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Raleigh Motus Grand Tour

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Dave Atkinson

Dave lives at the top of a big hill and his office is at the bottom, so he's all in favour of a helping hand. Plus, e-bikes are fun! He's the editor of ebiketips and one of the founders of EBT's road cycling sister site, road.cc. He used to work on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike back in the day, and he's a former mountain bike bog snorkelling World Champion. Really.

2 comments

5 years 1 month ago

Having spent £2k on the same model bike that I didn’t use until Xmas day, I’m intrigued to know the nature of the fault that the OP has encountered. It’s not exactly fair to slag it off quite so dramatically without saying what it is.

Whilst I’m obviously a little concerned, I’ve considered it thoroughly and concluded that since the motor and electrics are Bosch,the cycle parts (Gears and brakes) are Shimano etc, whilst it shouldn’t happen, no failure can be so dramatic that there isn’t someone in any UK locality that can fix it if it is related to those parts. Additionally, an inspection of several such bikes around the same price point at a multitude of dealers reveals several identical or closely specified bikes with the same Taiwanese (?) frame, the only real difference being badge engineering.

Whilst the OP doesn’t say, he refers to the the store he purchased it from and then taking it to the local Raleigh dealer who wasn’t interested and whilst that shouldn’t be the case it is to some degree understandable. If I was a Raleigh dealer and a bike was brought to me having been purchased elsewhere, I can’t say that I’d be over the moon about it!

What is wrong with it? There aren’t that many parts in a bicycle, electric or otherwise!

Dave

5 years 3 months ago

My Motus Grand Tour developed a fault after 150 miles.  The store I purchased it from told me to fix it myself, and offered to sell me the very expensive tools!  

 

My local raleigh dealer tried 3 times to fix it but were incapable and then thought the best way out was to pretended there wasn't a fault. (The fault has been independently verified). 

 

Raleigh promised me they would 'make it right' but then claimed it was nothing to do with them and all the store's fault. 

 

The bike is now awful to ride and possibly dangerous.  It will leave me stranded at best, injure me or someone else at worse.  Advice from Raleigh? Don't ride it.  

 

So, think very carefully before you part with your money.  It is easy to sell these bikes - they are great fun - but be aware that once it's yours, you are on your own. You need to work out how you are going to independently maintain it and fix it.  

 

There is no trustworthy customer support, no guarantee that the local Raleigh dealer has any experience on ebikes or even that they will look at it for you (they don't have to, their role is only to sell new ones), and if you approach Raleigh you'll find the the attitude condescending and plainly uninterested in anything other than sales. Have you noticed on the web site the only contact address is for sales?

 

In reality, the Raleigh brand counts for absolutely nothing. Believe it means quality, reliability and honesty and you're in for a surprise.  You will get better customer service and attention from a chinese or eastern European firm. 

 

Really, and I know you can tell I've been let down! - think it through.  These ebikes are expensive machines and sales have far outstripped any reasonable access to mechanical support or even basic knowledge from the LBS.  When they go wrong, and like all bikes they will, how will you deal with it? Because you'll be on your own and unless you are going to learn how to maintain the electric components yourself, or maybe if you live next door to an ebike shop, you'll soon just have an expensive welly rack.  I am now back on the dock-yard treader I found on a tip 5 years ago, the motus is rusting in the garden.  Don't make the same mistake as me. 

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