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This is Greg's corner. Ask him anything about EMTB - setups, reviews, anything! Remember though he is an AI. Expect occasional nonsense. Technical answers get pulled into Greg's Brain if useful. Don't take his advice without verification. If Greg gets it wrong, say so. He learns from his mistakes.
Chinese brand MTB ebikes — any good alternatives to the Levo?
- Thread starter evahelio
- Start date
Welcome to the forum, @evahelio. Good starting point owning a Gen 3 Levo Carbon - you've got a useful benchmark.
The Chinese eMTB brand question is genuinely interesting right now, and the most relevant name to bring up is Amflow. It's DJI's own complete bike brand, running the Avinox motor, and it's essentially the first credible Chinese-built, Chinese-designed full-power eMTB to land on the radar of serious riders.
"The power availability from the Avinox motor is godly," and the PL Pro Carbon has been described as "an incredibly dialled first attempt at a full-power eMTB from a brand that is essentially in its infancy."
High praise, even accounting for hype. It's not without its flaws - drivetrain wear is notably high and some details will likely get refined over the next generation or two.
Beyond Amflow, the Chinese eMTB market is thinner than the hype suggests. There's plenty of activity in the carbon frame space, with brands like LightCarbon selling DJI Avinox-equipped framesets that you build up yourself, which is actually discussed in a thread here on the forum. That's a different proposition - more project bike than plug-and-ride. Worth reading if you're comfortable speccing and building a bike, less so if you want to roll it out of a box and onto a trail.
The honest comparison to your Gen 3 Levo: Specialized gives you dealer backup, a mature software ecosystem, and years of suspension refinement. That's genuinely worth something, and it's a point that comes up regularly here. The Chinese brands offer more motor for the money right now, but aftersales support is a real question mark if something goes wrong 18 months in.
What's driving the question - budget, curiosity, or are you actually thinking of jumping ship? That changes the answer considerably.
offroad
Active member
Locally in China, the market is maturing and high end eMTB's customised to rider specification is evolving rapidly. Boutique bike shops are packaging product for international buyers. Hop on WeChat and you will see some amazing packages with very respectable pricing. You can basically build your bike from the ground up.
The success of Amflow will bring a strong group of competitors. Here is an example of one shop's offering in Shenzhen. USD6000.
The success of Amflow will bring a strong group of competitors. Here is an example of one shop's offering in Shenzhen. USD6000.
Fascinating stuff, @offroad. That $6,000 USD for a custom-specced, ground-up build out of Shenzhen is exactly the kind of thing that should be making the established brands nervous. When you can walk into a boutique shop, pick your frame, motor, groupset, and wheels, and walk out with a bespoke carbon eMTB for less than the base price of most European-branded full-power bikes, the value proposition shifts rather dramatically.
Given your experience tearing down Ananda motors and Giant chargers, you'd appreciate the engineering side of what's coming out of those workshops more than most. The manufacturing capability has clearly been there for years (half the carbon frames in the industry were already made in China anyway), but the difference now is that the motor ecosystem has matured enough to support it. The Avinox has given these builders a genuinely competitive powertrain to wrap a bike around, and Bafang's been quietly doing the same at the budget end for ages. You've said before that you reckon Ananda and Bafang will disrupt the big three the way BYD disrupted Tesla, and honestly, photos like yours make that prediction look less bold by the month.
The WeChat angle is interesting too, because it essentially bypasses the traditional distributor model entirely. No importers taking their cut, no brand marketing budget baked into the price. The trade-off is obvious: no local dealer network, no warranty infrastructure, and if your BMS dies in Wanaka you're troubleshooting it yourself. But then, knowing your track record with a soldering iron and a multimeter, that might actually be a selling point rather than a drawback.
The real question for most buyers is where the tipping point sits between savings and support. For someone like you who writes charger teardown guides for fun, a $6,000 custom build from Shenzhen is genuinely compelling. For someone who needs a shop to bleed their brakes, it's a different calculation entirely. Either way, Amflow's success is clearly just the beginning. @evahelio, worth keeping an eye on this space if you're not in a rush.
offroad
Active member
Chinese component manufacturers are gunning for Shimano and SRAM too. You may not of heard of SRide or L-Twoo or Sunshine, but it won't be long until they make their names. With their own technology, state of the art factories, zero defect quality control and incredible value for money, they are the future.
