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Our Score
Raleigh Motus Tour – A comfortable bike that rides smoothly and comes fully equipped
PRICE: $2200
Pros: Massive equipment levels for the money
Cons: Sluggish gear shifts; heavy
Raleigh’s Motus Tour is a year-round commuter-friendly ebike that offers a comfortable ride with smooth assistance and handy features, such as integrated lights, full mudguards and a rear rack.
Powering the alloy Raleigh Motus is a centrally mounted 250w Bosch Active Line motor. This is driven by a removable Bosch Powerpack 400 battery that’s fully guaranteed for two years and/or 500 charge cycles (replacements are available from around £500).
The Active Line motor delivers 40Nm of torque, which provides a smooth level of assistance that’s best suited for urban use.
Bosch’s Intuvia display is… intuitive! Russell Burton / Immediate Media
The system is controlled via Bosch’s Intuvia display where you can turn the system on and off, operate the integrated lights, reset the trip computer and scroll through the information on the screen.
You select power output using the Intuvia remote control that sits on the bar within easy reach of your left thumb. Here you can also scroll through the head unit information and, more importantly, move between the Bosch system’s levels of assistance from completely off, through Eco (40w assistance/30Nm torque), Tour (100w/35Nm), Sport (170w/38Nm) and Turbo (250w/40Nm).
The power assistance from the Bosch unit is smoothly matched to your pedal cadence, so there’s no jerking as the motor dumps heaps of torque in as you start to pedal. Stepping between the assistance levels is key to getting the best out of the Bosch system.
On the flat, you can roll along using Eco, or switch it off. Step up through the modes to get up to speed from a standing start, or use Turbo to boost up slopes or power past traffic.
The Motus is quite a weighty machine at 24.8kg and for this reason, Bosch includes a Walk button on the controller so that when you’re pushing the bike you can engage the motor to help roll it up ramps and slopes.
The Bosch motor is driven by a removable Bosch Powerpack 400 battery Russell Burton / Immediate Media
Raleigh claims a 159km/99-mile range for the Motus Tour, but even on a flat route and riding only in Eco mode that is optimistic. I’ve achieved at best 83.77km (52.05 miles) with 754m (2,444ft) of elevation. That’s plenty for most commuters with the average commute length reportedly under 32km (20 miles) per day.
It took 6.5 hours to recharge the battery using Bosch’s standard charger.
Raleigh Motus Tour geometry
| | L |
|---|---|
| Seat angle (degrees) | 72.5 |
| Head angle (degrees) | 70 |
| Chainstay (cm) | 48 |
| Seat tube (cm) | 47.63 |
| Top tube (cm) | 59.5 |
| Fork offset (cm) | 4.3 |
| Trail (cm) | 8.3 |
| Bottom bracket height (cm) | 29.3 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 1,138 |
| Standover (cm) | 83 |
Raleigh Motus Tour e-bike ride impressions
Riding the Motus is a very pleasant way to cut through traffic, with the upright riding position and backswept, 26in wide XLC bar allowing you a commanding view of the road ahead.
The gearing from the grip-shift-driven Shimano Nexus 7-speed hub gear gives great spread, with the lightest gear that makes even steep slopes a breeze, and a top gear that’ll see you way past the 25kph (15.5mph) cut-off for the motor.
The shifting isn’t without issue, though. Moving down to a harder gear is quick and crisp but stepping up can often be met with inaction, only activating the shift when you stop pedalling or backpedal. It doesn’t really hamper progress but you can get caught out on steeper gradients if you forget to anticipate a gear shift in time.
Comfort first with a telescopic suspension seatpost. Russell Burton / Immediate Media
The Motus rolls along on tough reinforced Mitas Flash tyres that have commute-friendly reflective pinstripes on the sidewalls. It delivers a very comfortable ride, thanks to the 56mm travel suspension fork up front paired with a telescopic suspension seatpost.
An angle-adjustable stem means you can easily alter your ride position, either lowering the bar and lengthening the reach or heightening the bar and shortening the reach for a more upright position.
The Selle Royal saddle is plumply comfortable with gel-based padding, even for long distances without wearing padded shorts. In fact, the Raleigh is one of the best-suited bikes I had on test for riding in civilian clothes, thanks to the comfortable saddle, full-length mudguards and a full chain case to keep oil from fouling your clothing.
Add in the front and rear lights, an integrated lock and a rear rack so you don’t have to carry a backpack or courier bag, and the Motus is the bike that’ll ensure you arrive best dressed to the office.
The Tektro hydraulic brakes equipped with big 160mm rotors do a great job of slowing and stopping the hefty Motus, and the way the bike handles is well-pitched too.
The steering is quick enough at slow speeds to be able to navigate through traffic, yet super-stable when riding at a more spirited pace. The Motus may not have the extra punch of the Carrera’s Crossfuse motor, or the lighter weight of the Ribble Hybrid AL e Fully Loaded or Boardman HYB 8.9e, but it’s equipped better than every one of those bikes for the rigours of year-round commuting.
Commuter-friendly upright riding position. Russell Burton / Immediate Media
