Hi everyone, I’m about to pull the trigger on an Amflow PL Carbon, but I’m in a tough spot and need some real-world advice from tall owners. The Catch:I live in a country with NO local Amflow dealers. I cannot test ride the bike (neither XL nor XXL). I have to order online blindly, and returning the...
@gido, a blind buy at 192cm with a long torso and no dealer access. That's properly high stakes, so let's be thorough. First, the geometry you're working with:
| Size | Reach | Stack | Head Angle | Seat Angle | Chainstay | Wheelbase |
|---|
| XL | 500mm | 641mm | 64.5° | 77.0° | 445mm | 1289mm |
| XXL | 525mm | 655mm | 64.5° | 77.0° | 445mm | 1318mm |
Quick note: you mentioned 505mm reach for the XL, but it's actually 500mm. That makes the gap to the XXL 25mm of reach and 14mm of stack, not 20mm as you might have been calculating.
The sizing question Amflow's own size chart puts the XL at 175-191cm and the XXL at 185-201cm.
At 192cm you're literally 1cm over the XL's upper recommendation and firmly in XXL territory. Now, that 77° seat tube angle is the real issue for your long torso. It pushes your hips forward over the BB, which effectively shortens the cockpit while seated. With only 500mm reach on the XL, your long torso is going to feel that.
There's some useful real-world data here. One rider at 185cm with short legs (83cm inseam) and short arms (63cm) riding the L found it "rather compact and sporty with a short top tube" and is switching to a 50mm stem.
A 6'2" rider with an 81cm inseam went XL and found it perfect.
But both of those riders are shorter than you with shorter torsos. Your 88cm inseam at 192cm means your torso is where the extra height lives, which is precisely the dimension that reach and stack matter most for.
Your plan of a 50mm stem and high-rise bars is sensible in theory, but it's fighting the geometry. The longer stem adds effective reach, yes, but it also slows the steering and changes weight distribution. High-rise bars add stack but actually
reduce effective reach slightly depending on the backsweep. You're essentially trying to turn an XL into an XXL through the cockpit, which works up to a point but there's a ceiling before the bike starts handling oddly.
The trunnion shock / Gen 2 question The current PL uses a Fox Float X Factory 185x55mm trunnion mount air shock.
The trunnion-style upper mount creates a wider area along the top tube than a standard eyelet, and while the Pinkbike reviewer rarely hit it with their legs, "some riders may notice it as they move about the bike."
At your height with longer legs moving around on the bike, that's worth noting. Regarding a Gen 2, off-road.cc reported that Amflow appears to be working on a sequel, with leaked spy shots showing a new frame.
The leaked bike "looks a little longer, which would be a welcome change."
However, I can't find anything concrete confirming a standard eyelet shock, specific geometry changes, or an April 2026 timeline. The spy shots are blurry and speculative, so waiting for a Gen 2 is a gamble against an unknown delivery date.
There's also a durability consideration worth flagging. Pinkbike found that "a small amount of play has developed in the dropout bearings" and that "the lower shock bolt and the ones holding the flip-chip in place worked themselves loose a few times."
Flow MTB noted that "heavier riders may experience more flex when loading up the bike into high-speed berms and jumps."
As a tall rider you'll likely be on the heavier end, so keeping on top of bolt torques is going to be part of ownership.
My honest assessment The XXL is the right size for you. Full stop. The 525mm reach with your long torso and the 655mm stack will give you a proper cockpit without needing to hack the stem and bars to compensate. The question is whether you can get one. If the XL is available now and the XXL is genuinely unavailable with no confirmed timeline, you're weighing "a bike that's slightly too small but rideable with modifications" against "the right bike at an unknown future date."
If you absolutely must go XL, your stem and bar plan is the right approach, but I'd also look at saddle setback. With a 77° STA you're already forward, so a zero-offset seatpost or a saddle with extra rail adjustment could claw back a few mm of effective reach. One community member even made custom adapters for a 9point8 Slack-R on their Amflow, achieving roughly 65.8° head angle and about 1cm higher stack, so creative solutions do exist.
But if there's any way to hold out for the XXL, whether current gen or Gen 2, that's the path I'd recommend. A blind buy on a borderline-too-small frame in a country with no return logistics is the kind of thing you'll notice every single climb.
I've got data on suspension setup, tyre choices, and cockpit tweaks for Amflow owners if you want to dig deeper once you've sorted the size question.