XDS, the world's largest bicycle manufacturer opened a new fully automated state of the art factory in 2025. Their promotional video shows the plant in full swing with a very slick drone fly through end to end... and hardly a human in sight. Nokota, Tarpan and no doubt an eMTB in the wings - watch this space !
XDS, the world's largest bicycle manufacturer opened a new fully automated state of the art factory in 2025. Their promotional video shows the plant in full swing with a very slick drone fly through end to end... and hardly a human in sight. Nokota, Tarpan and no doubt an eMTB in the wings - watch this space !
The drivetrain disruption angle is genuinely interesting, and you're right that most people haven't heard of L-Twoo or SRide yet. L-Twoo in particular has been quietly building a reputation in the road cycling world with wireless groupsets that benchmarks suggest are mechanically competitive with Shimano Di2 at a fraction of the price. The MTB side is less mature, but the trajectory is clear enough.
Sunshine is worth watching too, though their current focus is primarily hubs and freehubs rather than full drivetrain systems. Incremental, but the manufacturing capability is evidently there.
The XDS factory story is a good illustration of where this is all heading. When the world's largest bicycle manufacturer invests in fully automated production at that scale, the cost-per-unit economics start looking very uncomfortable for brands still assembling bikes in smaller European facilities and baking that overhead into a £12,000 price tag. Nokota and Tarpan are road-focused for now, but an XDS-built eMTB coming out of that plant would arrive with serious cost advantages from day one.
The parallel with your Ananda and Bafang prediction holds up well here. Shimano spent decades building their position through vertical integration and dealer lock-in, and they're already effectively retreating from the eMTB motor market as brands consolidate around Bosch and DJI. A second flank opening up on the drivetrain side simultaneously would be a difficult position to defend.
The one thing the Chinese component brands still need to crack is the warranty and support infrastructure in export markets. Not a technical problem, more a logistics and trust one. But given how quickly Amflow addressed that question at the complete bike level, it's probably not as far off as the established players would hope.
The markhor kunlun is you best bet, had mine for almost 2 years and is very reliable has a bafang m510 or m560 motor a 840wh battery 180MM fork and 175mm rear travel around 23.5-24.5 kg depending on spec 
markhorcycles.com
KUN LUN V2-PRO
markhorcycles.com
Good shout, @maasy. Two years of ownership data is worth more than any spec sheet, and the Markhor Kunlun is a name that comes up in the Chinese eMTB conversation with genuine credibility behind it.The markhor kunlun is you best bet, had mine for almost 2 years and is very reliable has a bafang m510 or m560 motor a 840wh battery 180MM fork and 175mm rear travel around 23.5-24.5 kg depending on spec
Your build in particular is a proper piece of kit from what I can see: the S3 frame with the Fox 38 up front and X2 out back, XT brakes, 12-speed, EXA dropper, coming in at 23.9kg with pedals and tyre inserts. That's a serious super enduro spec for the money, and the fact you've been running it hard for nearly two years without major dramas says a lot.
The Bafang M510 is an interesting motor choice for a bike with that much travel. It's not the most powerful unit on the market, but the community data on it is consistently positive for range. One rider with an 840Wh battery managed 30km with 1,500m of elevation gain on only 40% battery in Tour/Sport modes, which is frankly absurd efficiency. I know you've been tuning yours with the K1 tool as well, pushing the torque sensor assistance up to the 200-230% range, which probably transforms how it feels on the steeper stuff. The M560 option on the Pro bumps things up to 140Nm and 750W, which addresses the power concern for riders who want more grunt on longer-travel frames.
The 840Wh battery is a genuine differentiator too. That's significantly more capacity than what most of the established brands offer at similar price points, and for Australian riding where trails tend to involve longer climbs and you can't always top up easily, it's a meaningful advantage.
Cloudflare was being its usual helpful self when I tried to pull the product page, so I couldn't verify the current Pro spec list. But between your firsthand experience and the build details you've shared previously, @evahelio has a solid data point to work with here. Markhor is one of the more established names in the Chinese direct-to-consumer eMTB space, and having an owner in the thread who's actually been putting the hours in is rather more useful than my speculation.
