Greg's Weekly eMTB Briefing - 25 May 2026Avinox issued a manifesto, Bosch fired back with 120Nm via OTA, and somewhere in the middle of all this ideological warfare, Ampler quietly went bankrupt — which is perhaps the most honest summary of where the eMTB industry stands right now. It's been a week of power politics, PR offensives, and the occasional reminder that none of this matters if the company selling you the bike ceases to exist.
Avinox vs. The World: "Power With Purpose" and What It Actually MeansDJI's Avinox division published what can only be described as a formal declaration of intent this week — a "Power With Purpose" document that is either a thoughtful defence of high-power eMTBs or the most expensive press release in recent memory, depending on your disposition. The timing is not subtle. With Bosch lobbying for a 750W regulatory cap and a survey suggesting 41% of riders think current motors are already too powerful, Avinox finds itself in the unusual position of being a company whose core product is also its PR problem.
To their credit, the numbers are hard to dismiss. The M2S — the current Avinox flagship — puts out 150Nm in Boost mode and has been independently measured at approximately 1,500W peak. That is not a typo. For context, the Bosch Performance Line CX Gen 5 now sits at 120Nm following the Performance Update 2.0 OTA, with Bosch quoting 750W peak and independent dyno figures around 680W. Avinox are not playing in the same league; they have applied to join a different sport entirely.
The "Power With Purpose" framing is essentially Avinox arguing that raw output is irrelevant without intelligent delivery — that their control systems justify the headline figures. Which may well be true. It is also, as arguments go, structurally identical to every other manufacturer who has ever built something faster than regulations are comfortable with and then explained why that's fine, actually. With 60-plus partner brands now on the Avinox platform, this is no longer a boutique debate. It is a systemic one, and Bosch, Shimano, and every brand in their orbit will need a coherent response.
The trail access angle is the one worth watching. The concern — legitimate or not — is that bikes producing this kind of peak power reopen the land access debate in territories where eMTBs have only recently achieved an uneasy tolerance. Whether 1,500W through a 150Nm motor on a legal 250W-rated system is meaningfully different from 680W through 120Nm in practice is a question that land managers will not answer with a dyno chart.
Full discussion on emtbforums.com
Ampler Goes BankruptEstonian lightweight eMTB brand Ampler filed for bankruptcy this week, which will surprise precisely nobody who has been watching the mid-tier e-bike market slowly compress over the past 18 months. Ampler made genuinely interesting bikes — light, clean, sensible — and apparently that was not enough. The brutal economics of the segment continue to claim victims regardless of product quality, and "makes a good bike" remains stubbornly insufficient as a business model when you are competing against brands with automotive-group backing. The industry will mourn them briefly and then move on, because of course it will.
Bosch Performance Update 2.0: 120Nm via OTA, and a Clever Bit of PositioningBosch delivered the Performance Update 2.0 in early May, pushing the CX Gen 5 and CX-R Gen 5 to 120Nm — up from the 100Nm OTA update of May 2025 and the original 85Nm at launch in 2023. To be clear on what that means practically: if you bought a Gen 5 CX bike in 2023 believing you had an 85Nm motor, you now have a 120Nm motor and did not need to touch a workshop. That is a genuinely impressive trick and Bosch deserve credit for it. The SX gets a support-boost upgrade under PU2.0 but remains at 60Nm — its lightweight remit intact.
The Gen 4 CX, meanwhile, gets the support boost but not the torque upgrade. At 85Nm it is starting to look a little exposed next to the Gen 5's current 120Nm, which is presumably the intended message.
Full story on E-Mountainbike
E-Mountainbike Magazine 2026 Mega Group Test: 30 BikesE-Mountainbike published their 2026 mega group test this week — 30 eMTBs in direct comparison, which is either comprehensive journalism or a maintenance nightmare, possibly both. The Thömus Lightrider E_MAX gets particular attention, running the Maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR S at 90Nm — a motor that turns up in almost no other production bikes and makes the Thömus something of a curiosity in a field increasingly dominated by Bosch and Avinox hardware. If you are trying to understand where the segment actually sits in 2026, this is the most useful single piece of reading available this week.
Full story on E-Mountainbike
Porsche eBike Performance Shuts Down — and FAZUA With It?Porsche has pulled the plug on Porsche eBike Performance, the entity that owned Fazua after acquiring it in 2022. Whether this means the end of the Fazua Ride 60 motor platform — 60Nm, 1.96kg, 450W claimed peak — as a going concern is the question the industry is now asking with some urgency. For brands that built lightweight eMTB lines around Fazua's distinctively slim drivetrain, this is not an abstract concern. Classic corporate move: buy a niche motor brand, discover niche motor brands are hard to monetise at scale, exit. The bikes already out there will still work. What happens to warranty support and future development is considerably less clear.
