I got my AMP Cross Ltd about week and half ago and have put enough miles on it now that I feel I have reasonably good grasp to talk about it. Reason for writing this is that I hope that sharing my thoughts and observations will help potential buyers with their purchasing decision since not much is known or written about these bikes.
Price wise these bikes are on very high end at ~$6k. AMP Cross Ltd I think is best equipped of all models offered since it includes Di2 electronic shifting and Shimano E8000 drive train with noticeably more torque. To get it right out of the way, is this bike worth asked $6k? Only if weight is your primary concern. At 35lbs there is nothing that comes close to it. If you are not concerned about weight that much, I think there are much better options for the money.
Ride comfort wise, I feel like this is not comfortable bike to ride when you compare it to say 2020 Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 or even "lowly" RadCity. Both are noticeably more comfortable. AMP Cross is stiff in comparison. Since seat post is D shaped its not possible to add suspension seat post so you are stuck with whatever it comes with. I know there is a micro suspension. On positive side it does feel much more like riding normal bicycle than say RadCity. It is fun to ride.
Buttons to switch gears and assist modes on handles bars are also stiff and hard to press, this could have been done much better and it should have been better on $6k bike.
Saddle was not comfortable for me either and undeserving of bike at this price range. I replaced mine immediately with Selle SMP Extra which is huge upgrade in comfort, especially for men.
So onto the Shimano E-8000 with latest firmware 4.6.1, and the heart of the unit which provides assistance. Good thing is it has plenty of torque so going uphill is not a problem. Bad thing is its noisy. My wife said its almost like when as kids we used to make flaps from plastic yogurt cups and attach them so they create noise against spokes. Its not that bad, but that's association she had, its annoying to some people, but I don't mind it. It buzzes like electric Formula 1.
What I do mind a lot are two things. First, the speed limits in various modes. It feels like ECO, Trail and Boost all have assist speed limits, which makes no sense to me. And Boost is then limited to 20mph which well is....incredibly limiting. Second, cadence sensing is not sophisticated or perhaps not of fine enough resolution. I have noticed that with certain changes in cadence of pedaling the assistance stops and the starts little later which is jerky and totally ruins the smoothness and its annoying. It just doesn't feel right.
Also there seems to be something wonky with sensing the pedaling torque input. Sometimes system decides that it will not help you out and it doesn’t. It simply quits and stops helping. I noticed this the most going up the hill, in Boost mode, while using system a lot. After coming to plateau in most cases assistance just quits. Does it overheat, battery does not feel hot, there are no errors reported? Bug in the software? I have noticed this pretty much consistently. Its not good. RadCity on same stretch of the road does not behave like this.
I have logged complaint with shop about this and will likely take it in to be looked at, but I am tight with time right now and last thing I need is a another project to take care of, which funnily enough is one of the reasons I had against Specialized bikes…
Our RadCity is better than AMP Cross Ltd in motor noise department, assistance smoothness and maximum speed limit. Specialized Vado 5 which I also tried was better in all these categories as well.
If all this sounds like I have little buyers remorse, yeah I do, a little bit. If I could have rented it for a few days to put it through its paces properly I do not know would I have purchased it. It is high quality bicycle with very low weight that I feel is marred by less than sophisticated Shimano motor and software and relatively uncomfortable ride. Unless you absolutely must have e-bike with 35lbs weight, right now I think Specialized Vado 5.0 2020 is so much better choice. I will post more of my thoughts after I spend more time with the bike.
Price wise these bikes are on very high end at ~$6k. AMP Cross Ltd I think is best equipped of all models offered since it includes Di2 electronic shifting and Shimano E8000 drive train with noticeably more torque. To get it right out of the way, is this bike worth asked $6k? Only if weight is your primary concern. At 35lbs there is nothing that comes close to it. If you are not concerned about weight that much, I think there are much better options for the money.
Ride comfort wise, I feel like this is not comfortable bike to ride when you compare it to say 2020 Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 or even "lowly" RadCity. Both are noticeably more comfortable. AMP Cross is stiff in comparison. Since seat post is D shaped its not possible to add suspension seat post so you are stuck with whatever it comes with. I know there is a micro suspension. On positive side it does feel much more like riding normal bicycle than say RadCity. It is fun to ride.
Buttons to switch gears and assist modes on handles bars are also stiff and hard to press, this could have been done much better and it should have been better on $6k bike.
Saddle was not comfortable for me either and undeserving of bike at this price range. I replaced mine immediately with Selle SMP Extra which is huge upgrade in comfort, especially for men.
So onto the Shimano E-8000 with latest firmware 4.6.1, and the heart of the unit which provides assistance. Good thing is it has plenty of torque so going uphill is not a problem. Bad thing is its noisy. My wife said its almost like when as kids we used to make flaps from plastic yogurt cups and attach them so they create noise against spokes. Its not that bad, but that's association she had, its annoying to some people, but I don't mind it. It buzzes like electric Formula 1.
What I do mind a lot are two things. First, the speed limits in various modes. It feels like ECO, Trail and Boost all have assist speed limits, which makes no sense to me. And Boost is then limited to 20mph which well is....incredibly limiting. Second, cadence sensing is not sophisticated or perhaps not of fine enough resolution. I have noticed that with certain changes in cadence of pedaling the assistance stops and the starts little later which is jerky and totally ruins the smoothness and its annoying. It just doesn't feel right.
Also there seems to be something wonky with sensing the pedaling torque input. Sometimes system decides that it will not help you out and it doesn’t. It simply quits and stops helping. I noticed this the most going up the hill, in Boost mode, while using system a lot. After coming to plateau in most cases assistance just quits. Does it overheat, battery does not feel hot, there are no errors reported? Bug in the software? I have noticed this pretty much consistently. Its not good. RadCity on same stretch of the road does not behave like this.
I have logged complaint with shop about this and will likely take it in to be looked at, but I am tight with time right now and last thing I need is a another project to take care of, which funnily enough is one of the reasons I had against Specialized bikes…
Our RadCity is better than AMP Cross Ltd in motor noise department, assistance smoothness and maximum speed limit. Specialized Vado 5 which I also tried was better in all these categories as well.
If all this sounds like I have little buyers remorse, yeah I do, a little bit. If I could have rented it for a few days to put it through its paces properly I do not know would I have purchased it. It is high quality bicycle with very low weight that I feel is marred by less than sophisticated Shimano motor and software and relatively uncomfortable ride. Unless you absolutely must have e-bike with 35lbs weight, right now I think Specialized Vado 5.0 2020 is so much better choice. I will post more of my thoughts after I spend more time with the bike.
