Using the same lightweight, low-profile Fazua drive motor and battery that we got a close look at earlier this summer in their Project Y road/cross concept, Focus bikes has the first e-bike in the Project Y family ready to ride (and buy) – the carbon XC hardtail Raven². To see what the new eMTB hardtail could handle, Focus sent two of its pro Focus XC racers – Florian Vogel and Markus Schulte-Lünzum – to tackle the Heckmair route, the original mountain bike route crossing of the Alps and the precursor of the Transalp way back in 1989.
The route adds ups 400km/250mi of riding and 16,000m/52,500′ of climbing in what normally means 5 days on the bike. With a goal of 36 hours straight for the pair on the new lightweight production e-bike, it was meant to be a new type of ride to the test. Just last week the pair finished the ride rolling into Riva del Garda in just 27 hours & 20 minutes. No word yet on how many battery changes they needed to make it, but for sure that’s something we’ll share when hear back.
Focus Raven² carbon e-bike XC hardtail
The Raven² is the first of the Project Y bikes to make it into production, adding the lightweight Fazua Evation e-bike drive system to the already light carbon World Cup XC race hardtail Raven. Sharing that same low-profile, integrated Fazua e-bike drive motor+battery, the idea is providing a small degree of smooth motor assist, while preserving the feel that you are pedaling up hill, not being pulled along.
The Fazua packs just 60Nm of torque in the 250W motor and is backed up by just a 250Wh battery giving it about 1/3-1/2 as much total power assist as most e-bikes. That is of course a conscious choice by Focus who choose to develop the Project Y bikes with a light and natural ride feel as priority. The result they say is a hardtail e-mountain bike weighing just 13kg/28.7lb.
The 29″ Raven² gets a full carbon frame in three frame sizes, with modern long/low/slack geometry, Boost spacing, 100mm Fox forks, and the Fazua drive system in the open underside of the downtube.
The new Raven² will be available by December 2017 in two specs. The standard black Raven² sells for 5000€ with a mix of Shimano SLX & XT components and a Fox 32 Rhythm fork. The red Raven² Pro steps up to a Fox 32 Float Step Cast fork and a complete XT groupset.
