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Bike Perfect

Lifestyle

Graham Cottingham

Drone and action cam brand, DJI, moves into electric mountain bikes revealing its complete Amflow MTBs kitted out with Bosch and Shimano beating motor tech

DJI STEM Drone SRAM Shimano Bosch Magura Fox

Amflow PL Carbon and Amflow PL Carbon Pro with a mountain background.

In a surprise move, DJI may have blindsided the e-MTB market with the release of its Avinox Drive System. The new motor unit is powered by DJI’s own battery module and features six drive modes, a touchscreen OLED screen, and smart assistance in auto mode.

Making the concerted move into the best e-MTB motor market may seem like a major departure for a brand like DJI – best known for its action camera and drone ranges. DJI has built a wealth of knowledge developing lightweight yet powerful motors for drones, and camera stabilizing gimbals which it has been able to to leverage when designing its new Avinox motor.

DJI says the compound planetary gearset and high-performance polymer gears contribute to the motor's balance of size, weight, and power output (Image credit: DJI)

The Avinox motor has some impressive specs on paper, delivering 105Nm of torque and a max power power output of 850w. The motor features four standard riding assist modes – Auto, Eco, Trail, and Turbo. On top of that, there's a Boost mode which gives an additional surge of power, upping the torque to 120Nm and giving a peak output of 1,000w. There is also an Auto Mode which DJI says uses a Smart-Assist Algorithm which utilizes “multi-sensor fusion” to adjust assistance based on riding resistance.

In terms of stated performance, those specs should position the Avinox ahead of the two most commonly specced e-MTB motors. Bosch’s Performance Line CX and Shimano’s EP801 are both at a stalemate producing 85Nm of torque and 600w of power. Not only does the Avinox output numbers best Bosch and Shimano’s stated performance, DJI claims its motor weighs in at 2.52kg making it lighter than both the Bosch and Shimano models at at 2.9kg and 2.7kg respectively. If the claimed weight is accurate, DJI’s Avinox motor could shake up the growing lightweight e-MTB category too as it’s only around 500g heavier than Bosch’s Performance Line SX or Fazua’s Ride 60, yet considerably more powerful. SRAM’s Powertrain drive system is closer with 90Nm of torque, however, it too falls short with a peak power of 680W and 2.9kg motor weight.

The Avinox is controlled using the integrated screen and supported by a mobile app (Image credit: DJI)

DJI says it will offer two battery sizes of either 800Wh and 600Wh with the option of standard and fast chargers. DJI says the high-density batteries utilize GaN 3x fast charging technology and claims the 800Wh battery can be charged from 0 percent to 75 percent charge in just one and a half hours. To charge the 800Wh from empty to 100 percent, the standard charger will take 6hrs 10 minutes while the high-performance charger will only take 3hrs. The 800Wh hour battery is claimed to weigh approximately 3.74kg and 2.87kg for the 600Wh battery. Again this undercuts the equivalent 750Wh Bosch Powertube by 560g and Shimano 630Wh battery by a huge 800g, offering significant weight savings here too.

Riding stats, modes, and other system data are displayed on a touchscreen OLED integrated top tube display. The display acts as the central control system and features GPS (GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, GLONA55, and QZSS), and when paired with the Avinox mobile app the system provides users with data recording, and sharing, motor assist parameter adjustment, GPS tracking for bike security, and general bike status. When riding, the motor is controlled with a slimline Bluetooth remote to switch between motor modes, a second control can also be added to control menus on the move.

Amflow PL Carbon e-MTB is equipped with the new Avinox drive system and features 150mm of travel (Image credit: DJI)

In a second curve ball, rather than broker a deal with an existing established e-MTB brand, DJI has instead opted to produce its own e-MTB under a new Amflow brand. Amflow will fit the new Avinox drive system to a 29er carbon trail e-MTB with 150mm of travel. The suspension is delivered using a four-bar linkage system and paired with a 160mm fork. Although the frame is said to be compatible with a smaller 27.5in rear wheel mullet wheel setup, there doesn’t appear to be any flip-chip or geometry adjustment to account for the smaller diameter wheel.

Geometry numbers look to fit the bill for all-mountain riding with a 64.5-degree head angle, 475mm reach (large), 29mm of bottom bracket drop, and a 445mm chainstay. There bikes are only available in medium to XXL so riders looking for a reach smaller than 452mm (found on the medium) are out of luck. Smaller riders sizing up may also encounter dropper compatibility issues as a bend in the seat tube will limit dropper insertion. Medium size bikes come specced with only a 150mm dropper while large models get a 170mm post.

Amflow PL Carbon come equipped with Fox suspension, SRAM groupsets, and Amflow branded finishing kit (Image credit: DJI)

Amflow will offer two spec levels of its new Avinox motor-equipped bike. The PL Carbon Pro comes with either a 600Wh or 800Wh battery and is kitted out with Fox 36 Factory Grip X2 and Float X Factory suspension, SRAM XO Eagle Transmission powered from the bike battery, Magura MT7 Pro brakes, and Amflow’s own branded carbon wheels, carbon bars, and stem. The PL Carbon only comes with an 800Wh battery and is specced with Fox Performance suspension, SRAM GX Eagle transmission, Magura MT5, and Amflow alloy wheels, handlebar, and stem.

The top-spec PL Carbon Pro with a 600Wh battery is claimed to weigh 19.2kg. In terms of weight that's not going to trouble the current crop of lightweight short-travel e-MTB which generally weigh between 17kg to 18kg. It is noticeably lighter than full-power e-MTBs and considering the stated power numbers should give a noticeable boost in performance. The most comparable bike on the market is probably Giant’s Trance X Advanced E+ Elite which combines a full-power motor in a lighter overall build. The Giant weighs 18.8kg but that's using a less powerful Yamaha motor with 85Nm of torque and a smaller 400Wh battery.

Availability and pricing of the Avinox motor-equipped Amflow bikes are yet to be confirmed, although DJI says that bikes are estimated to be available for purchase in Q4 2024 through authorized dealers in Germany, the UK, and Australia among others.

We'll have more info on DJI's bikes as we get it, but you can also head over to Amflowbikes.com.