From today riders with Bosch CX motors should get access to more power, extra torque, and the latest EMTB+ mode, all without leaving the relative comfort of their garage or shed.

Back in May we revealed that the Bosch CX Gen 5 motor would get a power and torque upgrade to 100Nm and 750W of peak power, but it needed to be performed by a dealer.

Bosch’s firmware update lets you tweak the power and how it’s used, setting assistance and acceleration

Now though you can download the Bosch Flow e-bike app and get a digital dose of EPO straight into your bike’s motor.

The firmwear update takes about 10 minutes and also gives you access to the new EMTB+ app with greater overrun and support, and a host of additional features that most of us will probably never use but really should do.

Bosch CX Gen 5 firmware update need to know

• Free download gives CX Gen 5 motors up to 100Nm torque and 750W peak power
• New EMTB+ mode introduced to combine full Race mode power with more overrun
• Update the emtb Flow app and install the latest version to make the firmware work
• Battery lock function also available, so a tea leaf can’t (easily) ride off on your bike

My test mule came with the Bosch Gen 5 motor but came out way before the firmware update

That’s the theory anyway, but when I tried to download the latest Bosch CX Gen 5 firmware update things didn’t go quite to plan.

While I could customise power through the original modes and clock things up to 750W of peak power, the EMTB+ mode hadn’t been downloaded. Worse still, I couldn’t drag the torque slider past 85Nm, leaving my Whyte Elyte Evo Stag Works test bike 15Nm shy of the full dose.

I could get full power, but not the 100Nm of torque

This was also mbr editor Danny’s experience on his current Santa Cruz Bullit, which wouldn’t go to 100Nm either. Bosch’s own YouTube instructions also left some riders baffled and unable to complete the firmware update.

Bosch said “it may take several days before you see the performance upgrade for the performance value ‘maximum torque'”, so my hope is this will be figured out for us all by the weekend.

Bosch CX Gen 5 motor firmware update details

The update is officially available for bikes with the model year 2026 and onwards, but Bosch has a history of making its improvements backwards compatible. This means anyone with a Gen 5 motor can get the much-needed power boost and come close to competing with the DJI Avinox motor.

This is what Bosch is competing against, a motor with 120Nm of torque and 1,000w peak power

Besides the power boost, you’ll also be able to increase support up to 400%, from 340%. On paper that means the motor will now generate 400W to your 100W, which in practice means you don’t have to pedal as hard to get full gas.

Don’t like it? There’s no compulsion to use all the juice now available, both torque and peak power are adjustable via the Flow app sliders. Bosch also includes a warning that the drivetrain and components can wear faster thanks to this increased demand on them… but if you’ve got this far I doubt many of us will pay attention to that.

What you should take note of is EMTB+ mode though, which is a big improvement on power delivery from Bosch. It delivers the Extended Boost or overrun from EMTB mode, and pairs it with the full power of Race mode.

The Canyon Strive:ON with its older Gen 4 motor won’t get any more power, but at least you can get the EMTB+ power mode

Riders with the older Gen 4 CX Smart System motor aren’t totally left out though. There’s no more power, but the the eMTB+ is available, which is a good thing for power and control.

Those other updates you should really know about then? You can now set the battery to digitally lock itself when the bike is turned off, this means if your bike is stolen its effectively useless.

Bosch reckons this should deter theft, and perhaps it will in the long run, but I doubt many bike thieves will stop to check the app and battery status on their recently pinched ride. At least it’ll stop them actually powering off down the street on it.

There’s also a new subscription service called Flow+ that feeds you a ton of data including the number of rides, the distance travelled, the riding time and the elevation. Here’s a little hint though, Garmin does this for free so I can’t see many reasons to fork out for this.

How to get the new Bosch Gen 5 firmware update

The first thing you need to do is download or update the Bosch flow app, you’re after version 1.28 to make it work. I had to update mine by going to the App Store as there doesn’t seem to be an update function through the app itself.

Then turn your bike on and let it connect to your phone. An option to update to the new firmware should appear, tap it and follow the instructions. If it doesn’t pop up, open the settings symbol at the top right and hit e-bike update then “Adjust performance value of your drive unit” and you’re good to go… in theory!