I've had my BMC Fourstroke AMP LT Three for a few months now and am loving it! For those not familiar, it has 120/120mm of travel and is an unapologetic Downcountry bike through and through. It is powered by the TQ HPR50 motor and has a 360wh battery in the frame, as well as being able to run the 160wh range extender. Whilst there will be many people here who can't figure the point of this bike, I'm sure that in most cases that's because you have the choice between riding assisted or unassisted, so when riding assisted why would you not want long travel. I get that, but I don't have the choice. With my legs, I ride assisted or I pedal with my arms (I did that for 6yrs and won't be going back to it). As such, it's nice to have a sub-17kg bike that rolls fast and fairly leaps into the air at any given opportunity! If I want to go bigger, I have a Fuel EXe, which is more than enough for my legs. Longer travel bikes have featured in my past but my legs now need a physical barrier to what my brain thinks is possible on a bike! Back to the BMC...
I've made some significant upgrades to this base spec bike, but one thing I haven't changed is the suspension. The bike comes with a Sidlux 3P Select+ shock and a Sid 3P fork, both of which perform exceptionally well. I bought the bike with the intention of replacing both of these units, but they work so well that I don't see the point! I could save a couple of hundred grams off the fork, but it would mean spending a bunch of cash for minimal performance gains, so the fork stays. It's the same with the shock, though the weight savings here are minimal. I've been genuinely blown away by just how capable the suspension is, on some fast, steep, tech rides, though see below for how it reaches its limits.
The wheels went straight away and I now have two wheelsets for this bike. An NS Rock/Roll trail wheelset, with Michelin Wild XC tyres (Vittoria AirLiner insert in the rear), performs well in all conditions and is robust enough that I don't have to worry about rock strikes damaging the rims. I have a Race Face Turbine SL wheelset, with a Michelin Force XC2 front and Jet XC2 rear, which is nippy as hell, yet offers surprising levels of grip at lower pressures, which I can run because of the weight of this bike.
Stop and go duties are all SRAM, with a mixed GX/XX AXS drivetrain and G2 Ultimate brakes, on 180/180mm rotors, the exception being the Race Face ERA 160mm crank arms. Oh, and a Ratio cage is fitted to the GX derailleur, which stiffens things up and drops a chunk of weight! I am just waiting on delivery of new HS2 rotors, which should help bump up braking performance a touch, though the G2 Ultimates have impressed me on this bike. I'll be sticking sintered pads in when the rotors turn up, though, as the resin ones just vanish in front of your eyes in a Dartmoor winter! There's also a 150mm Reverb AXS dropper, with an SDG BelAir III atop it.
In terms of cockpit and contact points, I fitted a Bontrager RSL carbon bar/stem, with the 20mm rise and 45mm stem length. On these I run the thicker of Race Face's Chester grips, which do a lot for vibration damping and hand comfort. My favourite Nukeproof over-stem Garmin mount does what it says on the tin, and a set of venerable Shimano XT pedals complete the contact points.
A OneUp EDC pump and tools sit on the non-drive side of the downtube, with a spare CO2 cartridge on the drive side. A Peaty's tool wrap holds other spares and tools and is strapped to the top tube, in front of the shock mount. RRP proguards front and rear keep the worst of the spray out of my face and off my backside. On my size small frame there is room for a 750ml bottle or the range extender, not both.
For such a short travel bike, this thing rides insanely well. You could easily think it had another 10-20mm of travel front and rear! I've spoken to folk at TQ who highly rate this bike, too. With the suspension locked up, the bike is taught and efficient over asphalt and forest fire roads. Reach a tech climb, pop the fork and shock into pedal mode, and they move into their travel easily, absorbing small chatter and keeping traction on all but the toughest climbs, without pushing through the support too easily. Reach the top, open things up, drop in for the descent and this bike comes alive! It's supple and poppy at the front and rear, feeling balanced just about everywhere. There's plenty to push into, when you want to pump or pop, but it doesn't give up full travel so easily that you reach the bike's limits easily. I've taken it off tech drops, over gap jumps, down the steepest chutes, and on flat out fast rocky descents. Only once have I felt the bike got overwhelmed, and that was on a trail that had been seriously scoured by flood waters, leaving some pretty chunky stones littered across the trail. It was taking successive hits at speed and I just felt the bike was out of its comfort zone. Aside from that, though, it has taken everything I've thrown at it. It's extremely poppy and playful, no doubt down to the 17kg weight (and it does feel significantly lighter than any other ebike I've ridden) and the excellent Rockshox suspension, but also very composed in all but the most extreme situations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be hucking this thing off the most tech drops I've ever ridden, or using it as a sled to plow through the rockiest/rootiest of chutes, but it'll happily cope with the B line on those trails, which is impressive for a 120/120mm bike that has a decidedly Downcountry build. Slap on the XC wheelset and it's just as happy putting in 50kms across the moors, even in the winter weather. I've done a few big rides, on Dartmoor and The Mendips, and it's a very comfy bike to cover the miles on. I just flat out love this bike, as evidenced by the fact that I've not ridden my Fuel EXe since I got it. No doubt the EXe will come out again as things dry out and I head to some more challenging steep stuff, but, that said, I'm seriously considering taking the BMC to Ard Rock this year. It's just that good!
