A drone company now makes one of the most powerful e-bike motors you can buy. If that sounds like a strange sentence, you are not alone. Avinox was created in 2024, and within two years it had gone from one bike nobody had heard of to more than twenty brands fitting it.
This guide covers what Avinox is and who makes it, which bikes you can buy with it, what changed between the M1, M2 and M2S, and how it compares to Bosch. It ends with the question most riders ask last, like how fast the thing will actually let you go.
What is Avinox?
Avinox is a complete e-bike drive system rather than just a motor. The Avinox package covers the mid-drive motor, the battery, a colour display on the top tube, handlebar remotes and a phone app that ties the lot together.
It launched in 2024 on the Amflow PL a bike almost nobody had heard of at the time and it landed with numbers that didn’t look quite right.
-Up to 120Nm of torque
–1,000W of peak power
– A motor weighing 2.52kg at a point when the established systems were offering around 85Nm.
Riders assumed these figures were optimistic but then the reviews came in and they were real.
Who makes Avinox motors and how does DJI fit in?
The creator of the Avinox motor was DJI, the same company also known for their drones and gimbals. DJI developed and launched the Avinox system in 2024.
The confusion comes from the three names in circulation:
- DJI is the company
- Avinox is the drive system it builds
- Amflow is DJI’s own bike brand, created to launch the system on a bike of its own
When another manufacturer fits the drive system to its frame, it is usually badged Avinox rather than DJI, which is why you will see both names on the shop floor.
Different bike brands, same hardware underneath.
A drone company building a class-leading e-bike motor makes more sense once you look at what a drone actually is. A compact electric motor, high-density batteries, power management and control software all of it optimised around weight. DJI had spent years solving those problems in the air before it applied them to a bottom bracket.
Which bikes use Avinox motors?
More than twenty five brands now list Avinox models and it’s not a list of unknowns either. Major brands like Canyon, Commencal, Mondraker, Pivot, Whyte, Forbidden, YT and Megamo have all built bikes around it, alongside DJI’s own Amflow.
Almost all of them are full-power electric mountain bikes, from trail through to enduro, which is the territory the system was designed for. It has started to appear elsewhere too, with a small number of gravel and adventure bikes now implementing it, but the mountain is still where it lives.
Here are three examples from our range of electric mountain bikes that show what the system can do at very different ends of the price list.
2026 Unno Mith Pro Avinox M2S
Price: £10,695.00
Unno builds in small numbers and designs with a level of obsession that borders on unreasonable, so the Mith Pro was always going to be a considered piece of engineering.
Carbon throughout and built around the M2S with the 800Wh battery, what the motor gives it is headroom. A frame this precise deserves a drive unit that never feels like the limiting factor, so you simply stop thinking about gradient and enjoy spending a full day in the hills rather than planning a route around the battery.
Megamo Reason CRB 01 2027
Price: £10,999.00
The Reason CRB 01 is the flagship of Megamo’s carbon range. This is the build where the M2S makes the clearest case for itself. Thirty seconds of boost gives you 150Nm and 1,500W, which is enough to fly up the steep, awkward, technical climbs that would otherwise mean getting off and walking.
Megamo Reason AL 07 2027
Price £4,999.00
The Reason AL 07 is the alloy version, and it’s the one worth paying attention to if the numbers above appeal but the price doesn’t.
The frame is aluminium rather than carbon and the finishing kit is more modest, but the drive system is the same M2S with the same 800Wh battery, so you aren’t getting a watered-down motor for the price.
That matters, because the motor is the part of an e-MTB that most shapes how the bike feels, and here it arrives intact at the most accessible point in the range.
M1, M2 and M2S: What’s Changed?
Three generations in two years, which tells you how quickly this model has moved.
The M1 is the original, and it is still a strong motor. The M2 and M2S arrived together as the second generation sharing a redesigned internal layout but separated at the top end.
