 mm in all sizes due to the need to fit the pivots around the motor.
Compared to the Scott Lumen, the geometry is almost identical if you set the Focus to the slack setting. The main difference is that the Vam² has a 10 mm shorter chainstay, which may benefit smaller riders.
Models
10.999 €, CHF 11.499, £ 9.699
8.699 €, CHF 9.199, £ 7.599
6.899 €, CHF 7.299, £ 5.999
5.799 €, CHF 5.999, £ 5.099
Ride Impressions
Focus sent me the top-spec 9.0 model to test on my local trails in the Tweed Valley. While I've only spent a short time on the bike, riding familiar test loops makes it possible to get a sense of how it performs. I rode it on blue, red and black trail centre sections, natural singletrack and hand-cut enduro trails.
The Vam² is in its element when you want to cover ground quickly. Fast-rolling tires make it possible to exceed the assistance limit regularly, and the motor's subtle support fades away smoothly enough that you often don't notice when it's all your own work until you slow down and the motor kicks back in. Even riding with the motor off is completely manageable, so there's no fear of running out of charge mid-ride. The suspension does allow a little bob, but it's sensitive over small bumps.
But once things get chunkier (stones the size of a tennis ball or larger), there is inevitably more feedback than longer travel bikes, which can upset the pedalling rhythm. The Wicked Will rear tire is dicey in the wet too, which scuppered more than one technical climb. I'd also prefer a steeper seat tube in these situations, but the geometry is great for racing along rolling terrain and trail-centre singletrack.
The Fazua system offers noticeably more torque than its Bosch SX or TQ counterparts, making it less prone to bogging down when the cadence drops too low. While not as powerful as the Bosch SX when spinning at a high cadence, it offers plenty of power without doing all the work for you.
When descending, it's easy to flick around trail centre chicanes. It's also very easy to manual and hop. While it weighs as much as the heavies enduro bikes, the lightweight wheels and low bar height make it feel lighter and more chuckable when descending at speed.
When things got spicy, it soon started to feel out of its depth. This isn't surprising given the travel and intended use, but I hit the edge of its comfort zone a little sooner than expected.
The bar height is lower than I'd like (I'm 191 cm tall, riding the XL), and thanks to the one-piece cockpit this is hard to address. The fixed upsweep is pretty extreme too, which to me makes the head angle feel steeper than it is. I'd prefer a shorter effective stem length and longer dropper post too. The combined effect is more XC than Trail when things get technical; I found it hard to maintain a good position over the bike, particularly when negotiating steep turns, or corners with a step leading into them. The SRAM Level brakes also became slightly spongey towards the end of the steeper descents. Here I'm not talking about downhill tracks, only the spicier side of what such a bike could be expected to ride.
On the other hand, the cockpit, brakes and dropper could be swapped out, and cheaper builds have more powerful brakes and conventional cockpits from stock. The Grip2 Fox 34 continues to impress, and the frame feels like it has more to give when things get hectic. But it's interesting to compare Focus's Vam² to their Jam2, which I rode on many of the same trails last year. The Jam² is only ~1.5 kg heavier but feels dramatically more capable. In this context, the Vam² feels like it's sacrificing a lot to save an amount of weight that's hard to notice in the real world. So, it's best suited to those who intend to stick to fast, flowy singletrack - where it excels.
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I have several bikes including a full power E-bike. That bike has taken the place of the long travel enduro bikes I used to ride all the time. Now when I want to pedal, I ride my hardtail, short travel trail bike (not down country) or do some some mixed terrain stuff (gravel or whatever it's called). This seems to be the way things are going for many as big bike sales have decreased while E-bike sales are up industry wide each year.
Lastly two things to note. First, don't think for a second that you won't get a workout on an E-bike. Yes, it's possible to ride them without putting much effort in, but my pals and I take them on the most severe trails around and push ourselves. Second, it's near impossible to have a bad time on one. Hell, the shock on mine blew during a recent ride; oil everywhere, total mess. However since it was a coil I tightened the preload and was able to finish the ride. Despite having no damping and it clanking like cheap bed in the upstairs of a house of ill repute, I still had a blast. ☠
Full power/long travel is desirable for most everything else - like adventuring, self shuttling/bike park riding, etc. According to my opinion. I wouldn’t want to ride a lot of the natural terrain that I prefer to mess about on with my eeb, without a more capable bike.
I ride normal bikes from hardtail and fs 120mm rear travel up 180mm. Sweet spot for me for an ebike is around 150mm rear travel to keep it poppy and playful but handle any chunk.
I’ve had 170mm ebikes and due to the travel and weight it hugged the ground. It was FaF but not very playful and poppy. 140/150 seems to be (my) sweet spot
Very few people "need" an e-bike but they're a darn fun addition to the quiver if you can have one. It's very region specific though. If you don't have big, steep mountains with hour plus climbs to access the good stuff then you likely don't need one.
On tech trails full power ones give you one hell of a workout going down and they are a tad harder to slow down with things are steep and loose.
Downcountry is a term that should no longer exist because xc bikes are overall very capable. Calling an e bike downcountry is just nauseating.
Folks on e-bikes need to start admitting they like them because they are easier. As if batterie do not die.
What happens when you want to ride longer than your battery allow?
If you're riding at 15-20mph whether thats from a motor or from gravity having a big travel slack sled is fun; but theres some tight techy woodland singletrack where no style of ebike is going to be troubling the speed limiter. People want a light responsive bike to get the most out of tamer trails... and some people want to do it with Nino's legs rather than their own.
"I can ride for just as long on a bike as I can on an e-bikes. I don't see how a motor makes anything fun."
