Zen Samurai - Built in Canada - shipping since June 2022

[Ravi Kempaiah]

That looks good, @Ravi Kempaiah. Is that a Medium? If so, would you share its geometry measurements? Thanks.

Thanks, Doug!
Yes, it is a Medium-frame and as you can see, the stack height is very low ( < 30 inches).
We will be uploading the geometry shortly.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

its a good setup. I like the Xt's better as they are 1 finger brakes. Don't know if I would like a Rohloff or not I shift so much it would have to feel good. do you get the full brightness from the light? I was not sure if the bosch system could fully power it. wait its to the pro light?

The lights are super bright. The M99 Mini Pro is designed to work with 12V, 18W of the Bosch Gen-4 wattage.
From our experience, the belt drive works reliably for Canadian weather and requires no maintenance. Enviolo or Kindernay or Rohloff paired with mid-drive makes for very low maintenance, quiet and reliable setup.

Our base model will have the Lezyne Macro 1000 and it works fantastic: https://www.emtbforums.com/community/threads/lezyne-ebike-macro-1000-front-light.3918/

 

[fooferdoggie]

The lights are super bright. The M99 Mini Pro is designed to work with 12V, 18W of the Bosch Gen-4 wattage.
From our experience, the belt drive works reliably for Canadian weather and requires no maintenance. Enviolo or Kindernay or Rohloff paired with mid-drive makes for very low maintenance, quiet and reliable setup.

I was wondering about the light as I needed more then that light puts out but I didn't to know how much the bosch can pump out. I just wonder how the shifting is to say my xtr is it as fast or are there delays?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I was wondering about the light as I needed more then that light puts out but I didn't to know how much the bosch can pump out.

It is significantly brighter than the L&M NIP 800. I used to own one of those L&M and these are brighter without a doubt.
Shifting is precise and crisp. With the Enviolo, it is quite seamless as well. The fact there are riders who have done 50,000+ kms on it with these hubs without any maintenance is a true testimony.

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More than the shifting speed, people go with IGH for the quiet, super-low maintenance aspect of it. Especially, in places with so much salt, snow, or rain, high-mileage riders would greatly benefit from this kind of setup.

 

[fooferdoggie]

It is significantly brighter than the L&M NIP 800. I used to own one of those L&M and these are brighter without a doubt.
Shifting is precise and crisp. With the Enviolo, it is quite seamless as well. The fact there are riders who have done 50,000+ kms on it with these hubs without any maintenance is a true testimony.
the would work. as I have the L&m and need more on our tandem.

 

[onlineaddy]

Something I noticed: is there any fear of water ingress at the large opening above the motor where the internal wirings exit?

 

[onlineaddy]

Another thing I noticed: will you be selling accessory front rack and/or fabric water bottles that mount to the sides of the head tube like R&M does? It looks like the Samurai has provisions for them.

 

[onlineaddy]

One more: for a Premium model, isn't the fork to be a FOX unit instead of the SR Suntour shown?

 

[coldriderwi]

The lights are super bright. The M99 Mini Pro is designed to work with 12V, 18W of the Bosch Gen-4 wattage.

Which light has the tightest, most controllable beam pattern? My commute is on a bike path and I want to avoid blinding others as much as possible.

 

[coldriderwi]

Not in rush to buy from brand new e-bike companies. Also generally don't like to buy from version 1 of any particular e-bike model(if purchase I want to purchase version 2 & beyond with all the improvement

FWIW I rode a founders’ version of the samurai, base model equivalent. He has been commuting 40 miles/day for 9 months and reported no issues. The ride quality was fantastic and I walked away very impressed.

In a sense, what is on offer now is version 2 as I’ve heard there are some minor modifications that have been made to the founders’ version.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Which light has the tightest, most controllable beam pattern? My commute is on a bike path and I want to avoid blinding others as much as possible.

the L&m light is just the standard round beam.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

One more: for a Premium model, isn't the fork to be a FOX unit instead of the SR Suntour shown?

Hi Doug,
The FOX forks are arriving this upcoming week and all premium models will come with FOX fork.
This particular red-colored Samurai was built to assess the production run and optimize our assembly procedure and the only comparable fork to FOX we had on hand was AURON from Suntour but we will have FOX on the production run.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Something I noticed: is there any fear of water ingress at the large opening above the motor where the internal wirings exit?

We are actually working on an enclosure for the opening where the dual-battery cable runs through. So, it would not be a concern.

FWIW I rode a founders’ version of the samurai, base model equivalent. He has been commuting 40 miles/day for 9 months and reported no issues. The ride quality was fantastic and I walked away very impressed.

In a sense, what is on offer now is version 2 as I’ve heard there are some minor modifications that have been made to the founders’ version.

Thanks for this note.
The production version of the frame will have the dual-battery option along with several minor updates to the frame.

 

[fxr3]

Can I leave a 200 deposit on a samurai step thru? And, how far off is step thru(roughly)?
might seem weird, but, to get a 1000 off a bike I know I will buy when available- seems smart.

 

[onlineaddy]

@Ravi Kempaiah, I know I keep bugging you for more info on the Samurai before committing to a pre-order. You've offered to provide that in a video you're working on. Now that we're less than a week away from the pre-order deadline, have you gotten it ready to share? Much appreciated.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

@Ravi Kempaiah, I know I keep bugging you for more info on the Samurai before committing to a pre-order. You've offered to provide that in a video you're working on. Now that we're less than a week away from the pre-order deadline, have you gotten it ready to share? Much appreciated.

Thanks for your patience - greatly appreciated, @onlineaddy , and @AdilDesai
As promised, the first batch of FOX factory forks is here. They are IDEAL forks for SUV E-bikes. Every month, we will be receiving about 10 FOX forks.
Re: Geometry, it is almost done. We don't want to do half-ass job, so we are taking time to present accurate dimensions and I will post it later tonight (please see image below).

 

[onlineaddy]

Thank you, Ravi. I look forward to any and all additional info.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

@coldriderwi , @onlineaddy , @AdilDesai, and other EBR folks, we greatly appreciate your support.
The updated geometry is shown here and we will update this with the Rider size chart on the website as well.

 

[onlineaddy]

That is very helpful. Thank you, @Ravi Kempaiah.
Do you happen to also have the bottom bracket height?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

That is very helpful. Thank you, @Ravi Kempaiah.
Do you happen to also have the bottom bracket height?

Yes, we had a lot more details on the Geometry chart like seat tube angle, BB drop, etc.
These are important on an MTB but not relevant for commuters and it would unnecessarily confuse more people.
We can confidently say that there is PLENTY of clearance for the motor, enough to take it on light trails.