Amflow PL Carbon Pro: first ride review

“After more riding, I was pretty convinced that this is the best ebike motor out there, and by some margin” – Benji gets blown away for a day by the A …

By ben_haworth

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Amflow PL Carbon Pro: first ride review

Of all the Eebs out this, this is the one i understand the least. Unless using for racing and an uphill speed stage then i simply don’t get it’s purpose. I find even a 60Nm bike plenty out on the trails and sometimes WAY too much as it kicks you at the wrong time, let alone something with double the power.

Once you factor in the 15mph which they’re determined to keep enforced (and i’m fine with that) then i understand it even less.

But from what I’ve seen it has lots of control options so you can just down tune the modes and get increased range most of the time but you have oomph if you really want to use it, it gives optionality.

I suspect they’re playing smart and only want to build one motor option to be put into anything (keeps costs down) so this gives as good as it gets power compared to full fats for the weight of an SL/mid power. Give the freedom for users to tune and what’s the downside?

Well that’s like buying a Lambo and having it restricted to 125bhp…. it seems somewhat pointless.  Especially if when you unlock the power you’re in the middle of town and can’t use it.

I can’t see a world where you ‘need’ anything like 120Nm.

for me, 70Nm with a battery that could last 50+ miles makes more sense.

It’s not though is it. Buying a supercar comes with limitations, they’re crap to take down the shops, luggage the kids around in, etc.

It’s more like having a sleeper estate car that you can drive around normally in but give it the beans if you want to take it to the track. There’s no downside to it.

My understanding is you can control the available torque & power and it will give you your 70nm and get close to the 50+ miles range, for the same weight as a mid range that will struggle to do that.

the point is obvious… its for getting to the top of steeps climbs as quickly and easily as possible for as many downs as you can….

Yeah, you don’t need that for a rolling 50 mile xc loop, but then I would say an e-bike for that purpose is of less point…

Combine this and the pinion MGU and you pretty much have my ideal 🙂

Looks good to me, I would just need that motor system in a more enduro frame, and some evidence of longer term reliability plus evidence of what the vendors support is like when it does break, both inside and outside warranty periods, before I spend my own cash on it.

My current ebike will probably need replacing in 2 years, so the timing should be good.

So much of bike reviews comes down to the prejudices/preferences of the person writing the review:

The geo of the Amflow is within a few mm of the Orbea reviewed a week or so back. Same travel – 160/150.  I think the Rise has 5mm more on the reach and a few mm less on the chain stays, half a degree on the head/seat angles depending on the geo mode.

Orbea – Pro’s – Excellent Geometry – “In terms of geometry the Orbea Rise LT is on to a winner. Not only because of the aforementioned seat tube and resulting acres of dropper drop and standover, but also because of the principal angles. The head angle is 64°. The seat angle is 77°. That is a fine pairing. The reach is pretty generous”

Amflow – Cons – Geometry could be more up to date. Head angle // 64.5° seat angle // 77°

(also fitted with the same fork – Amflow – “The Fox 36 is a great fork. I didn’t even really notice any harshness from the Grip X2 damper” vs Orbea “The new GripX damper in the Fox 36 fork feels significantly less comfy than previous 36 dampers”

I’ve just weighed my new Rise and it’s basically the same weight as the Amflow (a little adjustment for mud hugger, some mud, smaller battery) . I guess their launch bike needed to get headlines somehow to break into the market – and a (more than) full power Trail bike for the same weight as the best of the ‘mid power’ or ‘lightweight’ bikes will do that more than one that’s a full power enduro bike that might be a bit lighter than the competition but doesn’t have a weight that sounds impressive (heavier wheels/tyres/fork/rear shock etc and you’ll add a few kg).

The review does confirm what I suspected – that the massive power and torque isn’t really that special/useful but again it gets more headlines than ‘it just rides better’. Smaller motor, (user imposed) limits on power& torque to get great range is probably where it works best.

Combine this and the pinion MGU

But then you’d have two motors – and it sounds like this one is more than enough anyway 😉

My two cents: Getting less interested in eebs generally, but maybe when they bring out a half fat one in future – if it similarly smashes the competition.

Two thoughts/questions looking at the images in that review.

– it might just be the angle but rear Tyre clearance looks pretty tight both to the sides and in front.

– what’s the wire for near the rear mech? the speed sensor appears to be on the brake disc on the other side, and I thought the battery was built into the Transmission mech.

– what’s the wire for near the rear mech? the speed sensor appears to be on the brake disc on the other side, and I thought the battery was built into the Transmission mech.

Its a hotshoe – you can run the mech off the main battery.