The Future of eMTBs? DJI’s Game Changing Amflow PL Carbon Pro [Video]

DJI has made quite the splash into the eMTB world with their Amflow PL Carbon ebike that offers impressive power and battery life in a lightweight package. It utilizes their very own Avinox motor whose numbers will make you double take, but how does the bike stack up against the top crop of established eMTBs? Tune in to find out!

 

Bike Details & Ride Impressions

When we first heard DJI was going to be sending us a bike to test, we didn't have any clue what it was going to be. Would it be the ultimate city bike with cameras mounted on it to capture your everyday urban escapades, or perhaps an otherworldly creation that would deploy a drone to capture your most epic shredding moments?

After much anticipation, we were pleasantly surprised when this capable looking emtb showed up at our door. With a very dialed build kit featuring top shelf components (along with some Amflow house brand components that we'll discuss later on) we were already looking forward to putting it through its paces. After a little ride around the parking lot to experience what the motor was like, all of us here at the shop were giddy with excitement - just the acceleration alone from this bike will put a silly grin on your face.

Initial set up on this bike was a breeze. I'm already familiar with the suspension platform as I am using the same components on my Yeti SB140 although I have the GripX Damper in my Fox 36 as opposed to the GripX2 in the 36 on the Amflow. Semantics aside, I set things up essentially to Fox's recommended settings as that's around the ballpark I'm working with on my daily driver. 

I set the tires up tubeless and aside from setting my saddle height and making some minor cockpit adjustments, I left everything else how it came from the factory. I was also pleasantly surprised to see an Ergon SM Pro saddle (my personal favorite saddle I've used) as well as Magura MT7s and a SRAM X0 Transmission - all components I'm very familiar with and they all work very well together. Needless to say it took no time at all to feel very at home on this bike. 

When it comes to geometry and suspension design, this bike is very in line with what you'd consider modern trail bike geometry and it thrives on anything from fun, flowy singletrack to moderately technical enduro style trails. With 150mm of rear travel paired with a 160mm fork, I was definitely impressed by the way the bike behaved when pushing it hard on fast, flowy/techy trails as well as slower technical trails where you had to be a little more precise. Being 44.5lbs with the 800wh battery (42lbs with the 600wh battery), it feels quite maneuverable and agile even for an ebike - the suspension is supportive and the four bar linkage was predictable. It even handled serious bottom outs quite well and while I could tell I was bottoming out, it certainly wasn't tooth rattling and the suspension ramps up nicely.

The relative light weight of the bike allows it to retain some of that fun, lively trail bike nature as opposed to a self shuttle DH eMTB that a lot of brands are putting out right now (and those are an absolute blast in the right place as well.) I was still able to bunny hop and jump over things I probably wouldn't attempt if the bike was in the 50lb range.

Now let's go over the most intriguing part of this whole bike... DJI's own Avinox motor and battery package. You are probably wondering how much range you can expect in each of the different drive modes especially considering every ebike is different in this regard and how much power and torque the system is putting out. Eco mode is about how you would expect - probably the perfect speed for when you are riding with folks who are either riding a normal mountain bike, who aren't on the fastest ebike in the world, or if you want to squeeze a ton of miles out of a single charge. I personally didn't have the patience to do an entire ride on Eco mode but suffice to say it would satisfy even the most ambitious adventurer.

I did go for a couple of rides in one of my favorite local zones to replicate an endurance test in a couple of the drive modes to see how long they would run. In trail mode, I was able to manage 35-40 miles with over 4400 feet of elevation which used 85% of the battery at a 14mph average speed. I was able to squeeze nearly 30 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation with an average speed of over 15mph in turbo mode. Keep in mind this is with myself as a roughly 190lb rider, testing during the hottest heat wave of the year (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and with the stock tires (Maxxis Assegai EXO & Maxxis Dissector EXO+). It was impressive to see how the system performed in these oppressive temperatures.

Throughout my experience testing the bike I've always felt the range was appropriately drained when you take into account the insane amount of power the motor is putting out. If you are a little trigger happy with the boost mode... it will certainly drain it a bit quicker. I won't name any names but there have been some ebikes I've ridden in the past where the battery is drained so fast it's actually shocking and makes you question if you'll make it home with juice to spare. With the Amflow, you are able to tune the amount of power and torque on tap in the DJI Avinox App, however I kept the bike with all of the stock settings during my testing period. Surely you could tune the motor to have slightly less assistance so you can squeeze even more range out of the system, or even more for some rowdy hot laps.

Speaking of the Avinox App, it's the host to a ton of other features like remote locating, password protecting your bike in case you need to leave it alone for a moment, monitor charging status, battery charging cycles, motor and battery temperature and much more. Some other ebikes lack this sort of customization and I think that's a missed opportunity. It only makes sense to tie in the technology of your bike with a technologically advanced app to take advantage of all of the features of the bike. 

Potential Cons

So we've been talking about how fun this bike is to ride and how impressed we've been with the technology and how seemingly refined it is across the board. But surely there are some things we didn't love, right? After a couple hundred very rough miles, the headset has developed a little bit of a creak. Even with a little bit of grease, the creak persists. The headset is an Amflow house brand headset, and if it were my bike, I would replace or upgrade with something a little more durable. Speaking of house brand components, there are some others like the Amflow carbon wheels, carbon handlebar, stem and cranks. While we didn't have any issue with any of these components during our test period, some could be weary of these relatively untested components even though they are of very high quality and are likely made alongside some other very well known components.

When it comes to other cons, aside from the headset woes, there isn't an awful lot of water bottle clearance. We were able to squeeze a standard water bottle into our large size frame using a Wolf Tooth Morse Cage, although we found a small Fidlock bottle works best with the tight clearance. 

When it comes to components, you could argue that it could use a little more robust rubber for some more confidence and traction, although the stock tires have worked out just fine. If it were me, I'd step them up to Double Down casing front and rear and some MaxxGrip rubber up front.

Finally, the most important potential con of all is of course the new technology in the Avinox motor. While it has performed flawlessly during our test period and hasn't shown any signs of aging, we are all still unsure of how it will hold up long term - we will have to trust that DJI has done their homework and so far it appears they have. Of course all ebike motors have their faults and none of them are perfect, so only time will tell how the Avinox will age. 

Final thoughts

It appears DJI has hit the ground running with their first ever foray into the eMTB world. With a seriously impressive motor and battery system DJI has developed in-house, a top tier components package, a svelte frame with modern geometry and insane technology to boot, the Amflow is giving us a glimpse into the future of ebikes and we're more excited than ever.