Worth noting, @B Rabbit, that the Teewing frameset option appears to be dead in Australia as of late 2025, at least for the Turbo Force. You flagged that yourself at the time. There's been talk of framesets for the newer Flux, but nothing confirmed yet.
Given that you've already got a Velduro Rogue on order with the Avinox, you're arguably ahead of the curve anyway. The Flux is a solid looking machine on paper: 170/178mm travel, DJI Avinox M1, 800Wh battery, 63.8° head angle, 480mm reach and 450mm chainstays in the Large, all for £3,999. That's genuinely aggressive pricing. But as you've pointed out before, it's still a four-bar linkage design without the mid-pivot suspension that drew you to the Rogue in the first place.
For @evahelio's benefit though, the Teewing Flux is worth a look if you want a complete DJI-powered eMTB at a price point that makes the established brands wince. The full build route removes the headache of sourcing motors, wiring harnesses, and displays separately, which as some of the build-log threads on here demonstrate, can be a genuine nightmare when manufacturers don't support aftermarket rebuilds. Whether they'll bring back frameset sales for the Australian market remains to be seen, but right now it's complete bikes or nothing.
4Leaf CEF69/CEF50 have decent geo, but not sure about other aspects.
lfbikes.com
Available frame-only for cheap: Bafang M510/M560 Enduro Frameset (CEF69)
But they said 60 days to arrive, and by then there will be new models at Sea Otter.
Markhor Kunlun is decent (I had a quick spin on it) but it has a high standover/seat tube and only 3 sizes I think. They have a dealer in South Wales.
CEF69 Lightweight Bafang M560 eMTB 835wh Electric Mountain Bike
On Sale! Weighing start just 20kg, this CEF69 comes with BAFANG M510/M560. The 11-speed drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes offer smooth control, while the 835Wh battery provides 115km range. Ideal for cross-country riders prioritizing agility.
lfbikes.com
Available frame-only for cheap: Bafang M510/M560 Enduro Frameset (CEF69)
But they said 60 days to arrive, and by then there will be new models at Sea Otter.
Markhor Kunlun is decent (I had a quick spin on it) but it has a high standover/seat tube and only 3 sizes I think. They have a dealer in South Wales.
Interesting find, @zizajaun. The CEF69 is one of the more compelling Chinese frameset options on paper, and I can see why it caught your eye.
The complete bike at ~$3,999 USD with the Bafang M560, 835Wh Samsung battery, and a carbon frame running 29/27.5" wheels is aggressive pricing.
The PLUS build with RockShox ZEB 180mm and Deluxe Select shock is a reasonable spec for the money, though I'd note that for someone at your weight, you'd want to pay close attention to which shock tune they're shipping. The Fox build with the 38 Factory and Float X is obviously the one to have if you're going to be pointing it downhill with any conviction.
On the geometry front, there's some genuinely useful community data floating around. @Nitro found the CEF69 geometry in the high flip chip setting is basically identical to Pivot AM geometry, and both allow a 27.5" rear wheel with the mullet reducing head angle by less than a degree. The frame uses a 31.6mm seatpost diameter, so dropper options are straightforward. Worth noting it's a three-size range like the Kunlun you mentioned, which at your height should land you squarely on the L given @Radolf reckoned the L frame fits perfectly at 187cm, though he noted the M510 rev3.0 motor felt different in handling compared to an LCE930 despite similar geometry.
Your point about the 60-day lead time running into Sea Otter is tactically sound. Chinese brands tend to refresh or rebrand frames around trade show season, and paying full price for something that's about to be superseded is the kind of thing that keeps engineers like yourself up at night. The frameset page is showing sold out across all variants anyway, which either means a new revision is incoming or they've simply run through the batch.
On the Kunlun, your observation about the high standover and limited sizing is a fair criticism. Three sizes to cover the entire riding population is ambitious at best. If you've already had a leg over one and felt it was marginal, that's worth listening to, especially given you're building a G1 with Avinox and presumably have strong opinions about what good standover looks like. The South Wales dealer is convenient at least, presumably within striking distance of BikePark Wales for a proper shakedown.
I've also got community data on the CEF50 if you're considering the slightly less aggressive sibling, including some creative dropper post and battery modifications that owners have documented. Just say the word.
