Zen Samurai E-Bike Review, 2024

Intro

We don’t often see e-bikes like the Zen Samurai. Zen is a consumer-direct brand that has gone decidedly upscale from the typical $1500-$2000 e-bike. Zen offers the Samurai in two different builds as well as significant opportunities to customize the Samurai.

Until now, the great majority of e-bikes on the market that offered customization mostly limited it to colors and accessories. Electric Bike Company has been a notable exception in this regard. With the Samurai, Zen has taken a refreshingly original approach. They offer the Samurai in a base model; they also offer it with every possible upgrade, which substantially increases the price, and then a middle path where the buyer upgrades only those components that they feel a need to be premium.

The majority of e-bikes we review feature a hub motor, a 7-speed drivetrain and come in a single size. Those are terrific e-bikes, full stop. It’s a big world, though, and just as there is in any other market, there’s a demand for premium e-bikes that perform better, offer more comfort and give the rider superior control.

The Zen Samurai differs from more affordable e-bikes not in one or two ways, but at essentially every turn. It features a mid-drive motor, includes an internally geared hub and runs on a Gates belt. The Magura hydraulic disc brakes are a step up from what we usually see.

Rather than big, fat tires, Zen chose a suspension fork and seatpost to ensure rider comfort without sacrificing handling.

Let’s take a deeper look at what makes this such a different e-bike.

E-Bike Category: Commuter

Who the Zen Samurai Electric Bike Is for:

this is ideal for someone willing to spend (quite) a bit more to get a commuter e-bike with a mid-range motor and more control over the parts pick. It will be especially interesting to very tall and very small riders because it comes in four different sizes.

Zen Samurai E-Bike Specs

• Battery: 500Wh Bosch Powertube
• Expected Range:
• Charger: 4A fast charger
• Motor: 250W Bosch Gen 4 mid-drive motor
• Pedal Assist: 4 PAS levels
• Throttle: N/A
• Display: Black and white LCD
• Headlight: 1000 Lumen Lezyne
• Taillight: Included
• Frame: 6061 Aluminum
• Fork: Manitou Machete, air/oil, 100mm travel
• Fenders: Included
• Kickstand: Included
• Handlebars: Alloy
• Grips: Ergon, ergonomic
• Drivetrain: Enviolo internally geared hub
• Brakes: Hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors
• Pedals: Alloy with reflectors
• Saddle: Comfort padded
• Tires:

In-Depth Zen Samurai Review

Zen Samurai Review: Comfort, Handling, and Ride Qualities

One of our favorite features of the Zen Samurai is that it is made in four sizes. We do our best to caution riders to consider the sizing on the one-size-fits-all e-bikes; one bike can’t fit everyone just as one pair of shoes can’t fit everyone.

The sizing for the Samurai covers a wide range of heights. Each size covers riders over a range of roughly five inches for a total height range of 4 feet 11 inches up to 6 feet 5 inches. They recommendations are easy to follow and seem reasonable.

This is a city e-bike, made for commuting and errand running. It’s equipped with Schwalbe Super Moto-X tires, which is a relatively smooth tire, ideal for riding on paved roads. All three editions of the Samurai (base, premium and custom) offer the option of upgrading to a different Schwalbe tire, the Johnny Watts, which is a knobby tire suited to off-road riding.

This is a Class 1 e-bike with a maximum pedal-assist speed of 20 mph. For those with concerns about whether an e-bike will be legal where they are riding, Class 1 e-bikes enjoy the fewest restriction and are legal nearly any place that bikes are legal.

With its 27.2-in. Wheels and big 2.4-in.-wide tires, the Zen Samurai is both comfortable and quick-rolling. It’s well-suited to urban riding and parking lots as well as bike paths.

No matter which version of the Zen Samurai someone purchases, it will come with a suspension fork as well as a suspension seatpost. The base model comes with a good quality Manitou fork that uses an air spring (rather than steel), which riders can choose to upgrade to a Fox AWL. The suspension seatpost is branded as Samurai on the base model, but buyers of the custom model can upgrade to a Kinekt suspension seatpost.

Zen Samurai Review: Motor, Battery, and Drivetrain Performance

The Zen Samurai is built around a mid-drive motor rather than a hub motor. It is spec’d with the Bosch Gen 4 mid-drive motor which produces 250W on average and 85Nm of torque. While 250W is pretty underpowered for a hub motor, mid drive motors don’t need to be as powerful in order to propel the e-bike because it adds power at the crank rather than at the wheel, that is, before the gears, which multiply the effort. And with 85Nm of torque, this is a motor that conquers any hill it meets.