The M2S is the flagship, using flat copper windings and a dual-meshing gear design to push power density further and it is fractionally lighter than the standard M2 despite making more.
| M1 (2024) | M2 (2026) | M2S (2026) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous torque | 105 Nm | 110 Nm | 130 Nm |
| Boost torque | 120 Nm | 125 Nm | 150 Nm |
| Peak power | 1,000 W | 1,100 W | 1,500 W |
| Weight | 2.52 kg | 2.65 kg | 2.59 kg |
| Efficiency | 82% | 83% | 84.5% |
-Boost is a thirty second burst not a mode you ride in, so treat those headline torque figures as a tool for one specific climb rather than a description of everyday running.
-Batteries come in 600Wh and 800Wh removable formats alongside a 700Wh integrated pack with the removable option making off-bike charging and travelling with the bike considerably easier.
In practice the gap between the M2 and M2S is narrower than the table suggests. Up to around 1,100W the two behave identically, so the difference only shows on sustained steep climbing or long high-power efforts. If most of your riding is trail centre laps rather than alpine fire roads the standard M2 is not the compromise it looks like on paper.
Avinox vs Bosch
The answer everyone has been looking for and on paper it’s not close. Against the Bosch Performance Line CX-R, the original Avinox M1 already made more peak power at 1,000W to 750W, more torque at 120Nm to 100Nm, and did it while weighing less. The M2S has moved further ahead since.
But a spec sheet is not a bike and ultimately it comes down to preference and to what a brand has proved over time.
Bosch has been powering e-MTBs for years, so whatever kind of riding you do there is a bike built around it that suits you. Avinox is spreading quickly, but the range is narrower and being sold the perfect motor in the wrong bike is a poor trade.
Bosch also has the years behind it. A service network, a parts supply chain and a decade of known behaviour. Avinox is two years old and it’s performing well, but nobody yet knows how one looks in seven years after several thousand miles because none of them have got there yet.
It comes down to what you value. Pick the bike that fits how and where you ride, then look at what is driving it.
Should you buy one?
Avinox suits you if you ride steep technical, repetitive climbs and want the descent to still feel like the reward. It also suits you if range anxiety has shaped your route planning and the 800Wh pack would stop that.
It’s less of an obvious call if you want the widest possible choice of frames, want to buy into a system with a long service record behind it or if you have no interest in pairing a phone to a bicycle.
What we would say is that none of this is really settled by reading. Torque figures are abstract until the moment a climb you have always walked up simply goes underneath you and that is something you have to feel.
We have Avinox bikes across our Blackburn, Burnley and Lancaster stores and demo rides are the fastest way to find out whether the fuss is justified. So come and ride one by bringing the climb you always struggle with in mind and see what happens.
FAQ’s
Is Avinox owned by DJI?
Yes, Avinox is DJI’s e-bike drive system. It was developed and launched in 2024 alongside Amflow, its own bike brand.
Why do some bikes say DJI and others say Avinox?
Avinox is the name of the system and DJI is the company behind it. Amflow is DJI’s bike brand created to first test the system. When manufacturers fit the motor to their own frames it will usually be badged as Avinox.
Is Avinox better than Bosch?
Avinox wins on power, torque and weight. On choice of bike, dealer support and years of proven service, Bosch is still ahead. The right bike matters more than the strongest motor so ensure this is your first priority.
Is Avinox road legal in the UK?
Yes, bikes sold here are built to meet EAPC rules, which cap assistance at 15.5mph and 250W. Peak power and rated power are different measurements which is why a motor quoting 1500W peak is still legal on UK roads and trails.
Is Avinox only for mountain bikes?
Mostly, the drive system was built for full-power e-MTBs and that is where nearly every model sits. However, a small number of gravel and adventure bikes have started using it and that list is growing.
How quick will an Avinox motor allow you to go?
Assistance will cut out at 15.5mph, the same as every legal e-bike in the UK. The big power figures affect how hard the motor pushes on climbs, not how fast you travel on the flat. Beyond 15.5mph, you are pedalling the bike yourself.
