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The brand Raleigh has been creating high-end electric bikes since 1885 and is now owned by UK bike dealers developing British bike models which have been raved about for many years.
Whether you are looking for an everyday city bike to a mountain sort of bike, Raleigh has it all in over 20 different e-bike models.
In our review we will do a brief overview of the models that Raleigh has to offer, then review the Motus Tour and new Raleigh Array model in a little more detail below to see if these popular bikes are worth the hype.
From e-bikes with low-step frames or e-bike for leisure riding Raleigh currently have a reasonable range of e-bike on offer for daily basis riding, we will only cover the current models in the line-up below as they do have previous models which have been discontinued too.
The Raleigh Felix range features five different bikes which have short suspension fork types at the front of the bikes for extra comfort and are made of aluminium frames.
In terms of bike components, they use a step-through frame or a frame alloy crossbar and operate with either a 300W or 400W Bosch Active Line Plus motor if you get the plus model.
The geometry of these bikes are not great for off-roading and are road suited only.
If you are after a nice looking bike that has a vintage design and is full of accessories, then the Raleigh Willow and Sherwood range is probably suited to you. These bikes come with a steel or aluminium frame and are a nice bike for road riding only.
Most of the bikes in the range are kitted out with kickstands, baskets and pannier rear racks.
The Raleigh Mustang are the best-suited bike for adventure with a carbon fork and double-butted aluminium frame. The bikes have plenty of range and great tyre clearance for easy biking and handling.
For the Raleigh Pioneer range, these models use an aluminium frame and have seven or eight gears included on their bikes. Accessories included on these bikes are mudguards and pannier racks, the bikes are available in low-step framed bikes designs too.
This Pioneer range has a trail version too which uses thicker tyres and a small front suspension with 60mm of travel.
If you are after a reliable bike for your daily commute, the Raleigh Propaganda range is designed for it. These e-bikes use a steel fork with an aluminium seat post and bars. It uses a 16-tooth rear cog and can be brought in single speed or fixed.
Although these bikes are great for a simple average commute, they do lack control options with little gears so are more for assistance and aesthetics.
Raleigh also offers a folding bike range which comes with 20-inch wheels and aluminium frames.
The Evo and Stowaway bikes from Raleigh are very similar except the Evo houses a 250W motor and are a little heavier, so might not be very portable for your daily commute.
This Strada range from Raleigh is excellent for off-road biking, they offer their hybrid bike range and Strada trail range within this category and all use the same wheel size for off-roading.
The Strada hybrid bikes model use a Shimano Deore gearing system on most of their bikes and they all come with internal cable routing for a seamless design.
Now we have covered the most popular models on the Raleigh range we can get on to the fun part of reviewing the new Raleigh Array and Raleigh Motus Tour in more detail.
First off, let's start with the Raleigh Motus Tour, this e-bike comes with a Bosch active line motor that can give up to 40Nm of torque when riding, this motor has a rating of 250W making it road legal with its 15.5mph speed limit and is mid-mounted for a natural feel on bike paths.
The Raleigh Array uses a Suntour Canbus E25 motor rather than a Bosch active line motor with a speed limit of 25 km/h.
Both motors are pretty standard and allow the bikes to be ridden on most roads without a license. We wouldn't say these motors are powerful enough however to be taken on rough trails with high inclines.
The Motus Tour comes with a removable Bosch Powerpack 400Wh battery and has a 99-mile range, it's 400Wh frame-mounted battery can be charged fully in around 5 hours. For the Array, it is also equipped with a 400Wh battery except it is a Suntour branded model, not Bosch.
A removable battery on the Motus Tour is excellent for charging and safety, however, the stated range on both bikes is a little generous than when we tested them in a real-life application, with a max range of around 80 miles instead of 99, but still this enough for an average commute.
On the Array, the bike uses an E-motion display and comes with five different pedal-assist levels to ride challenging hills with. The Motus Tour E-Bike has a Bosch Intuvia display where you can switch between the bikes four levels of assistance with ease.
Both displays are on the bikes are within easy reach on handlebars and simple to function, the E-motion display on the Array e-bike however is hard to see in direct sunlight.
Both of the electric bikes by Raleigh weigh between 23kg and 24kg with the latter being the Motus Tour, both frames are made from aluminium with the Motus Tour 56mm travel suspension fork.
The stem of the Motus tour is adjustable too and it has integrated light options in the design.
We appreciate the stability of both bikes and the suspension taking the shock out of bumpy roads and keeping you stable, although the Motus Tour has a slightly better frame, both bikes are pretty heavy so are not best for commuting.
In terms of tyres and wheels, the Motus Tour is fitted with Mitas flash tyres which have a reflective stripe for commuting with a wheel size of 700c. The array has the same sized wheelset too.
For average commuting and to keep the bike comfy, these wheels and model tyres are fine, but for more adventurous riding, you would need to switch them out to chunky tyres.
The Motus Tour e-bike is fitted with Tektro hydraulic brakes and big 160mm rotors while the Array uses mechanical disc brakes and a Shimano 7-speed gear set as is the Motus with a Shimano Nexus 7-speed hub gear set.
The mechanical disc brakes on the Array are a little disappointing, we think hydraulic brakes could have been fitted instead, especially with the bikes heavyweight, but we understand this why it's so affordable. Both Shimano gear sets are fine for road use.
To conclude, if you go for the Raleigh Array from the range, you are getting a great reliable road bike at an affordable price, but the bike does fall short on a lot of specs, the Motus Tour might weigh more but is higher-quality.
In general, although Raleigh is a little old in the industry, their e-bikes never fail to impress as long as you get the correct kind of bike for you and the road surface you will be riding.
