It’s fair to say that DJI has had a pretty big impact on mountain biking, since it entered the space less than a year ago with the revolutionary Avinox motor. By all accounts – from speaking with bike shop owners, new Amflow owners and our own review of the Amflow PL Carbon alike – it’s an exceptional product that’s now the benchmark for e-bike power and control.

But what that doesn’t tell us is how the mountain bike community at large is thinking. It doesn’t reveal the impact big power motors are having on us all day to day, despite grabbing the headlines for the past 12 months. At most there can be a few thousand Amflows powering around the UK’s trails now, making them a tiny minority of the 4.1 million riders out there (around 6% of the population). 

What say the other four million mountain bikers who don’t have access to one of the best electric mountain bikes we’ve ever ridden? Are we all DJI Avinox riders in waiting, or does the lure of huge power not hold the same charm it does for those few thousand Amflow pilots?

I figured it was time to find out, by asking as many mbr readers and viewers as I could. And the results were hugely surprising…

Turns out, big power from motors like the Mahle M40 isn’t the most important thing for most of us

I asked whether ebikes have too much power, with new motors like the new Mahle M40 powering them, or is reliability more important? First up, thanks so much for your replies on email, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. I’ve been blown away by the sheer number of responses and my only regret is I can only include a small percentage of your views.

The big reveal then was that most of you actually aren’t interested in the most power possible, much to my surprise. Yes there were some viewers who reckoned more power was important, but they were in the minority. “Come in the Alps and see how much power you need … ebikes are great tools that need to be adapted to the playground,” Tito Tomasi replied.

Bikes like the Unno Mith with its DJI Avinox motor are all part of the mix for riders like Alexander Lemm

“Sure why not,” Jason said on Insta. “There are different settings. Pick the one you want. Simple 🤷🏼.” And “…at almost 100kg and doing 2h + rides with plenty of climbing, give me all the power and battery I can get,” said Personanongra7a.

And Alexander Lemm replied by email to say: “Yes I want 1000/1000+ watts of power on tap. It shuttles me to the top of the trail for another run quicker. Bosch has got this wrong and is dictating terms to the industry for its own financial gain.”

Sticks Pass on the way down from Helvellyn… would a mega power motor have helped Jonathan Nicoll up to the top more easily?   Photo by Jacob Gibbins

But Jonathan Nicoll on Facebook summed up the mood from those who don’t want more power. He argued power is nothing without control: “Would extra power have helped me over the nasty rocky steps up Stybarrow on Helvellyn? I doubt it,” he said. “I am far more interested in range and reliability than more power. Oh! and lighter would be good when pushing and loading.”

Both the Avinox and Mahle motors offer riders a form of traction control on the rear wheel though, thanks to a more accurate sensor that measures speed every 2cm, throttling the power as necessary. I’d probably argue that these modern motors would have helped Mr Nicoll over those rocks. But we’ll never know.

It’s something Kerry Burn pointed out on his Facebook post: “I owned an Amflow from Dec 2025 through to April this year… it is not just about the power, its the integration and the power delivery.

The Avinox speed sensor is far more accurate than a traditional magnet, and lets bikes like the Amflow use traction control

“The integration with their components like the Osmo camera and the overall build of the bike is second to none. Thats before you take into account the excellent customer service from the dealers (Sandy Plenty and The Trailhead). The established brands have grown lazy and complacent and the sour grapes we are now seeing around restrictions and the like is simply lazy and reductive.”

Jamie Halliday seems to have lost most of his friends by riding an e-bike that was just too powerful, but don’t worry he sold up his conversion kit bike and bought a Bosch instead. “G’day, my name is Jamie and I’m in Australia,” he said. “My first [e-bike] was actually a mid-motor conversion kit by CYC with 1500 watts of power, 52 volts and 17.5 Amp-hour battery. Too much power? – You betcha! Tons of fun? Absolutely! Dangerous? What do you think? Never have I felt more likely to crash going UP-hill than down-hill. And of course, the worst part- NOBODY wanted to ride with me anymore.”