So can just about any advanced rider. It's quality over quantity. You can do way more highly technical things, even repeating segments in a given time window than you can on a regular bike. Riding super technical ascents, the stuff that requires trials moves is fun and a motor makes success in these situations significantly higher. Descents are kind of a given, but ask anyone who likes getting off the ground and they will tell you that a heavy e-bike makes for a much better jumper than most regular bikes.
"Folks on e-bikes need to start admitting they like them because they are easier. As if batterie do not die."
Nothing to admit. As I said above, you can get a serious workout on an e-bike. Studies have shown that riders' heart rate and power output is the same if you are going hard in either situation. However, you are not beating up your knees as much with an e-bike as the torque value is lower.
"What happens when you want to ride longer than your battery allow?"
Depends on how much riding you wish to accomplish. I generally do b/t 2-3 hours when I ride my Levo and have 30% or more battery left over. That is in "Trail" (middle power) mode for more than 90% of my ride. Mileage is 20-25 miles on average and most of that is on very technical terrain. Think steep, wet, rocky stuff similar to the PNW. If I want to go further I can A. bring a spare battery. This is actually rather do-able as the extra weight is not a deal-breaker even though it still is cumbersome. Most commonly, B. I bring a charger cable and top off for 30-45 minutes top off over a beer or coffee which typically adds another 30-40% power.
Ride whatever turns you on.
BTW, on average 60-70% of my rides are still on regular bikes lest anyone think I am some fat POS* e-bike slob or shuttle goon. Before anyone gets their panties twisted up I am okay with them too. However, while no particular riding subset really bothers me, I do find that the most egregious behavior typically comes from the tight suit-wearing XC strava*sholes chasing KOM's on busy trail days. YRMV.
*I might still be a POS, but am working hard on not being too fat of one.
Then I got a modern XC bike and my whole world view changed. Way more entertaining on the descents, even if my ultimate speed wasn't quite equal (my XC bike is actually faster on most descents) and also way more fun on flat or rolling terrain.
Similarly though I see zero value in road ebikes outside of commuters - and indeed, i don't see a lot of them on the road...
You should go on a ride with a couple capable riders who happen to be on e-bikes. It isn’t just old, fat or lazy people riding these things. It’s a different discipline of mountain biking that opens up some crazy possibilities that hardly anyone would care to do in a regular bike. Yes you can ride further or do more laps or just plain work less - that’s all obvious. You can also ride stuff that I’d confidently say is borderline impossible on a normal bicycle. So yes, the motor can not only make something fun, but also possible on a pedal driven bike.
As I have gotten older, it's hard on my lung and body. Believe. Just because it has a small motor to help. Your still peddling 40 pounds. Plus, it's a pedal assist bike. I don't have a throttle.
Several of my friends I ride with, have injuries that hurt when you get older. But we still get out. Ride, have a great time. Talk to other riders and get thumps up, when we tell them why we ride still. I never thought I would have one, and don't ride it every time. My Single Speed is my favorite.
So, with a total of up to 1500W/h battery (750W/h x2), you can ride up to:
±150km
± more than 4.000m
In a Tour+ mode.
That is something I wouldn't be able to do on my BIKE
Keep up the Fight.
Sram Level Brakes........WTF
www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/assets/kryton.jpg
Why would any Company spec them at their top price point bike when it can be expected that the first thing the tester and customer are goig to compalin about is the brakes.
Saving a bit of weight over a set of codes can´t be as importand as getting a review that says "well rounded component spec" rather than "the first thing you gotta do is to get better brakes"
So...headset routing shouldn't happen, but it's not a big deal if it does, IMO.
It looks disgusting as well as offering a horrible experience for mechanics.
I won't. I can still call it stupid though.
I'd put my money on a group of suits with investments in battery related industries trying to push ebikes vs folks actually pining for a "down country" e-bikes.
For riding tho,throwing 53 lbs around is way different than 40, and my enduro & DH bikes are both 38 and 40 lbs...not a biggie. They now feel like toys vs. the Eeb. In light of this had I just gotten the Levo, the handling would feel much more like either for my (too heavy) normal bikes that I'm used to vs. something I'm still only getting used to nearly 4-5 mos later. I"m a massive non-fan of having to plug in a bike though. That just feels limiting to me, not to mention some of the likely future motor / batt issues (plust a dead battery eventually) and I'd rather just be analog...but that's not in the cards for the near term.
Just saying - there are far more situations physically (health) than yours or other "normal" lives out there and even riding conditions. Agreed however that industry is possibly pushing this too much, but on the flip of that - its so massive in Europe now (and full fat Eebs) that dudes are getting spare 900wH batts and spending full big elevation park days with no lifts any longer. That's way better than diesel & ski lifts. There are other situations too - just saying there can be more than just what you're used to or thinking about. Without the (hopefully temp) Eeb for my use, I"d just be sitting at home on a trainer or stationary hating my life when I live right near some of the best trails in the US.
PS: the bike industry is not making any more off ebikes than reg bikes. Plus, businesses in in biz to make money. That being said if you're gonna have an Eeb, I don't understand having less (or no) travel vs. lots given the bike can push you uphill by barely pedaling.
Not trying to convert anyone, I love all bikes. It just bothers me to see all the fabricated downsides that people make up about ebikes without actually riding them.
Doesn't totalluly matter, but seems 38-40 lbs would be a hella lot more fun no matter what the terrain than 52-54. Still: none of this really matters for your needs & Im not sure why you'd bother even reading this (or commenting) - not a slam at all just seems like why bother. Im jealous of being innur shape again but 3 surgeries later and still damage: Im not sure it'll ever be in my cards again.
You don't say. Good looking bike though.
So glad I didn’t spend a penny more on it. Classical bikes are beat, gimme something like this!