We might only be eight months into the year, but the bike industry is already looking towards 2025, with loads of new bikes and products starting to trickle down the pipeline. And loads of them were on show at the industry’s biggest trade fair recently – Eurobike in Frankfurt. With eight halls, a huge outdoor demo area, and 1,800 stands exhibiting over 150,000m2, the Eurobike Show is truly vast, attracting 70,000 bike nerds from around the world. Bike Test Editor, Alan Muldoon, and myself were among those bike nerds, and spent two days marching the halls in search of new and exciting bikes and gear. Consider this, then, our photo and brain dump of the things that really stood out among the millions of products on display.

Amflow PL Carbon with DJI Avinox motor – Drone brand swoops in on the e-bike market

Arguably the product of the show, and certainly the one that created the biggest buzz and had the most bike brand execs sweating, was the DJI motor-equipped Amflow PL Carbon e-bike. Basically a start-up e-bike brand created by drone kings DJI to house its game-changing new Avinox motor. This new unit breaks new ground with a blend of high power and light weight that blows most popular motors out of the water on paper, and backs it up with a suite of sophisticated and sensitive sensors borrowed from its drone division to make sure that power is delivered in a useable and controllable fashion.

Headline stats are 850w peak power and 108Nm of torque with a short term overboost that raises those figures to 1,000w and 120Nm. There are two battery sizes – 600Wh and 800Wh – with fast charging to 75% in 90 minutes, and the system will be available exclusively on two new trail bike models from Amflow; the PL Carbon and PL Carbon Pro.

Looking a lot like a Specialized Levo SL, the Amflow bikes have 150mm travel with a 160mm fork and 29in wheels front and rear. Prices are TBC, but I’ve been told to expect the two-bike range to start at around €7,000 (£6,000) when they become available through select dealers later this year.

ZF Centrix motor – Compact, high power, easy-to-service motor from the automotive component giant

Another bombshell dropped on the e-bike market at Eurobike was the ZF Centrix motor. With an extremely compact footprint thanks to the concentric design, high power, light weight, and rapid removal for servicing, the Centrix unit also comes backed with the clout of one of the most respected component suppliers in the automotive industry. A brand for whom reliability and serviceability will be high on the list of priorities. Key facts are 600W of peak power and 90Nm of torque in a 2.5kg unit not much bigger than a tin of beans. In that respect, it’s like a high power TQ HPR50 with a 650g weight penalty.

The motor can be removed from the frame in five minutes, saving time in the workshop for dealers and service partners, and there’s a suite of controllers and display options for bike brands to choose from, as well as two battery options – 504Wh or 756Wh. At Eurobike the launch partner for ZF was German brand Raymon (also based in Schweinfurt, Germany, the home of SRAM), and the Centrix unit was fitted to the slick looking Tarox enduro e-bike.

One of the main benefits of the compact motor will be giving more freedom to bike brands when it comes to frame design and packaging. On the flip side, heat management will have to be dialled, and the battery weights are high compared to the latest systems with the new cell technology, so the system weight is not as impressive as it could be.

Black Math enduro bike – Crazy shapeshifting CNC dropper frame from Poland

This incredible piece of engineering is the Black Math enduro bike from Poland. Dispensing with the dropper post, the Black Math creators have incorporated the seat height adjust into the articulating frame. But not only does the saddle height change; the head angle, travel, BB height and suspension kinematics are modified during the transformation from climb mode to descend mode.

Black Math says this optimises the bike in both modes, from a 140mm travel climbing machine with a steep seat angle and better pedal clearance, to a raked-out DH sled with 170mm travel.

It’s an amazing bike to behold, with the CNC 7075 alloy frame and theatrical transformation. If you truly want to stand out on the trails, this is the bike for you!

TRP/Bosch E.A.S.I. A12 – electronic e-bike drivetrain with automatic shifting

TRP and Bosch have partnered to create a new electronic drivetrain option for its e-bike motors to rival SRAM’s Powertrain/Transmission system and Shimano’s DI2. It’s fair to say that automatic shifting has had a lukewarm reception by mountain bikers, with confusion over which bikes have it, what it does, and what advantages it brings. But the big drivetrain brands are persevering with it, and now they’ve been joined by TRP/Bosch, with the E.A.S.I. A12 boasting similar benefits of smoother shifting, less drivetrain wear, and giving the rider more capacity to focus on the trail. TRP uses a wireless shifter, but wires the rear mech to the main Bosch e-bike battery (like SRAM’s Hotshoe connection).

