What makes a superb mountain bike? Of course you want a sturdy body, good suspension, and succesful wheels and tires. When you slap on an electrical motor, issues get a bit extra difficult. Sure, you possibly can have tons of energy, however on a mountain bike, this simply blurs the traces between e-bike and e-motorcycle. It’s exactly for that reason that e-bike manufacturers are dialing down energy and weight within the hopes of retaining a pure pedal really feel and driving dynamics.

A very good instance of this involves us from German bicycle model Focus. The firm has lengthy been making non-electric bikes with a specific concentrate on efficiency, and so when it got here time to develop the VAM2 SL, it just about already had the recipe in its pocket – a light-weight body, premium suspension, and a compact, responsive, and succesful motor.

The top-range Focus VAM2 SL 9.0 will get fancy Fox suspension and a Sram X0 drivetrain.

Tipping the scales at 16 to 19 kilograms (35 to 41 kilos) it’s only some kilos heavier than a mid-tier non-electric full-suspension mountain bike, however due to the Fazua Ride 60 its powered by, signifies that riders can preserve their power to benefit from the downhills moderately than crank away when climbing. The VAM2 SL manages to maintain its weight this low due to a carbon body. It additionally will get a one-piece stem and handlebar setup that’s additionally product of carbon, and the truth that the cables and hoses are routed internally provides a contact of smooth magnificence into the equation, as nicely.

At the center of the Focus VAM2 SL is the Fazua Ride 60 motor. The Porsche-owned e-bike motor producer is thought for its compact motors with respectable energy outputs, and most of all, a natural-feeling pedal help. Here, the motor is rated for 60 Nm (about 44 pound-feet) of torque, and gives help as much as a prime pace of 25 kilometers per hour (15 miles per hour). As for the battery, a 430-watt-hour battery pack guarantees ample vary, which is made even higher due to the bike’s low weight. For riders seeking to eke out additional miles, a 210-watt-hour vary extender can be optioned in.

The Fazua Ride 60 motor within the VAM2 SL has a lift mode that gives a surge of energy when sprinting uphill.

Lightweight e-bikes just like the Focus VAM2 SL are all about conserving your power to benefit from the downhill sections of path.

For a extra fine-tuned expertise, the Focus VAM2 SL gives three help modes and a further “boost” characteristic for high-powered bursts when sprinting uphill. Furthermore, the Fazua app permits riders to customise extra settings reminiscent of most energy, pedal help ratio, and responsiveness and acceleration. Of course, the three modes all optimize these settings for both effectivity, easy efficiency, or outright energy.

In its highest trim degree, the Focus VAM2 SL 9.0 is kind of a formidable machine. It will get Fox suspension full with Kashima coating for easy suspension actuation. On prime of that, it’s rocking Sram’s top-tier X0 12-speed drivetrain. With that being stated, it instructions an astronomical price ticket of 10,999 euros, or about $11,875 USD. There are, nonetheless, extra “affordable” variations of the VAM2 SL, with gear provided from the likes of Shimano and SR Suntour. These fashions carry costs starting from 5,799 euros ($6,260 USD) to eight,699 euros ($9,391 USD).

The light-weight Fazua Ride 60 is on the coronary heart of the brand new Focus VAM2 SL.