Fazua’s Ride 60 is enough for some riders, like Brett Staples

There was a general consensus that around 600-700W of peak power was also about right for UK riding. Barry Francis on Facebook said his “Gen 3 Levo is more than enough for me,” while Brett Staples on Insta found the 85nm of torque from a Shimano motor too much and “went down to 60Nm Fazua, plenty of support / assistance.”

There were other riders more interested in high torque than peak power. “I’m a big guy and nearly 40 years of off-road have taken a huge toll on my knees,” Someone Else on Facebook said. Yes, thats down as their real name. “My problem is the local rides are steep… I think the power [Ed – torque?] could solve my problems, but most I’ve tried don’t do enough for the steep stuff.”

For others just raising the speed restriction imposed on e-bikes in the UK would be more important for them than more power. Martin Davidson said: “25kmh is just not enough. Frequently, I see riders on whippet light carbon XC bikes & many carbon full sus bikes getting frustrated at overhauled by e-bike riders on the ups but then getting held up… on undulating trails where the e-bikes have hit the 25kph limit.”

Battery capacity also and the ability to remove them also featured highly, Brett Staples wants “1000Wh in the size of a can of beans, if you please.” Irek Bogucki said manufacturers should “focus on… improving battery, and I mean both energy density and charging times.”

The Nicolai Saturn with its MGU drive unit is popular not for its power figures, but for its potential reliability

And Andrew Vodden said on Insta that he’s “not interested in any bike where you can’t swap out batteries easily: Best e-bike I’ve ridden is Nicolai Saturn MGU by far. The 27kg weight is fine, 85nm is sufficient. Low maintenance cost and unlikely to damage drivetrain.”

Which brings us neatly to the most important improvement riders want from e-bikes – reliability. This featured in countless posts, and seems to be the main bugbear riders have right now. And with good reason.

“I’m sick of expensive motors failing after only a few years, and dealers not offering repairs. A bike should be robust and repairable. They are becoming too complex and delicate,” Philip Wright said. “More power? I’m not really interested.”

More motors could be saved from the scrap heap with better sealing and replaceable axle bearings, argues Mike Davies

Mike Davies suggested “outboard easily replaceable axle bearings with threaded or bolt on bearing casings…” would make a big difference. “I suspect a lot of motors could be saved from the scrap heap and less dirt ingress issues”

Living with the bike is important for you too it seems, with ease of servicing and the general quality of the bike a factor too. Fergus Anderson said on Instagram that he was happy with the “2022 Rocky Powerplay. I’ve had my eye out for a possible upgrade but nothing has convinced me to ditch it just yet.” That’s hardly surprising given how ahead of the curve Rocky Mountain was, with 700W and 108Nm of torque.

Tony Lund has worked on new trails at Gisburn, and reckons e-bikes have brought a greater potential for people to behave recklessly

Tony Lund pointed out that e-bikes are powerful enough now to access more ‘cheeky trails’, and this was putting riders in a bad position. “I currently manage the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, I built the trails at Lee Quarry and have had involvement in trail building at Healy Nab, Gisburn Forest and a couple of other small sites,” he said. “I also have worked as part of the public rights of way team as well. I’m also an Amflow owner and rider.

“E-bikes are having a big impact,we are seeing more people out on them and from my perception it’s not all good. There seems to be a bit of a lack of respect and understanding, which I think is more of an issue than the power of the bikes.

“It’s great to see more people out enjoying themselves but heart breaking to see them cutting fences because they can’t lift the e-bike over a fence, or disturbing nesting birds by riding new lines that were pretty much impossible before or racing through a field of pregnant ewes with no regard to the damage they are doing. It’s not the power of the bikes that’s the issue its how people use them.”

This definitely bites for some of us, we’re talked before about how we have a love-hate relationship with e-bikes, and part of that is how people behave on the things.

Finally, there were some of you out there who wanted to ride a unicorn. Mau De Avila said: “I want 600w power, 100Nm torque, 850Wh battery, 17kg.”

At the rate e-bikes are developing, we’ll probably have something like that in a few years.