Focus recently unveiled two new bikes: the Sam Carbon and the Spine. The Sam carbon (already on the market as an alloy version) is an enduro bike with 160mm of travel, the Spine is a trail bike with 120mm of travel. Both have 27.5″ wheels only, which can sound strange on a trail bike but it’s a bold choice by Focus, who prefer the agility of the 27.5″ diameter wheels to the 29″.
Sam Carbon
The frame weights 500 grams less than its alloy version. 2400 grams without shock, in size M, for the Sam Carbon. The frame is a full carbon except the alloy linkage. The team version you can see in the photos weights 12.5 kg.
The suspension system is an indirect single pivot.
The geometry is nearly the same as the alloy bike, except for the chainstays: 430mm on the carbon, 438mm on the aluminum version.
65.8° steering angle, 75° seat angle, 342mm bb height. Full geometry can be found under the specs.
The cable routing is fully internal, and it fits up to 4 cables, if a front derailleur is used.
The Sam C comes out of the box with two frame guards: one under the down tube, and one on the lower right chainstay to protect it from chain slap.
The Team version has a Rock Shox Monarch Plus Debonair with four spacers, and a Pike RCT3 Solo Air, with two Tokens in order to give the right progression curve to the bike.
The Sam Carbon will be available from August in three specs, starting from 3.500 Euro up to 6.000 for the Team edition. Three specs also for the alloy frame.
First ride
We don’t want to anticipate too much, because you’ll find a full review of the new bikes in the next weeks. The Sam Carbon is a modern enduro bike with a geometry aimed to make it fast on the downhills. Engineered also by Fabian Scholz, pro enduro rider and full time engineer at Focus, it’s super settled on fast and technical downhills, where the suspension gives great stability to the bike. Still, it corners well in tight turns, due to a balanced rider position on the bike.
We can’t wait to ride it on our home trails.
Spine
The all new Focus Spine is a trail bike with 120mm of travel and 27.5″ wheels, available both in carbon and alloy in 3 builds. In the photos you can see the Spine carbon 0.0, top of the line with a Rock Shox RS-1 fork, Sram XX1 and new DT Swiss carbon wheels. Its weight is 11kg without pedals.
As for the Sam, Focus uses an indirect single pivot suspension system, with a Rock Shox Monarch shock and a remote control shared with the RS-1. Releasing the remote button, both suspensions lock, though the Monarch does not fully lock out but switches to a much firmer compression setting.
Due to the shock position on the frame, Focus had to adapt the carbon linkage length to the different frame sizes in order to keep the same kinematics.
The Spine has a 68° steering angle, a 75° seat angle and the chainstays are 428mm long on the carbon frame, and 430mm long on the alloy one. More details in the builds images.
The Spine can fit a front derailleur for 2x or even 3x drivetrains, due to its lower right chainstay, which is protected from the chain slap by a plastic guard.
These are the new DT Swiss carbon wheels, which will be presented shortly.
Two bottle cages mounts: one on the top, one on the bottom of the down tube…
Full internal cable routing.
The Spine will be available with two women specific builds as well. The frame stays the same but the contact point of the saddle and the grips change, as well as the colours.
The carbon bike’s price ranges from 3.000 to 7.000 Euro for the 0.0 with carbon wheels. The alloy bike goes from 2.000 to 3.700 Euro.
First ride
All arounder. This is what the Focus Spine wants to be and, from our first test ride, we can say the engineers succeeded in their goals. The bike climbs well due to its lightweight and efficient pedaling position. The lockout system stabilizes the rear suspension, even if the RS-1’s lockout is firmer than the shock’s. The bike is extremely agile and it’s really fun to search for the best lines on tight trails, while the suspension takes good care of absorbing a wide range of hits.
Stay tuned for the full review!
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