Amflow TL Carbon vs Riese & Müller Charger5
I have been riding our Amflow TL Carbon to work, on the same hilly lanes I normally ride on my Superdelite5. Back at the showroom in Little Dartmouth it stands next to the Riese & Müller Charger5, and on paper the two are a long way apart. One is a £3,199 carbon touring e-bike with full suspension, from a company founded in 2023. The other is Riese & Müller's touring all-rounder, from £5,589.
The Amflow TL Carbon is the lighter, cheaper and more powerful bike, with full suspension, a dropper post and electronic shifting as standard. The Riese & Müller Charger5 is the more solid, refined and efficient touring bike, with belt drive and hub-gear options the Amflow cannot offer, a Bosch range extender you can order today, and a longer track record behind it. If you want something serious that you will maintain and keep for years, it is the Charger5. If you want fun and power for a lot less money, it is the TL Carbon, with a few compromises you should know about first.
| Amflow TL Carbon | Riese & Müller Charger5 | |
|---|---|---|
| UK RRP | £3,199 (either frame) | from £5,589 (touring) to £7,889 (rohloff) |
| Frame | Full carbon, full suspension | Aluminium, suspension fork and suspension seatpost |
| Suspension | Fox AWL Sport 120 mm fork, Fox Float Rhythm 105 mm shock | Fox AWL 34 Air 100 mm fork, By.Schulz G.2 suspension seatpost |
| Motor | Avinox M2: 250 W rated, 110 Nm nominal, 125 Nm peak, 1,100 W peak power | Bosch Performance Line CX: up to 120 Nm and 750 W peak with Performance Upgrade 2.0 (pinion: Pinion MGU E1.12, 85 Nm, 600 W peak) |
| Battery | Avinox RS800, 800 Wh, removable | Bosch PowerTube 800, 800 Wh (pinion: FIT TubePack 800) |
| More battery | RS480 second battery listed by Amflow (1,280 Wh total); UK price not confirmed | PowerMore 250, £387 at order (1,050 Wh total); pinion: FIT BuddyPack 240, £461, from November 2026 (1,040 Wh) |
| Gears | TRP E.A.S.I. 10-speed electronic derailleur | 11-speed derailleur, Di2, Enviolo, Pinion or Rohloff, depending on version |
| Weight | 25.52 kg as sold (S/M), 25.95 kg (L/XL) | from 27.5 kg (R&M's basis, see below) |
| Brakes | Tektro 4-piston hydraulic, 180 mm rotors | Magura hydraulic (Bosch versions) |
| Tyres | Maxxis Crossmark II 27.5 x 2.35 | Schwalbe Super Moto-X 62 mm |
| Standard kit | Lights, mudguards, rear rack, kickstand, dropper post, bottle cage, Apple Find My | Lights, mudguards, rear rack, kickstand, frame lock and chain, RX Chip |
| Rear rack | 27 kg | 27 kg |
| Max total weight | 200 kg (rider up to 125 kg) | 160 kg (rider up to 125 kg) |
| Trailer | Yes, up to 60 kg with a trailer thru-axle kit | Yes, all three trailer types on 25 km/h versions |
| Sizes | S to XL from two frames | S, M, L, XL |
| Colours | One (Silica Beige) | Four |
How much lighter is the Amflow TL Carbon?
Less than the headline suggests. Amflow advertise the TL Carbon at 22.6 kg, but that figure is with the mudguards, lights, pedals and rear rack taken off, which are the parts that make it a touring bike. As sold, it weighs 25.52 kg in the S/M frame and 25.95 kg in the L/XL.
Riese & Müller list the Charger5 touring from 27.5 kg, measured on the smallest frame with the battery fitted but without pedals or the lock chain. So on paper the gap is about 2 kg, and in practice a little more, because R&M's figure leaves out parts the Amflow figure includes. The carbon frame does much of that work: Amflow claim 2.9 kg for the frame alone.
Two kilos matters when you lift a bike onto a car rack or turn it round in a tight space. On the road it works the other way: a heavier bike feels more planted at speed, and a lighter one moves around a little more. Against a Charger5 touring pro, the two feel similar to ride.
Which goes further, the TL Carbon or the Charger5?
Both bikes carry 800 Wh as standard, and both batteries come out for charging indoors.
Amflow claim up to 172 km (about 107 miles) from the TL Carbon's RS800. That figure comes from a flat paved road, an 80 kg rider, Eco mode and 21 km/h, so treat it as a ceiling rather than a Devon expectation. Amflow also list an RS480 second battery that takes the total to 1,280 Wh, but it is not on their UK accessories page yet, so I cannot tell you a UK price or when you could buy one. Amflow are also clear that third-party range extenders will not work with it.
