Focus Jam 6.0 LTD is 29er trail bike with alloy frame and 150mm travel front and rear. Revised geometry, including flip-chip, and sizing to bring it into 2021. Top-end RockShox suspension on this limited edition bike. Drop down the range and Focus delivers great value. Burly enduro wheels and tyres, and blinging SRAM AXS drivetrain.

The new Focus Jam is miles sweeter than the old bike it replaces, with much improved geometry and a great price throughout the range. Focus has really thought hard about the process of evolving the Jam into a competitive and modern trail bike, and although they’ve got some bits wildly wrong they’ve mostly got it right.

Read more: Best mountain bike 2021 – don’t buy the wrong bike!

New Focus Jam is now 29in only and comes with 150mm travel front and rear. New geometry and sizing brings it up to date

The old Jam was starting to look a little mouldy round the edges by the time Focus came to rejig it for this latest compote, with a steep 67° head angle and small sizing. The new Jam is fresh and zingy, with a relaxed 64.6° head angle in its low setting and a reach measurement of 480mm on this size large. Yes that’s right, there’s now a flip chip mounted on the shock extension that lets you modify the head angle by half a degree… our guess is that most of us will just pop it into the low setting and have done with it, I certainly did.

The old vertically mounted shock is gone, along with it the initial digressive suspension. New design is progressive, and leaves space for a bottle

Out with the Fold…

We liked the old Jam’s FOLD suspension system, with the vertically mounted shock. It was actually rather unique for a modern bike, with a digressive feel to the top of the stroke that meant it dipped right into the suspension and felt supple right from the off. It’s a much more conventional setup now, progressive from the off. This means you have to set it up softer, and the whole setup process is much easier and much like any other bike – I settled on around 30% sag. Focus says the change has been prompted by the new shocks from Fox and RockShox, with larger negatives, and these don’t work so well with a digressive suspension setup.

Launch edition bike comes with the brilliant RockShox Lyrik Ultimate

Range of Jams

Your choice of bike is limited to 29in wheels only now that Focus ditched its 27.5in options, and there are three models to choose from. All of them are based on the same alloy frame, although Focus has given us a wink that carbon is coming some time in the not too distant future. This is the top end all-singing-all-dancing 6.0 LTD bike with RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork, Super Deluxe Select+ shock and SRAM GX AXS drivetrain. Drop down one to the 6.9 at £2,999 and you get a Fox 36 Performance fork and DPS shock, and Shimano XT 12speed shifting and four-piston brakes. Finally the entry level bike is the 6.8 costing £2,499, it uses a RockShox Revelation fork and Deluxe Select shock, and SRAM NX 12speed gears.

Focus CIS internal cable routing starts at the stem, and limits your ability to tweak the fit and balance of the bike

Infernal cable routing

CIS stem is 50mm long, there are no other options so like it or lump it

I said the Focus Jam 6.0 was good and bad, so we’ll start at the end. The Cockpit Integration Solution (CIS) stem. Focus has built its own stem with internal routing through the faceplate to hide away any unsightly cables – although in the case of this pimped up edition with wireless shifting it’s dropper post and rear brake only. That sounds great until you try and adjust anything, Focus makes the CIS stem in just one 50mm length so if you want to tweak your balance on the bike you have to unthread the dropper and brakes and probably rebleed them.

It gets worse, unlike most modern bikes and indeed Focus’s own e-bikes there are no internal routing ports at the top of the downtube to then poke the cables into, so you’re going to have to buy one of Acros’s little integrated headset covers and run the cables down inside that way. No amount of soothsaying from Focus about how this is the future will cut it with me: mountain bikers don’t want to be trapped into any more proprietary systems than they need to be, especially when it serves no purpose. If I was buying the Jam I’d ask the dealer to whip the stem off straight away and sort out an alternative routing solution.

I spoiled those clean looks anyway, when I dropped the stem down. The Focus system has proprietary headset spacers, designed so as to continue to the stem’s shape right down onto the headtube. To drop it down though, you need to remove a few of them and add regular round ones on top.

Storage bag is neat, there’s space inside for a tube and velcro straps for a tool too

Race for space

Right, with all that said I can get onto what’s good about the new Jam. Moving the suspension layout has made space for a water bottle, and also a neat little tool bag that comes as standard on the bikes and comfortably fits a tube and tool inside. It definitely beats strapping a tube on with Velcro, if only for looks. It’s useful. There’s also more standover height on the new Jam, I never felt inhibited by the top tube and Focus would even be wise to stick a longer seatpost in the bike in sizes large and upwards.

SRAM GX AXS shifting is amazing, crisp and precise, but perhaps out of place on a heavy duty trail bike?

Components

Focus’s choice of components on this top end bike is intriguing. The bike comes with Maxxis tyres with the MaxxGrip up front the faster rolling MaxxTerra, and tough DT Swiss EX 511 rims. This setup would work well on an EWS bike rather than the trail bike Focus has tried to build. Similarly, the AXS drivetrain looks kinda out of place on a bike like this, it would work well with conventional GX and perhaps chop £500 from the price. That said, I loved the tyres for their raw grip and composure, and the AXS drivetrain is addictive – so good you won’t want to go back, so I’m not exactly putting it down as an error of judgement, more a quirk. It’s most likely Focus wanted to distance the Focus Jam 6.0 from its the new shorter travel bike, the Thron. On the other hand, RockShox’s Lyrik Ultimate and Super Deluxe shock and just about as good as it gets in terms of performance, and such a good choice.

The Jam is fun and easy to ride, it’s a decent trail bike with lots going for it

Focus Jam 6.0 LTD: first ride review

Nervously. At least to start with, until I dropped that CIS stem 10mm lower, letting me effectively weight the front and get some grip in the corners. It proved pretty good fun from then on, easy to move around, and really rewarding as a trail bike. Focus says it’s built the Jam with short chainstays for a spry ride sensation, which is a great story but isn’t really accurate, because at 440mm they’re fairly run of the mill. In fact it’s the front of the bike that’s a little short, if anything, and the Jam would be improved hugely with 10mm more added to the wheelbase and 10mm lopped off that stem.

The geometry and now pretty generous sizing on the new Focus Jam 6.0 is miles better, but is the suspension better? It’s certainly more responsive and makes for an exciting and poppy ride, but I don’t know if it’s as competent at dealing with rougher trails. Certainly, if you take the bike beyond its trail-bike intentions and onto rougher and rowdier tracks it reaches its limits and you find yourself backing away and slowing the pace down a little. I’ve got one final critique, and that’s a weight problem. A £4,000 trail bike should not come in at 16.5kg.