E-Bikes Just Keep Getting Cheaper as the Focus JAM² 6.7 Hits the Market

While e-bikes are still far from a casual investment, the price point is coming down and more premium models, with better specs for tougher trails, are coming within reach.

E-bikes were once a novelty on the trails, but they’re quickly becoming the norm as more people realise how much more riding they can squeeze in with a push on the uphills. For more experienced riders though, the combo of the premium parts needed to cope with hard riding, and the electric battery and motor, put the price well out of reach. With the launch of the Focus JAM² 6.7 it seems that things are changing for the better.

Last month we shared Lorena’s journey with the Trek Marlin+ 6, an affordable hard tail mountain bike that was able to replace her car. With 120mm of travel in the front suspension, some grippy 2.4 inch wide tyres, and Bosch’s Active Line Plus electric motor, it’s able to tackle some entry level mountain bike trails too. A few years ago that would have been unheard of for $4299 RRP.

Trek’s Marlin+ 6 is great for entry-level trail riding | @lorenarabbani

Now German brand Focus is joining the party on the premium side with the Focus JAM² 6.7, which is designed to tackle much gnarlier terrain while still focusing on, in the words of Focus, ‘impossible value’. For context, it wasn’t long ago that a bike like this cost north of $10k, with entry level bikes like that Trek Marlin+ 6 costing around $7k. Factor in all the bloody inflation and prices have come down, a lot.

But it’s still a huge chunk of money. The JAM² 6.7 comes in at $6,999 RRP, which Focus reckon is half the price of competing ‘German designed and manufactured bikes’ with the same components.

The Focus JAM² 6.7 is made for sending it

 So what do you get for your dough, and how’d they get the price so low?

Wait, what’s an E-Bike?

E-bikes or electric bikes are simply bikes with an electric motor. They come in all forms, from cruisers with a big battery slapped on the frame that delivery drivers hoon around on, all the way to completely integrated mountain bikes like I’m talking about here.

I’ve ridden a few, most recently my friend’s Focus SAM² last weekend, which is like the SAM²’s burly big brother. In the words of my mate Gavin ‘riding it’s exactly the same as a normal mountain bike, you just have Olympic legs now’. He wasn’t wrong. Well that and it weighs around 24kg, which isn’t a problem unless you have to lift it, and I left my Olympic arms at home…

The main reason people buy them is so they can spend more time riding down hills and less time pedalling up them. It also makes uphill riding almost as much fun as the downhill stuff, which you’ll likely hear from non-bionic humans.

Focus JAM² 6.7 Features

Up to 100km Range

Range anxiety’s a buzzword for electric cars at the moment, but I reckon it’s safe to say that you’ll wear out before this bike does. With a quoted 80-100km at 20km/h (e-bikes can legally power you up to 25km/h) a big day out is always on the cards. Hopefully we can get a review model to put this to the test.

A Super Powerful Motor

The Bosch Performance Line CX motor in the JAM² 6.7 is designed to shred and can put out up to 85Nm of torque. Read: a lot. You’ll fly up steep, loose inclines that would be functionally unrideable on a regular bike.

Components Designed to Handle E-Bike Riding

With 150mm of RockShox Recon RL suspension up front, and the same amount of travel out back, the JAM² 6.7 can tackle pretty much any modern mountain bike trail and isn’t afraid of a bit of airtime despite the extra weight of a battery and a motor. Huge Shimano 4 piston brakes with 203/200mm front and back discs will help you keep things under control and wide 2.6 inch Maxxis Minion tyres on 29 inch wheels will give you more than enough grip. I’m not saying it’s a monster truck but it is, a little bit.

Easy Battery Management

Tool-less removal of the swappable battery and an integrated charging port in the seat make battery management super easy. Nobody has time for fussy processes when everything needs recharging these days.

Optimised Centre of Gravity

It’s obvious there’s a battery in there, but not that obvious. Focus has done an amazing job of keeping the JAM² 6.7 sleek and easy to handle by placing as much of the weight of the motor and battery as low as possible. A medium comes in at just under 25kg and arguably the riding feels more planted than on a lighter bike.

A well-balanced centre of gravity is extra important once you’re airborne!

Sounds great, what’s the catch?

Safe to say, there isn’t one! A perfect storm of factors has brought bike prices way down including oversupply from excess orders during the Covid bike boom (which was particularly big in Aus), availability of components directly from where they’re made in Asia without shipping around the world first, and battery and motor tech getting more affordable. Even lithium is proving easier to come by.

For Focus, this has meant the JAM² 6.7 is very well-priced for what it is. If you’ve been thinking about getting a mountain bike, particularly an e-bike, there’s likely never been a better time to buy. According to Graeme Moffett, MD of Pon.Bike that imports Focus, this opportunity is ‘likely unmatched for years to come’.

Could be you

Photos thanks to Pon.Bike