On my own commute to the showroom, which has a lot of climbing, the TL Carbon used 25% of its 800 Wh, mostly in Auto with the odd burst of Turbo. My Superdelite5 uses about 30% of its 1,200 Wh on the same ride. That is one ride, not a range test, but the TL Carbon is not a hungry bike.
The Bosch-powered Charger5s take a Bosch PowerMore 250 range extender, a £387 option when you order, for 1,050 Wh in total. That one you can buy today. The Charger5 pinion has its own extender, the FIT BuddyPack 240 (£461, 1,040 Wh in total), available from November 2026. Riese & Müller do not publish a range figure, and I would rather send you to our range estimator than invent one: put in your weight, your hills and the assist level you ride in, and it will give you a realistic number for either battery.
The motors
The TL Carbon runs Amflow's Avinox M2: 250 W rated, 110 Nm nominal and 125 Nm peak torque, with up to 1,100 W of peak power on the current firmware. The Charger5 touring, touring pro, vario and rohloff run the Bosch Performance Line CX, which reaches up to 120 Nm and 750 W peak with Bosch's Performance Upgrade 2.0.
The torque is close. The difference is peak power, 1,100 W against 750 W, and you feel it on the steepest climbs. That does not leave the Charger5 short: the Bosch CX has more than enough power to get a loaded touring bike up any hill. The TL Carbon simply has more in hand. They also differ in everything around the motor. Bosch is the system most of our customers' bikes already run, and we work on it every day. Avinox is newer and its UK network is small and growing, which I come back to under support.
Full suspension or a hardtail?
This is the biggest difference between the two bikes. The TL Carbon is full suspension: a Fox AWL Sport fork with 120 mm of travel and a Fox Float Rhythm shock with 105 mm. The Charger5 is a hardtail with a 100 mm Fox AWL 34 fork and a By.Schulz suspension seatpost, which takes the sting out of rough tarmac and gravel without a rear shock to maintain.
Full suspension wins on comfort and off road. On a bridleway at speed the TL Carbon keeps its rear wheel on the ground, where a hardtail's back end skips about; the Charger5's seatpost is there for comfort, not grip. The Charger5 wins on efficiency. As soon as you add full suspension you start to lose some, so on a long tour the hardtail gets more miles out of the same battery. The TL Carbon's Fox fork is an Amflow version without a lockout.
If you want full suspension from Riese & Müller, that is the Delite5, its step-through sibling the Homage5, or the Superdelite5, all at a higher price again, and I compare the Charger5 with the Delite5 and Superdelite5 separately. The TL Carbon gets you full suspension for well under the price of any of them.
Gears
The TL Carbon has one drivetrain: a TRP E.A.S.I. electronic derailleur with a 10-speed 11-43 cassette. Amflow's SmoothShift lets you change gear while you coast, without turning the cranks, but the rear wheel still has to be moving, so you cannot change down at a standstill the way you can with a Rohloff. It does not shift automatically either, and with this much power it is easy to sit in the wrong gear without noticing, which is hard on the chain and cassette. What bothers me most is the shift buttons. They sit above the handlebar, so your thumb has to come up off the grip to reach them, which is awkward on rough ground and when you stop quickly.
The Charger5 is where Riese & Müller's configurability shows. The touring has an 11-speed Shimano Linkglide derailleur, the touring pro adds Di2 electronic shifting that can change gear for you automatically, and the vario, pinion and rohloff versions bring a Gates belt with an Enviolo hub, a Pinion gearbox or a Rohloff E-14 hub. A belt with a hub or gearbox is cleaner and needs far less attention than any derailleur, and it is something the Amflow cannot offer at any price. I have written up all the Charger5 gearing options separately.
Equipment and carrying
Both bikes arrive with lights, mudguards, a rear rack rated to 27 kg and a kickstand, so both are ready to tour as delivered.
The TL Carbon adds a dropper post as standard, two wireless handlebar controllers, a 2-inch OLED display, Apple Find My built in so you can track the bike from your phone, a torque wrench and a bottle cage. Its tyres are Maxxis Crossmark II at 2.35 inches, a trail tread, and they cannot be converted to tubeless. Amflow sell a front rack (£83.90, rated to 20 kg) and a trailer thru-axle kit (£43.90) for a trailer up to 60 kg.
