Our man Rob ‘Crayons’ is in Morzine to cover the jumpy shenanigans and goings on at Crankworx. While in town he caught up with the guys and gals at Focus bikes who just dropped this on us.
As we were sat down catching up on the days riding, Focus decided to bring this in, the new Project Y eBike prototype.
The bike is based around the current hardtail Raven model, which Focus have adapted, to incorporate the very interesting new battery design. Both of the battery and motor are all contained within a very slim and tidy unit, located within the downtube.
According to Focus themselves, the bike (with its current, pre production set up) weighs in at under 13kg, which is quite ground breaking for an e-Bike.
More from Rob..
“The bike can be ridden as a normal hard tail with the motor and battery in place, yet when the battery dies it can be ridden without, or there is a blank that can be inserted to the downtube void that is left. Frame weight is 1.7kg with paint. Motor partner hasn’t been released yet. 18km / 800m vertical range – estimated. “
The guys at Focus Bikes have muttered about the application running through into the other models such as the 160mm enduro bike, the Sam. At the moment, the boffins behind the new technology have stuck to running the system through the Raven. Being the lightest bike within the current range, Focus wanted to test and try out as many possible applications as they could – making the bike as light and compact as possible.
From here, they will be able to apply the same technology to other models within the range. Meaning you could soon see a more compact, larger travel bike within the market (eyebrows raised).
With an output of up to 400watts, the Project Y will run with three different settings, through an easy to use dial, located on the bars. Running an average of 190watts, the new e-Bike will be able to shift up to 250watts and then run up to a maximum output of 400watts from the get-go (this dropping down to level with current output standards and regulations).
With this bike still a prototype, for now, that’s all we have on the new Project Y from Focus. We can expect to see more rideable versions of the bike appearing in the next few weeks, as Focus try and get any final alterations made to the exact specification we may be able to see on the shelves soon. For now, heres a quick video of the bike in action (only around the hotel grounds for the time being, until the chaps at Focus are happy enough with the bike, to let us loose with it in the wild).
Comments (5)
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That’s a bit stealth, isn’t it? I want to know if someone is whizzing past me because they are cheating or fit!
Interesting development but the range is pretty feeble- more or less a lap of glentress red so endurance pretty much on par with an accountant who rides his cycle to work mtb once every 6 weeks or so.
So, ideal for the target market then…
That’s the sort of e development that needs to happen, making e-bikes useable without the battery. The only way I could/would justify the expense of an ebike would be if it could act as my main bike most of the time, bolting on e-power for the times I would want or need it.
That’s more like it.
I hope the battery door is secure!