Focus recently released the VAM2 SL (the 2 actually being an exponent on the official name for aesthetic purposes) and it definitely caught my eye. The main reason being the discrepancies in overall bike weight on different review sites, as well as their own website. A bit about the bike itself, the VAM 2SL is a light weight trail ebike with 130mm of travel and a Fazua motor. It puts out 60 Nm of torque with a max power output of 450w. Looking at everything on this bike, it’s very clear that they are trying to go lightweight and trail friendly. It comes stock with a Fox 34, the geo is in the middle of not too aggressive, but also not to XC.
It’s a lightweight ebike, a category we are probably going to see way more of this year as companies try and compete for having the lightest weight ebike on the market.
Now this is where it caught my eye. As someone who wakes up and enjoys reading other peoples reviews, the one thing that stood out to me was so many discrepancies with weight.
Bikerumour's Review has the weight of the VAM2 SL coming in at under 32lb, which is insane! Pinkbike's review has their test bike coming in at 37 lbs which is also pretty mind blowing.
It wasn't too long ago that ebikes were considered light if you could get them under 55 lbs, and I have a feeling the weight we are seeing with the Focus is going to be something we see a lot this year across the board. Companies are clearly going for a lightweight approach this year and it makes you think, is this what is going to start converting the stubborn old school riders to try ebikes?
After all, if you ask most people who don’t like ebikes what's one of the biggest drawbacks of them, you are sure to hear the heaviness aspect be one of those reasons. But with new ebikes coming in at close to modern day enduro bike weights, is this going to be one of the deciding factors?
And this is what led me to my next thought, are companies going to just start fudging numbers marketing wise to draw more people in? Afterall, one of the reasons the Focus caught my eye was so many different weights, and those numbers being so light. It's no surprise that companies already do this with non-ebikes to a lesser extent. Bikes sometimes are weighed without all the bolts, smaller frames are oftentimes used, and even though you are going to need an axle, there have been times I have seen questionable weights that make you think the company feels those axles are optional when riding. And with ebikes being so complex internally and having so many parts that would be convenient to leave out while weighing the bikes for marketing purposes, it must be tempting especially with that title of lightest ebike being on the table this year.
So final thoughts on the Focus? It looks like a solid bike that is probably going to have a lot of competition this year. I'm not a fan of the one piece stem-bar setup and also not very keen on the name itself, but overall it's going to be cool to hopefully get some time on this thing this year. And you can guarantee I will be weighing the bike myself!
Check out the Focus Vam² SL here: https://www.focus-bikes.com/int/bikes/light-e-mountainbike/vam2-sl
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