On paper the TL Carbon also has the higher limit, 200 kg in total against the Charger5's 160 kg, both with a 125 kg rider. I would be cautious about that. Amflow's own setup table already asks for 280 psi in the rear shock for a 120 kg rider, before any luggage, and we have not tested a full-suspension carbon frame anywhere near 200 kg.
There are places where the price shows. The saddle looks the part, but the foam has little body to it and I do not expect it to last. The round mountain-bike grips get uncomfortable over a long day; a touring bike wants ergonomic grips. The front light runs from the main battery, but the rear light has its own rechargeable battery that you take off, charge and switch on separately, which is easy to forget before a ride home in the dark. The Maxxis tyres do the job but they are noisy on tarmac; for mostly road riding I would swap them for Schwalbe Super Moto-X, the tyre the Charger5 comes on, and the bike would go quiet. I have also noticed the spokes ping under hard braking, which I am keeping an eye on.
The Charger5 adds a frame lock with a chain lock, the RX Chip with a year of RX Connect services included, a Supernova front light and, on the Bosch versions, a Kiox 500 display. It runs Schwalbe Super Moto-X tyres, a road-and-gravel tread, and every 25 km/h version is approved for all three trailer types.
Sizing and fit
Amflow build two frames, S&M and L&XL, and set the size within each by swapping the stem. Every bike comes with both a short and a long stem, so going from S to M, or L to XL, is a fitting job rather than a different bike. That suits the way we hand bikes over: we set it up for you on the day. The catch is colour: there is only one, Silica Beige.
The Charger5 comes in four frame sizes and four colours, and in a second frame shape: the Charger5 Mixte, with a lower top tube, in sizes S to L at the same price. It is a step-through, just not quite as low as the Nevo5. The TL Carbon has one frame shape only.
Support, warranty and the newer brand
Amflow was founded in 2023. Riese & Müller has been making touring e-bikes for far longer, and that difference shows up less in the bike than in what sits behind it.
Amflow sell the TL Carbon direct in the UK at the same £3,199 we charge. What you get from us on top is the test ride, a bike professionally built in our workshop rather than put together from the box on your kitchen floor, the fitting, the handover and servicing afterwards. On warranty, Amflow give the carbon frame 5 years for the original owner, and the drive system and battery 2 years (the battery up to 500 charge cycles). Parts Amflow do not make, such as the Fox suspension and the brakes, are covered by their own makers, and labour and shipping are not covered by Amflow's warranty.
Riese & Müller give a 5-year frame guarantee to the first owner, provided the bike is registered on R&M's My Bike platform within four weeks and has its dealer inspections (the first at 400 km, then every 2,000 km (about 1,250 miles) or once a year). The battery is guaranteed to keep at least 60% of its capacity for 2 years or 500 full charge cycles. On paper the two warranties are similar. The bigger difference is the network behind them: Amflow now list TL Carbon spares on their UK site, but their dealer warranty process is not published yet and their UK network is small and growing. The question I would ask is what happens in year three or four if a motor fails. With Bosch, the parts and warranty process is long established, and we work on Bosch systems every week. With Avinox, it is too early to know whether a like-for-like replacement will still be available.
Whichever you buy from us, we service it at Little Dartmouth, with a free return-to-base check-up after the first four weeks. Our owner's guide to servicing, batteries and parts covers what that looks like on a Riese & Müller.
Price breakdown
| Model | UK RRP |
|---|---|
| Amflow TL Carbon (S&M or L&XL frame) | £3,199 |
| Charger5 touring | £5,589 |
| Charger5 touring pro | £6,049 |
| Charger5 vario | £6,049 |
| Charger5 pinion | £7,159 |
| Charger5 rohloff | £7,889 |
The Charger5 silent CORE (£4,209) is a different bike, with a Bosch Performance Line motor and a 540 Wh battery, so I have left it out of this comparison. The two 45 km/h speed pedelecs, the vario HS (£6,599) and the pinion HS (£7,529), are left out too.
The gap from the TL Carbon to a Charger5 touring is £2,390. For that you get a heavier, hardtail bike, so on the spec sheet the Amflow gives you more for less. What the extra money buys is the drivetrain choice, better finishing kit, a range extender available now, the Bosch support network and a brand with a long record in touring bikes. Put the other way, for £6,000 you could nearly have two TL Carbons. Whether that is worth £2,390 depends on how far you ride, how often and for how many years.
How they ride
Setting the price aside, the two feel very different. The TL Carbon feels light, fast and very capable off road. The Charger5 feels solid and refined, and it is superb on the road.
