Focus SAM² review

[jamied]

Thought I'd link a video review of the Focus SAM² as there are not many reviews of this bike out there. Having gone on 2 short rides myself I'd agree with everything in the review. Only stuff I'd add on the negative side is the slightly odd mix of Shimano and SRAM components doesn't make the cockpit a nice unified place with different shifters on each side, the SRAM NX drivetrain is underspeced when compared to the rest of the components on the bike, I guess they were trying to save a bit of money somewhere. At least it's an easy upgrade though.

Overall it's a really good enjoyable bike, descends very well. I went on an hour ride today and didn't even use 1 pip of the battery, there was a lot of flat which would account for the super low battery usage although I did have trail mode turned up quite high so more than happy with the range so far.

There were a couple of short steep technical climbs I didn't manage to make it up and I started to think the bike wasn't as good as I'd initially though but it turns out I'd set the bike to eco mode and forgotten about it, once I stuck it back in trail mode I was able to make the climbs again. You really can feel the weight on climbs without enough battery assist.

 

[Kendoji]

Great video! Nice to see the Focus bikes getting some more love.

 

[Gary]

I can't watch Guy Kesteven without thinking about...

 

[PabloNZ]

I was watching this last night and it has very nearly swayed me from my Jam2 planned purchase!

I do wish reviews of e-bikes included remaining battery, distance, climb type statistics at the end. I know projected range is very variable but, for the focus bikes at least, there isn't a lot of info about real world duration of a ride with the smaller battery pack.

Either way, the bike looks like it performs really very well.

 

[Gary]

I do wish reviews of e-bikes included remaining battery, distance, climb type statistics at the end.

It might not be too helpful if they did as reults would be far too dependent on rider weight, terrain and riding preference/style.
If manufacturers were to do this it'd be too tempting to use a 55kg rider the same way most weigh every bike they produce in size small/med and without pedals to manage to get them under the preferred genres' percieved weight cut off point. So it's probably best they don't either.
you can do calculations based on your weight/the bikes weight. motor wattage and battery capacity in Wh but they won't be all that accurate for the same reasons as above.

The Sam² was on my shortlist but I don't really like single pivot characteristics (under braking), I thought the leverage curve was fairly linear and the stays were a bit longer than I'd prefer. Well nice looking bike though and if you're alright with those things it looks well worth a look.

 

[PabloNZ]

Yeah I'm picking up what you're putting down @Gary. Wishful thinking I know.

Wouldn't it be nice if the industry standardised some of the tech? Battery shapes, connectors, motor mounts, cockpit controllers the list goes on. And while they are at it, they could manage to create a standardised range test. Same conditions, same weight rider, same pedals, etc, to really tell us what a difference a battery/motor combo can make.

Oh, sorry, I must have dozed off for a bit there. I had a wonderful dream...

 

[jamied]

From what I understand the Focus bikes have a slightly shorter range than the standard 500Wh steps battery but it doesn't reduce the range by as much as you might think as the battery is lighter so less weight to carry.

 

[Gary]

375 vs 504 = 75% the capacity
Can't see a couple of pounds diference in battery weight making much difference when there's a 180lb+ rider on it. 1% maybe?

 

[eFat]

I do wish reviews of e-bikes included remaining battery

In their reviews www.emtb-news.de includes a test with max assist until the battery is completely drained.

They didn't have the Sam2 but there is the Bold2 with the same battery. To compare with others with 500Wh battery.

 

[James_MTB]

BTW during this review\route, they got a charge from the tourist information!

 

[jamied]

BTW during this review\route, they got a charge from the tourist information!

I noticed that one of them had the additional battery and the other didn't which was a bit odd

 

[R120]

I loved the Jam2 when i tested it, definitely the only e-bike i have tried where you can at times almost forget it is an e-bike in terms of feel, but i think you lower end models are pretty under specced compared to the competition - they are beautifully put together frames with a lot of thought put into them etc but you need to go for one of the higher up models otherwise you are going to be forever changing parts. I think they had a recall on 2017 Ltd due to the hubs failing a lot.