I've made some significant upgrades to this base spec bike, but one thing I haven't changed is the suspension. The bike comes with a Sidlux 3P Select+ shock and a Sid 3P fork, both of which perform exceptionally well. I bought the bike with the intention of replacing both of these units, but they work so well that I don't see the point! I could save a couple of hundred grams off the fork, but it would mean spending a bunch of cash for minimal performance gains, so the fork stays. It's the same with the shock, though the weight savings here are minimal. I've been genuinely blown away by just how capable the suspension is, on some fast, steep, tech rides, though see below for how it reaches its limits.
The wheels went straight away and I now have two wheelsets for this bike. An NS Rock/Roll trail wheelset, with Michelin Wild XC tyres (Vittoria AirLiner insert in the rear), performs well in all conditions and is robust enough that I don't have to worry about rock strikes damaging the rims. I have a Race Face Turbine SL wheelset, with a Michelin Force XC2 front and Jet XC2 rear, which is nippy as hell, yet offers surprising levels of grip at lower pressures, which I can run because of the weight of this bike.
Stop and go duties are all SRAM, with a mixed GX/XX AXS drivetrain and G2 Ultimate brakes, on 180/180mm rotors, the exception being the Race Face ERA 160mm crank arms. Oh, and a Ratio cage is fitted to the GX derailleur, which stiffens things up and drops a chunk of weight! I am just waiting on delivery of new HS2 rotors, which should help bump up braking performance a touch, though the G2 Ultimates have impressed me on this bike. I'll be sticking sintered pads in when the rotors turn up, though, as the resin ones just vanish in front of your eyes in a Dartmoor winter! There's also a 150mm Reverb AXS dropper, with an SDG BelAir III atop it.
In terms of cockpit and contact points, I fitted a Bontrager RSL carbon bar/stem, with the 20mm rise and 45mm stem length. On these I run the thicker of Race Face's Chester grips, which do a lot for vibration damping and hand comfort. My favourite Nukeproof over-stem Garmin mount does what it says on the tin, and a set of venerable Shimano XT pedals complete the contact points.
A OneUp EDC pump and tools sit on the non-drive side of the downtube, with a spare CO2 cartridge on the drive side. A Peaty's tool wrap holds other spares and tools and is strapped to the top tube, in front of the shock mount. RRP proguards front and rear keep the worst of the spray out of my face and off my backside. On my size small frame there is room for a 750ml bottle or the range extender, not both.
For such a short travel bike, this thing rides insanely well. You could easily think it had another 10-20mm of travel front and rear! I've spoken to folk at TQ who highly rate this bike, too. With the suspension locked up, the bike is taught and efficient over asphalt and forest fire roads. Reach a tech climb, pop the fork and shock into pedal mode, and they move into their travel easily, absorbing small chatter and keeping traction on all but the toughest climbs, without pushing through the support too easily. Reach the top, open things up, drop in for the descent and this bike comes alive! It's supple and poppy at the front and rear, feeling balanced just about everywhere. There's plenty to push into, when you want to pump or pop, but it doesn't give up full travel so easily that you reach the bike's limits easily. I've taken it off tech drops, over gap jumps, down the steepest chutes, and on flat out fast rocky descents. Only once have I felt the bike got overwhelmed, and that was on a trail that had been seriously scoured by flood waters, leaving some pretty chunky stones littered across the trail. It was taking successive hits at speed and I just felt the bike was out of its comfort zone. Aside from that, though, it has taken everything I've thrown at it. It's extremely poppy and playful, no doubt down to the 17kg weight (and it does feel significantly lighter than any other ebike I've ridden) and the excellent Rockshox suspension, but also very composed in all but the most extreme situations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be hucking this thing off the most tech drops I've ever ridden, or using it as a sled to plow through the rockiest/rootiest of chutes, but it'll happily cope with the B line on those trails, which is impressive for a 120/120mm bike that has a decidedly Downcountry build. Slap on the XC wheelset and it's just as happy putting in 50kms across the moors, even in the winter weather. I've done a few big rides, on Dartmoor and The Mendips, and it's a very comfy bike to cover the miles on. I just flat out love this bike, as evidenced by the fact that I've not ridden my Fuel EXe since I got it. No doubt the EXe will come out again as things dry out and I head to some more challenging steep stuff, but, that said, I'm seriously considering taking the BMC to Ard Rock this year. It's just that good!