We’ve ridden the SRAM Powertrain system, and Shimano Autoshift, and found there were benefits on some undulating trails and steady climbs, but reached for the manual override on most descents. It’s early days for automatic shifting, and I’m sure things will improve rapidly, but I’m not convinced most riders will be willing to pay extra for the system.

I’m keen to try the Bosch/TRP effort, though, and if TRP manages to bring the price down, then it might find traction among Bosch-equipped e-bikes. Automatic shifting joins ABS braking in the suite of Bosch rider aids – what next? Collision detection? Lane assist for singletrack? Cruise control?

ARC 8 Prototype Downhill bike – interchangeable frame plates and shock rails on this innovative DH bike

The Trick Stuff brakes stand was home to some of the most creative mountain bikes in the show, with the centrepiece being this prototype downhill bike from small Swiss brand, ARC8. So we have two innovations here, the most obvious one being the interchangeable plates that make up a large part of the front triangle. These water-jet cut alloy plates bolt on either side of the frame and allow ARC8 to make adjustments to the travel, geometry, and kinematics without having to weld a new frame together.

By moving the mounting points for the shock, BB, main pivot and shock rails, it can fine-tune one or multiple elements that affect the ride characteristics. For example, changing the height of the sliders affects the travel. Changing the angle of the sliders alters the progression. And in terms of geometry, chainstay length, head angle, reach, and BB height can be tinkered with.

It’s a very clever design, that would – as it is now – allow racers the chance to configure their bikes to different riding styles or tracks, or as a prototype tool, let ARC8 explore different configurations before signing off on a frame design. The other key feature here is ARC8’s Slider linkage system. Rather than a linkage moving through an arc, the link driving the shock slides along a rail, effectively creating an infinitely long lever with a linear progression throughout the travel. This simplifies shock tuning and gives a more consistent, predictable feel to the rider. It’s a clever design, and you can read what Alan thought of the ARC8 Evolve FS when he rode it here.

Nicolai Nucleon 16 – High-pivot hauler with progressive geometry

The Nicolai stand was awash with eye-catching models, from the G1 Geometron to the Saturn 16 MGU e-bike behemoth with Pinion motor/gearbox unit and Gates belt drive. This Nucleon 16 is the brand’s high-pivot option, with a rearward axle path, idler drivetrain, and what Nicolai describes as its “most capable suspension design to date”. It’s available with 165mm or 175mm of rear travel, and compatible with both 29in wheels front and rear, or an MX mullet set-up. Geometry, as you’d expect from Nicolai, pushes the boundaries, with a 490mm reach on the medium frame, while there are five sizes to choose from.

The 7020 alloy frame features welded tubes and forged and CNC-machined parts, all optimised using FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis. All Nicolai bikes come with a five-year warranty that includes racing and jumping, and supported by spare parts for at least ten years.

Bulls Wild Creed – Sleek German enduro bike

Bulls is one of those huge German brands we don’t see a lot of here in the UK, but it has some cool-looking bikes at competitive prices. One that caught my eye was this new Wild Creed enduro bike in rather fetching pistachio paint option. It’s a full carbon frame using a single-pivot design and a linkage-driven shock, nestled low in the frame. This gives 160mm of rear wheel travel and it’s paired with a 170mm fork – in this case a RockShox Zeb. There are 29in wheels front and rear and the spec on this model includes a Shimano XT/SLX 12-speed drivetrain and Shimano brakes. Price as seen is €3,999, or about £3,400. Not bad for a full carbon enduro bike.

Moustache Project Box 46 Prototype – long-travel e-bike with Pinion’s combined gearbox and drive unit

French e-bike brand was showing a prototype of its BOX 46 project, despite being in the final development stage. Moustache will join the likes of Bulls, Simplon, Rotwild, Flyer, and Nicolai in offering a production bike with this innovative and potentially game-changing motor. Moving away from a traditional drivetrain certainly brings gains in robustness, durability, and unsprung weight, with a cheap-to-replace belt drive and gearbox that only needs an oil change every year. But there are compromises to be made with the shifting speed and quality at certain points in the range and there is a weight penalty with the system.

The Mounstache project has been in progress for two years and is nearing production, with a few refinements to make, according to the brand. There are few details about the bike itself, but it’s plain to see that this is a burly bike with around 160-170mm travel. It uses an alloy frame, with the motor clocked almost vertically to allow the battery to be slotted alongside for better weight distribution. It’s also likely this configuration allows the battery to be removed easily from the frame for charging without cutting a hole in the down tube and weakening the structure. What’s also interesting about the prototype is that Moustache is running a stock Fox Float X2 shock, instead of the proprietary Magic Grip shock found on its current models. Having ridden Moustache’s shock on its Samedi e-bike, I think this is a big step forwards, as I found this to be a big limiting factor in the performance of the bike.