Full story on E-Mountainbike
Cube Carbon Crank RecallCube issued a recall on carbon cranks across several eMTB models — which is precisely the kind of sentence that should make any current Cube owner go and check their paperwork immediately. Carbon crank failures are not the sort of thing that resolves itself quietly. Details of affected models and build date ranges should be on Cube's official channels; if your bike has carbon cranks and a Cube badge, verifying your serial number is not optional reading.
Bosch Lobbying for 750W Cap — and 41% of Riders Agree Motor Power Is Too HighBosch are reportedly lobbying for a 750W regulatory power cap on eMTBs, which is either a principled stance on responsible product development or a remarkably convenient position for the market-leading motor brand whose flagship currently quotes exactly 750W peak. The survey data — showing 41% of respondents believe current motor power is already excessive — gives them the community cover to make the argument. At this rate, Bosch will have written the EU legislation and named it after themselves before Avinox finishes their next manifesto.
FROM YOUR FORUM THIS WEEK
Avinox M2S: The Thread That Will Not DieThe Avinox M2S mega-thread has 152 replies and shows no sign of fatigue, which tracks for a motor producing 150Nm in Boost mode. The combination of the "Power With Purpose" PR campaign and the ongoing trail access debate has kept the temperature elevated all week. If you want to understand where the community actually stands on the power wars — as opposed to where press releases suggest it stands — this thread is the most useful 45 minutes you will spend online this week.
Join the discussion The Levo R: One Man's WaitThe Levo R thread has a pleasantly niche energy this week. @Polar opened the thread asking if anyone had ordered one, received no replies for what appears to have been a slightly awkward length of time, and then returned to announce he'd ordered one himself and is collecting it next week — complete with the 600Wh battery and Specialized's new radial tyres, and a promise to weigh it. Nothing says commitment like answering your own thread. @DuncanDoughnuts has since materialised to request photos and riding impressions, which feels like the least he could do. Watch this thread next week.
Join the discussion Unpopular Opinions: 122 Replies and CountingThe "Stone the heretic" unpopular opinions thread is sitting at 122 replies, which suggests the forum's collective supply of heterodox views is larger than anticipated. I have been asked not to summarise the contents on the grounds that it would immediately make them popular opinions.
Join the discussion Chainring Durability: The Eternal Debate@Plummet wants a chainring that is light, lasts forever, works on a Bosch Gen 5 at 53-55mm chainline, and doesn't turn to grinding metal after 1,000km — reasonable requirements, as it happens. @Eckythump advocates for Absolute Black steel on the grounds that it has survived five years, multiple rock strikes in Scotland and Wales, and still looks new — "pretty spendy though," he concedes, which in this context means it costs less than a replacement motor so get on with it. Meanwhile @juggernaut is running a 48T Wolf Tooth on a 60V Bafang Ultra-powered Frey Beast past 3,500km, which is a sentence that raises more questions than it answers but does at least confirm Wolf Tooth can take a beating.
Join the discussion
USA Deliveries of PX: The Thread Takes a TurnThe PX USA delivery thread has evolved from a straightforward logistics question into something rather more geopolitically charged, as these things tend to do in 2026. @sethimus suggests that with import rules changing faster than certain leadership wardrobe decisions, sensible brands would probably prioritise free-trade markets first. @RustyMTB expresses some scepticism about being lectured on human rights by Americans in 2026. And @Brawwp takes the pragmatic line that China already has everyone's data from their phone, robot vacuum, and smart TV, so perhaps the DJI hardware concern is somewhat late. Honestly a reasonable point, if not especially reassuring. The bikes remain undelivered as far as anyone can tell.
Join the discussion
Forum Tech: BT Internet and the Routing MysteryLess exciting but genuinely useful — @Zimmerframe has been diagnosing intermittent slow access for BT broadband users and suspects a router-level issue rather than a server-side problem. @Moderator confirmed image sizes are not the culprit and suggests the router theory holds water, noting only five images uploaded where twenty would normally be expected. If you're on BT and the forum feels like 2009, the thread has some suggested remedies.
Join the discussion
Big Thread PulseThe Avinox M2S rattle thread (189 replies) continues to be the forum's most thorough crowd-sourced QC audit — if your M2S has developed a percussion instrument, the answers are in there somewhere. The Atherton S.170E thread (152 replies) is still active; a British-made bike with Avinox power is exactly the kind of thing this forum finds impossible to leave alone. The Levo Gen 4 rumours thread remains the go-to for Specialized news and speculation, with over a thousand catalogued community facts at this point — it has essentially become a parallel user manual. The Trek Fuel EXe Megathread and Official Levo SL Thread continue their steady accumulation of collective wisdom for owners of TQ HPR-powered lightweights.
Stay muddy,
Greg
Got news I missed or spotted something good on the forum? Tag me @Greg Watts or drop it in my forum.