Riding the TL Carbon home with a pannier on, exactly as I would on my Superdelite5, I could feel the frame flexing and the bike starting to wobble once the speed got up. I gave it a good shake afterwards and could not pin down whether it is the frame itself or the parts around it, but it was disconcerting. Riese & Müller's alloy frames do not move like that.
Climbing is where you notice the extra power. The Charger5 will get you up anything; the TL Carbon has more in hand and just keeps going. Coming into work up a steep, narrow lane near Stoke Fleming with all my kit on, I pulled into a gateway to let a car past, put my foot on the pedal to set off again, and it nearly threw me off the back. With that much power on a steep hill, the front wheel lifts unless you shift your weight forward first. The Bosch pulls away more gently. You can adjust the TL Carbon's power settings, as you can with Bosch, but out of the box it is lively.
"It's got that much power. If you're sitting on a hill messing about with it, you can very quickly get the front wheel lifting and throwing you over the back. Shift your weight forwards and you can just keep on climbing."
Dan, ebikeist
Amflow TL Carbon vs Charger5: who should buy which?
Choose the Amflow TL Carbon if you want the most power and fun for the money and ride mostly lanes, gravel and bridleways; you want full suspension without paying Delite5 money; you want a lighter bike to lift onto a car rack; and you are happy to budget for better tyres, grips and a saddle.
Choose the Riese & Müller Charger5 if you want a serious touring bike that you will maintain and keep for many years; you ride long distances and want the efficiency of a hardtail; you want a belt drive and a hub or gearbox, automatic shifting, a Bosch range extender you can order now, or the lower step-through Mixte frame; or you value the Bosch system we work on every day and a 5-year frame guarantee.
The verdict
If you want a serious piece of equipment that you will maintain and keep for years, buy the Charger5. It is the more solid, refined and efficient touring bike, the belt-drive versions especially, and Bosch support is something we deal with every day.
If you want something fun, powerful and capable for a lot less money, the TL Carbon is very good. Go in knowing you will probably want to change the tyres, grips and saddle, that the shifting is the one thing you cannot easily fix, and that nobody yet knows what Avinox support will look like in year four.
"If it is a serious piece of equipment you are going to maintain and keep going, go for the Riese & Müller. If you want something really fun, the Amflow is incredibly good, and for £6,000 you can nearly afford two of them."
Dan, ebikeist
If you are still undecided, ask yourself how long you want the bike to last. If the answer is many years and many thousands of miles, it is the Charger5. If it is fun and power now, and you are happy to upgrade a few parts, the TL Carbon will save you more than £2,000.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Amflow TL Carbon lighter than the Riese & Müller Charger5?
Yes, by about 2 kg on the published figures and a little more in practice. The TL Carbon weighs 25.52 kg as sold (S/M frame); Riese & Müller list the Charger5 touring from 27.5 kg on a basis that leaves out the pedals and lock chain. Amflow's 22.6 kg headline figure is without mudguards, lights, pedals and rack.
Which has more range, the TL Carbon or the Charger5?
Both have an 800 Wh battery as standard. The Bosch-powered Charger5s can add a PowerMore 250 at order for 1,050 Wh, and the pinion gets the FIT BuddyPack 240 from November 2026. Amflow list an RS480 second battery for 1,280 Wh, but it is not on Amflow's UK accessories page yet, so there is no UK price.
Can the Amflow TL Carbon carry 200 kg?
Amflow rate it to 200 kg in total, including a rider of up to 125 kg; the Charger5 is rated to 160 kg with the same rider limit. We have not tested the TL Carbon anywhere near 200 kg, and on a full-suspension carbon frame I would be cautious with heavy loads.
Can I buy the Amflow TL Carbon direct from Amflow?
Yes, at the same £3,199. Buying from us adds a test ride, a bike professionally built in our workshop rather than assembled at home from the box, fitting, delivery with a handover (free across the South West) and servicing at our Little Dartmouth workshop.
Can I test ride both bikes in one visit?
Yes. ebikeist is a Riese & Müller, Moustache and Amflow dealer in Dartmouth, Devon, and both bikes are in our showroom. Test rides are by appointment.
Ride them back to back
You can see the TL Carbon on the road in our Amflow Short, and read more on the TL Carbon and why we chose Amflow. If you want a shortlist first, the Bike Finder gets you there in a few minutes. Then book a test ride and ride both on our coastal hills and the bridleway outside the showroom, or call us on 03330 151 979.
See every comparison we have written, side by side with a verdict on each.