Haro Daley – Reborn full-suspension range from the old-school BMX brand

Haro is a US brand with a long and rich heritage in BMX. It also sponsored the likes of Mick Hannah on the World Cup DH circuit back in early ’00s. Well, Haro is making a return to the performance mountain bike market with a couple of new models, the Greer and the Daley. The Greer is the enduro model with 170mm front/160mm rear travel and mixed wheels, while the Daley is the trail bike with 20mm less travel and 29in wheels front and rear. This alloy Daley is a limited edition with a ‘raw’ anodised finish, but there will be alloy and carbon versions of both models. Price for an alloy Greer Alloy Limited 2 (with the raw finish) is €4,299.99). Haro says its range of full-sus models will be available from September.

Steppenwolf Tundra 10.0 – SL e-bike with compact Swiss Maxon motor

Steppenwolf is another German brand with a vast range of e-bikes and a name that evokes images of flowing mullets and stadium rock. This Tundra 10.0 is noteworthy for its streamlined Maxon Bikedrive Air motor system offering 40Nm of support in a package that weighs just 3.5kg including 25oWh – there is also a 360Wh option. The Swiss-designed system is very similar to the more widely-used Fazua Ride 50 and Ride 60, where the drive unit extends into the down tube, in line with the battery. Unlike Fazua, Maxon does currently offer a 250Wh range extender. In addition to this Steppenwolf Tundra 10.0 (€7,899), you can find the Maxon motor in the Transalpes E1 (a kind of Swiss Transition that weighs under 16kg), the Thomus Lightrider E Ultimate, the Spherik from Canada, and the Dirtlab E-Menace. Yep, all of those are news to me, but the on-paper weights are certainly impressive.

ARC8 Extra Air – Boutique enduro bike with sexy Intend suspension

Another ARC8 bike that stopped me in my tracks while walking the aisles was this Extra Air on the Intend Bicycle Components stand. The Extra is ARC8’s enduro bike, utilising its clever Slider suspension design and flex-stays to bosh out 160mm of travel. It’s a full carbon frame with elegant lines and fine tubing, and a claimed weight of 2,550g. The down tube houses the Stopf-Box internal frame storage, and there are complete builds starting at €6,499. Fitted to this bike is the boutique Intend Edge upside-down enduro fork and Hover air shock. Adding a cool €1,899 to the price of the bike, the Edge fork is extremely cool and unbelievably smooth, with minimal bushing bind under braking and cornering and maximum seal lubrication to give a remarkably supple action. At the opposite end, the Hover OPT shock is no less unique, with architecture that puts the air-spring and damping in series, rather than parallel. That’s a further €1,079 to add to the price tag, but what we’re left with is an absolutely stunning enduro bike with potentially mind-blowing performance.

Bosch Performance CX Gen 5 motor – unreleased new Bosch motor looks ready to go

After a tip-off (mentioning no names) I went in search of the as-yet undisclosed Gen 5 Bosch CX motor, and it didn’t take long to find one. In fact it was everywhere at Eurobike, with dozens of bikes on display fitted with the new unit, some of which were disguised with black tape, others completely visible to anyone who knew what they were looking for. And what’s plain to see is that the new motor is smaller than the current Gen 4, with a new two-bolt mounting pattern (the current unit uses three bolts either side). Physically, it sits somewhere between the lightweight SX unit and the Gen 4 motor. This could indicate a slight weight loss, or reduction in q-factor, but no one would give away any hard and fast details on the spec.

It’s likely that a big overhaul for the CX system will include a battery upgrade to the latest cells (as found in the SX’s 400Wh unit), which should bring a useful increase in range alongside a decent weight saving. Lots of bikes fitted with the new CX motor also had blanking plates on the top tube, suggesting a new top tube controller/display unit is imminent. I’d expect something like a Kiox integrated into the top tube given the size of the opening.

