The Market Has Voted — And Bosch Is Watching

How Avinox flipped the eMTB industry in two years — and what the holdouts reveal about where things are headed.

„1,500 watts. 150Nm. Same motor dimensions. That’s not an update — that’s a statement of intent.“

The Launch: A Coordinated Avalanche

On 9 April 2026, Avinox lifted the embargo. What followed was unlike anything the eMTB industry has seen before: within 48 hours, over 20 brands had announced new bikes running the M2S or M2. Amflow, Atherton, Commencal, Canyon, Forbidden, Megamo, Mondraker, Pivot, Propain, Rotwild, Whyte — the list reads like a who’s who of performance eMTB.

In total, Avinox names more than 60 OEM partners. This isn’t a happy coincidence — it’s the result of months of coordinated product development behind an embargo that had even seasoned journalists chewing their fingernails. Ferdinand Wolf, Product Experience Director at Avinox, kept it brief: Since launching the M1, we’ve had considerable support. With today’s announcement, we’re working with over 60 major brands. We’re excited to have them along for the ride.

What the Motor Actually Delivers

The M2S is not an incremental update. Compare the numbers: M1 — 1,000W and 120Nm; M2S — 1,500W and 150Nm. That’s the kind of jump that other drivetrain manufacturers take an entire product generation to achieve. Power density is up 45%. Weight is virtually unchanged: 2.59kg for the M2S, 2.65kg for the M2.

The engineering changes are substantial. Instead of straight-cut gears as in the M1, the M2S uses a dual-gear meshing design — eliminating both the drivetrain clatter on freewheeling and the pedal kickback that caused concern in the M1’s early days. Flat-wire windings replace the round-wire coils, packing more copper into the stator and converting directly into more torque from the same form factor. New integrated temperature sensors and cooling fins aim to reduce thermal throttling under sustained load — a weakness that occasionally caught out the M1 on long, brutal climbs.

The full 1,500W in Boost mode does come with a catch: it requires the new FP700 battery, built around custom large-format cells rather than the industry-standard 21700 cylindrical cells. The result is a dramatically slim down-tube profile that looks more like a light e-MTB than a full-power sled. Capacity: 700Wh at 3.18kg. Charge time 0–80%: 76 minutes via GaN fast charger.

„If you’re regularly hitting Boost, you’ll need either short rides or serious patience at the plug.“

The Holdouts: Strategy or Hesitation?

The most interesting story of this launch week isn’t who’s in — it’s who’s out. Trek, Specialized, Santa Cruz, Yeti Cycles, Rocky Mountain, Transition, Norco and Haibike are all conspicuously absent.

Specialized and Giant have obvious reasons: both run proprietary drivetrains. Specialized’s Turbo Full Power SL and its Brose-derived motor sit at the core of an entire retail ecosystem — dealer margins, warranty programmes, service infrastructure. Switching to Avinox wouldn’t be a supplier decision, it would be a retreat from their own platform. That’s not happening anytime soon.

Trek, Santa Cruz and Rocky Mountain are a more nuanced case. All three have deep-rooted Bosch partnerships, and for their dealer networks, Bosch represents something that goes beyond raw motor performance: it means reliability guarantees, established service centres, and a known quantity in the warranty department. E-MOUNTAINBIKE Magazine made the point cleanly: the Avinox wave is coming primarily from smaller, more agile brands. The high-volume players are keeping their powder dry.

Whether that’s careful strategy or slow-footedness will become clear over the next 12 months. What’s certain is this: every month that Canyon, Mondraker and Forbidden put Avinox bikes on the shelf, the pressure on the holdouts grows. Not because of wattage — because of sales.

The Regulatory Elephant in the Room

1,500 watts peak power. That’s officially six times the EU EPAC continuous power limit of 250W. Avinox handles this the same way it did with the M1: software-limited to 250W nominal in standard operation, with time-limited peak Boost activatable by the rider. Multiple sources confirm the M2S remains legally classified as an EPAC under EU and UK regulations.

That doesn’t change the physical reality. With 1,300W available in continuous Turbo mode and 1,500W in 60-second Boost, this system outguns a 50cc scooter on raw output. On technical trails the potential is enormous — and the responsibility sits squarely with the rider. Ride-MTB put the comparison in perspective: in Boost mode, the M2S produces torque comparable to the Ducati Desmosedici GP25 MotoGP race bike. The fact that it remains a pedal bicycle under road traffic law is more of a legal statement than a physical one.

Who Is This Actually For?

The honest answer: not everyone. Riders who spend 70% of their time on moderate trails and rarely touch Boost will notice precious little difference from the M1. Velomotion’s test found the M2S exceptional on steep, sustained technical climbs — but less differentiated from its predecessor on mellower terrain than the spec sheet suggests.

This motor is built for riders who want to self-shuttle. It’s built for enduro weekends with 2,000 metres of climbing. It’s built for people who find the M1 limiting — and those people definitely exist. BikeRadar’s test rider put it plainly: the M2S holds speed with less rider effort, gets up to pace faster out of corners, and drives harder up short steep pitches. It’s not night-and-day, but on the trails where it matters, it’s clear.

It’s also a philosophy statement. DJI builds drones with the same engineering logic it applies to this motor — power-to-weight as a design religion. The M2S is what happens when a drone company decides that mountain bike motors have been under-engineered for too long.

In two years, Avinox has achieved something Bosch never provoked in a decade of market leadership: genuine performance-level competition. Not through marketing spend, but through hardware. The M2S isn’t perfect — the relationship between Boost mode and battery demand is demanding, and the nuances of torque delivery on technical terrain still aren’t quite at the intuitive level of Bosch’s eMTB+ mode.

But the market has voted. Sixty-plus brands in two years isn’t an accident. The question is no longer whether Avinox is reshaping the industry — it’s how much longer the holdouts can afford to wait.

  M2S     Flagship — 1,500W / 150Nm (Boost)            M2     Mid-Range — 1,100W / 125Nm (Boost)

* TBA = pricing/specs not yet announced at launch. POA = price on application. Canyon Spectral:ON Avinox edition not yet publicly listed but confirmed in development.

• 
  The Market Has Voted — And Bosch Is Watching
• 
  AVINOX, HERE TO STAY.
• 
  Red Bull Cerro Abajo Stuttgart: The City’s About to Become a Race Track — If the City Gets Out of Its Own Way
• 
  Bike Park Opening Hours – Here’s How to Plan Your Season Now
• 
  Decathlon: The Most Underrated Player in Mountain Biking
• 
  Santa Cruz Skitch Lands in Europe: The Ultralight E-Allroad Drop Is Extremely Limited
• 
  Why P2 E-Bike Failed – And What It Reveals About Car Brands Trying to Enter the Bicycle World
• 
  Gravity Card 2026 – More Parks, Clear Season, Strong Community
• 
  Bosch Introduces Digital Theft Protection for E-Bikes – A CES Breakthrough
• 
  The Comeback of Sport: Enduro, Downhill, E-Enduro
• 
  MTB Report 🇬🇧 – January 2026
• 
  Why 2026 Will Belong to the Small Bike Brands