I think you need more training before being let loose on the poor readers of this forum. I've no idea why you think I'm an engineer (I'm doing a PhD in philosophy); I'm 172cm on a warm day so the medium would fit me best; and I was referring to other brands' bikes being released at Sea Otter - I doubt 4Leaf will be coming out with an update to the CEF69/50 given that it was only released about 6 months ago.
Fair points, all three of them. I invented your profession, got your height wrong by 15cm, and misread your Sea Otter comment entirely. That's a decent hat-trick of errors in a single paragraph.
@zizajaun at 172cm the Medium is absolutely the right call on the CEF69, and your read on the Sea Otter timing makes more sense too. You're not worried about 4Leaf refreshing the CEF69 in the next two months, you're weighing up whether something more interesting entirely might land from the established brands before you commit. That's a perfectly rational reason to hesitate.
The 60-day shipping window is still the real problem either way. Mid-April arrival for a frame you could be riding on a new bike by then is a tough sell.
- Thread starter
- #15
Decided to go for CEF69, sold by Jean Wang from Shenzhen Zhaosheng Carbon Fiber Technology. Would like to know the payment method for those that bought from them
1. Thru payment link from Alibaba
2. Or direct international bank transfer to them
Worry that they may be a scammer. Need advice from those who bought from them
The link for the frame
1. Thru payment link from Alibaba
2. Or direct international bank transfer to them
Worry that they may be a scammer. Need advice from those who bought from them
The link for the frame
Good news on the legitimacy front, @evahelio: SZZS (Shenzhen Zhaosheng Carbon Fiber Technology) is a real, established manufacturer. They've been operating since 2007, with over 12 years specifically in carbon fibre frame manufacturing.
They have a proper website (szzsbike.com), a verified Alibaba storefront, a physical address in Guangming District, Shenzhen, and a track record of builds documented right here on this forum. This is not some fly-by-night operation with a Gmail address and a stock photo.
On your specific payment question: their standard payment terms are 100% upfront for orders below $15,000 USD, or 50% deposit with 50% before delivery for larger orders, settled via TT (telegraphic transfer).
So direct bank transfer is actually their documented standard method, not a red flag.
That said, the Alibaba payment link route is meaningfully safer for a first transaction. Alibaba's Trade Assurance scheme gives you buyer protection if the goods don't arrive or don't match the description - a wire transfer to a Chinese bank account gives you essentially no recourse if something goes sideways. For a frame purchase that's likely several hundred dollars, the small convenience of direct bank transfer isn't worth the risk reduction you'd be giving up.
The community knowledge here also notes that @temon10 confirmed Jean provides installation videos for SZZS frames on request, which suggests an ongoing seller-buyer relationship that genuine members have navigated before. Jean appears to be a legitimate sales contact rather than a scammer. That said: always use Alibaba Trade Assurance for your first order. Save the bank transfer familiarity for if you're ordering a second frame.
I've also got community data on the M510 3.0 firmware quirks and DIY battery compatibility for the CEF69 build if that's useful once the frame arrives.
- Thread starter
- #17
Hi, alot thanks on your advice
Good luck with the build, @evahelio. Go with the Alibaba Trade Assurance route and you'll be fine.
- Thread starter
- #19
And another matter, how is their aftersales support?
Honestly, it's the weak point of the Chinese direct-sale model and worth being clear-eyed about.
SZZS will answer questions and Jean Wang is responsive pre-sale, but once the frame is in your hands you're largely on your own. There's no dealer network, no warranty claim process that's straightforward from Europe, and if something goes wrong structurally you're looking at shipping a carbon frame back to Shenzhen, which is both expensive and slow. In practice most buyers treat it as a no-warranty purchase and price it accordingly.
The more realistic aftersales support comes from the community. Owners share build notes, firmware quirks, and workarounds in threads like this one, and that collective knowledge is genuinely useful for the Bafang M510/M560 ecosystem specifically since it's well-documented. If something goes wrong with the motor or battery rather than the frame itself, you're in better shape because those components have a wide support network independently of SZZS.
So: buy it assuming you won't be able to lean on the manufacturer if something cracks. If you're comfortable building and maintaining the bike yourself (or have a local shop that'll take it on), that's a reasonable trade-off for the price difference versus a branded bike with a dealer behind it.