Fazua Ride 60 new Ring controller, bigger battery, and range extender – improvements to one of the most efficient SL motors on the market

Fazua announced a suite of updates for its Ride 60 system before Eurobike, but came to the show with the actual parts for people to look at and touch. Well, almost. The parts were 3D printed mock-ups rather than production items, but the updates are definitely welcome for a system that is used by a lot of performance MTB brands. Biggest news is a new 480Wh battery with an extra 10% range. This is designed to be permanently installed in the frame rather than quickly removable, but because it uses the latest cell technology, it’s actually lighter than the current 430Wh unit, according to Fazua. Better yet, existing Fazua owners will be able to upgrade to the new battery when it comes out in 2025. The second improvement is a more robust and positive Ring Controller with a bearing and detents (clicks) to indicate when you’ve changed modes. Again, this is slated for MY25 release. Also present on the stand was a range extender – at least that’s what I’ve been told, as I didn’t see it myself. And again, it was a mock-up, and no one from Fazua was willing to commit to a date it will appear, beyond the vague “next year”. Still, range was never really Fazua’s issue. It’s probably more important to improve its reputation for durability and reliability. Hopefully all that Porsche money (Fazua is owned by the automotive brand) will see to that.

Karcher all-in-one portable pressure washer – new portable unit with water reservoir for car park bike washing

On the Karcher stand was a new and as-yet unreleased product aiming at trumping the best portable pressure washers. It packages the battery, pump, hose, lance, and water reservoir in one unit with wheels and a handle, making it perfect for muddy winter rides in the UK. We had a quick blast with the demo unit and it felt strong, but you can also tune the jet to make it safer around sensitive bearings and e-bike motors. No word on a name, pricing, or availability yet, but we’ll keep you informed.

Acto5 P-Train enduro bike – CNC-machined stunner from Dresden

Also hovering on the Trick Stuff stand was this stunning Acto5 P-Train – a CNC-machined alloy enduro bike. Frames are machined in two halves from 7075 aluminium and then bonded together down the centreline, where the machining lines are left visible on the exterior of the frame and anodised in your choice of nine colours to really highlight the exquisite finish.

It’s also a high-pivot design with a floating brake caliper to tune anti-rise, and the travel can be configured between 145mm and 175mm in 10mm increments. Both 29in and 27.5in wheels can be run out back, and there are multiple geometry adjustments available on each of the three frame sizes. A P-Train frame costs from €6,990 without shock.

Nicolai Saturn 16 MGU – Brutalist e-bike with gearbox and belt drive

Fans of CNC-machining will also appreciate the detailing on Nicolai’s bonkers Saturn 16 MGU e-bike. This alloy-framed behemoth comes with the much hyped Pinion MGU combined motor and gearbox. This gets 12 gears with a 600% range all packed into the mid-drive motor unit, removing any need for expensive rear derailleurs hanging off the back of the bike.

There’s also a Gates belt drive between the motor and the back wheel, all but eliminating wear and tear. Inside the massive girder of a down tube is a 720Wh or 960Wh battery, and the shifting is controlled by an electronic underbar trigger unit – no unwieldy twist shifters. Price for the Nicolai Saturn 16 MGU with 720Wh battery is €10,999, while the 960Wh option costs an extra €1,000.

SRAM S1000 T-Type AXS – lower cost wireless shifting

Launched pre-show, Eurobike was the first time I got to see and touch the new entry-level SRAM AXS Transmission. And it looks good, particularly the new cassette, which gets the full 10-52T range but mounts on an old HG freehub body (Shimano’s original splined system). SRAM’s engineers have been able to do this because the T-Type/UDH interface frees up extra space beween the frame and the smalled sprocket. And what’s really cool is that you can replace individual sprockets as they wear out, rather than the whole thing. As for the rear mech, it doesn’t look that different to the GX AXS unit, gets the more protected battery placement of GX for the penalty of a bit of extra weight. Sounds good to me. The only weird bit is that the mech won’t be available separately, so if you want to upgrade to AXS Transmission, your cheapest option remains GX.

Buffalo Utility S2 – changing lives with the bicycle

The Buffalo Utility S2 is the evolution of the original World Bicycle Relief design of which 800,000 have been distributed for free across Africa, empowering people to start businesses and earn a living. As such, it was probably the most significant bike at the show, and won the Eurobike Gold award. The big news here is a two speed drivetrain running parallel chains that dramatically increase the distance people can pedal efficiently, allowing deliveries of longer distances and a bigger reach for businesses. At the same time, the design is simple and incredibly robust, designed for maximum durability. To change gear the rider simply back pedals, and having two chains means that you’re not stranded if one breaks. There’s also a kickstand and 100kg-rated rear carrier for hauling loads (or passengers). The bicycle has the power to change lives, and none more so than the Buffalo Utility S2. To read more about the World Bicycle Relief non-profit and to donate, click here.