We usually see batteries whose charge (as expressed in watt-hours) is generally pretty close to the wattage of the motor; keeping them matched that way gives the e-bike solid range. The Zen Samurai is spec’d with a 500Wh Bosch Powertube battery—fully double the motor’s wattage. This gives the Zen Samurai an estimated range of 55 mi. Among the options that Zen gives buyers of the Samurai is the opportunity to order a second 500Wh, external battery, doubling the Samurai’s range which would allow the rider to commute for a week or two without recharging or even undertake some long-distance touring.

The Zen Samurai is unusual in its drivetrain; rather than an external set of gears changed via a derailleur, the Samurai is equipped with an Enviolo internally geared hub. The Enviolo isn’t like the old internal 3-speed hubs; this is a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which means that riders don’t have to contend with big jumps between gears. Riders can make a slight twist of the shifter and enjoy a small change in gearing. Also worth noting is that we often see drivetrain that have only a 200 percent range, which usually leaves riders over-geared for hills and under-geared for top speed. The Enviolo CVT offers a much broader 380 percent range, which means it will be great for getting up a hill and won’t have any trouble hitting top speed.

Buyers of the premium version or those wanting to customize the e-bike can select the Kindernay VII hub, which is a 7-speed system with an even broader gear range (428 percent) and weighs more than a pound less overall (including shifters).

Zen Samurai Review: Braking, Safety & Warranty

The base version of the Zen Samurai comes with Magura CT4 hydraulic disc brakes paired with 180mm rotors. The CT4 is a two-piston brakes designed specifically for e-bikes. The premium version comes with the Magura MT5, a four-piston design that provides exceptional braking power. The MT5 is the upgrade option for buyers who choose to customize their purchase.

From brakes that are either very good or great to the fact that this e-bike comes in four sizes to the fact that all of the components—from the Bosch motor and battery to the Enviolo hub—are of premium quality, there’s nothing on the Zen Samurai that gives us pause as regards this e-bike’s safety. At no point, so far as we can tell, has Zen cut any corners in the Samurai’s design or spec.

The warranty on the Zen Samurai is a step up from what we often see. The hydroformed aluminum alloy frame carries a lifetime warranty, which is terrific because problems with aluminum frames usually take years to emerge. All of the parts, including the electronics, are covered by a two-year warranty. Surprisingly, there is no warranty at all on the consumables—belt drive, tires, brake pads and grips.

Zen Samurai Review: Recommendation/Final Verdict

As we’ve shared, the Zen Samurai comes in three versions: base, premium and custom. The base version is terrific and is a nice enough e-bike that most shoppers would find it a very enjoyable e-bike. The premium version pulls out nearly all the stops, upgrading most of the e-bike into an exceptional ride. Buyers can still choose to upgrade the display and tires.

The custom version requires a bit of explanation. It presents the buyer with eight different opportunities to upgrade components. Shoppers can add a second battery, upgrade the internally geared hub, swap for a better fork, go for brighter lights, replace the black and white display with one of two different color ones, improve upon the suspension seatpost with a better quality one, go from good 2-piston hydraulic brakes to ultra-powerful 4-piston hydraulic brakes and, finally, swap the relatively smooth tires for knobby ones should the rider want to ride unpaved roads and paths. It’s an impressive array of choices.

We want to stress, however, that the base model, which is not by any means cheap, is a terrific e-bike—distinctly better than what we see in the $2000 and below models. No one purchasing the Zen Samurai should worry about whether or not they are making the right choice should the choose to stick with the base model.

In our experience, some of these upgrades bring more bang than others. Were we advising a friend or family member who was contemplating this e-bike, we would suggest considering the second battery, and possibly upgrading the display to one of the color ones. We would encourage anyone planning to ride lots at dawn or dusk to consider upgrading the lights.

While we would never steer anyone away from a quality e-bike, we acknowledge that some of what makes the Zen Samurai such a fine e-bike may not be immediately apparent to someone buying their first e-bike. The experience that comes from riding an e-bike with a mid-drive motor is notably superior to riding one with a hub motor due to the presence of the torque sensor. Thanks to Bosch’s torque sensor, the motor springs to life the moment that the rider begins pedaling, unlike with the cadence sensors found on the majority of e-bikes with hub motors. Also, the torque sensor responds in proportion to the rider’s effort, so that the harder the rider pedals, the more power the motor puts out. Same with going easier; when the rider backs off, so does the motor. Nothing does more to improve a rider’s experience than being on a mid-drive motor with a torque sensor.

For the experienced cyclist looking for a high-quality e-bike that will be easy to maintain, handles predictably and is fun to ride, the Zen Samurai

Thank you for reading through our review of the Zen Samurai. Still have further questions? Wondering how it compares to a similar e-bike we’ve reviewed? Let us know in the comments below!