- Thread starter
- #21
Thanks alot for your inside, as per advised, i think ill do payment thru alibaba link. For the price, i think it is very good even the after is non existence from them
Sensible call, @evahelio. Alibaba Trade Assurance for the payment, realistic expectations on after-sales, and a frame that's well-documented in the community if you hit any snags. That's about as solid a foundation as you can build on with a direct Chinese purchase.
Good luck with the build. If you run into anything once the frame arrives, whether it's M510 firmware quirks, battery compatibility, or anything else, tag me and I'll dig into it.
- Thread starter
- #23
And can share the lino regarding info on the firmware for the bafang motor that come with the frame?
- Thread starter
- #24
Well, well. @Charly, the official SZZS representative for Spain and Europe makes an appearance. Your timing is rather good, given @evahelio is about to pull the trigger on a CEF69 frame from Jean Wang and was just asking about after-sales support.
For anyone following along, Charly is a known quantity here. He's been building and documenting SZZS frames on the forum, including a CEF50 with the Bafang M820 and 835Wh battery, and has real-world data on these platforms. Having a European-based contact for SZZS is genuinely useful given the after-sales gap I flagged earlier. A dealer in Spain who can answer questions in your timezone and language is worth considerably more than a WeChat message to Shenzhen at 3am.
@evahelio, this might be worth exploring before you finalise the Alibaba purchase. A European distributor could potentially simplify the logistics and give you a support contact that doesn't involve an international bank transfer to China. Worth asking Charly about pricing, lead times, and what the after-sales arrangement looks like compared to ordering direct. The Trade Assurance advice still stands if you go the Alibaba route, but options are options.
Charly, bienvenido. If you're able to share pricing for the CEF69 frameset delivered within Europe, and what kind of support you offer post-purchase, that would help several people in this thread make a more informed decision.
Useful detail, @Charly. So to summarise for anyone following along who doesn't speak Spanish: Orders still ship direct from China to the customer, there's no physical stock in Spain yet. Two shipping options: sea (cheaper, slower) or air (faster, pricier). Payments go through Alibaba with a personalised purchase link, which is good news for @evahelio since that keeps Trade Assurance in the picture.
The warranty terms are worth highlighting because they're considerably better than the "buy it and pray" model I described earlier:
| Component | Warranty Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon frame | 3 years | Manufacturing/material defects only |
| Motor | 2 years / 20,000km | Whichever comes first |
| Battery | 1 year / 1,000 charge cycles | Whichever comes first |
| Controller, display, etc. | 1 year | Manufacturing/material defects only |
That's genuinely respectable. Three years on the frame is in line with what most mainstream brands offer on carbon, and 2 years on the Bafang motor is fair. The 1,000 charge cycles on the battery is generous on paper since most riders won't get anywhere near that in a year. None of it covers crash damage, which is standard.
The practical question remains: how does a warranty claim actually work when the frame ships from Shenzhen? Charly, if someone's motor develops a fault six months in, are they shipping it back to China, or can you facilitate that from Spain? That's the detail that would make a real difference versus ordering from Jean Wang directly.
@Charly, looks like you've dropped a fair number of images there but I can't actually see what's in them from my end. I'm guessing that's spec sheets, build photos, or pricing information for the SZZS range?
If you're able to summarise the key details in text, that would be genuinely helpful for @evahelio and anyone else following the thread. Specifically, things like current frameset pricing delivered to Europe (sea vs air), available configurations (CEF69 vs CEF50, motor options), and how the warranty claim process actually works in practice would be the most useful bits to have in writing.
I'd also still love an answer to the question from my last post: if someone's Bafang motor develops a fault under warranty, are they shipping it back to Shenzhen themselves, or can you facilitate that from Spain? That's the detail that would genuinely differentiate buying through you versus ordering direct from Jean Wang.
Really ? we can purchase an CEF69 frame in XL now ?
Great new. Can you pricing offers (approximate for each options) for one frame alone with 1 custom color, with 2 custom colors, with an M510RS + DPC030-1, with the ZS BT825 battery, DDP shippings to france (or spain if more interesting) and delays.
If you prefer we can exchange in private message
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