Raleigh Motus Tour Bosch Mid Drive Ebike 56cm Pink £1,268.99 delivered @ Evans Cycles

Agree with the pinch of salt comment.

There is far more speculation than actual knowledge. The advantage of a mid drive is that it gets to operate in a more efficient manner increasing both climbing ability and distances.

A main negative though is the fact that Bosch batteries are expensive. (edited)

Same owner.

Yes you could replace the rear cassette with something with a larger rear cog although you might need to replace the rear derailleur with something with a longer cage but of course the speed will slow down a lot going up hill but will give you more torque but there are three issues firstly putting too large a rear cog could damage the rear freehub as it will deliver more torque to it which could be out of specification plus the motor has a maximum assistance cadence of 100 so you can't go too high for cadence or the motor assistance will stop. Then I guess the torque sensor may show a reduction in torque which might drop the motor assistance level so you end up with no benefit. Maybe this can be adjusted in the settings I don't know.

However effectively as sold its only about 32Nm you are only marginally going to improve the situation and will lose your warranty which is critical on a Bosch ebike as they can be very problematic. You'd have to wait the 2 to 3 years of the warranty before modifying it. If everything went perfectly fitting a cassette with a 48T rear cog could up the torque to 48Nm but you would be going at 2/3rds of the speed as you did before with a 32T rear cog but I suspect there would be many issues including cutting out every time you hit 100 cadence which is much easier with lower gearing. I'm a heavy rider and my peak cadence is about 90 as I'm more of a masher/grinder but many cyclists easily go above 100 cadence. About 130 cadence is about the maximum anyone can achieve I think. That's slightly over 2 revolutions per second.

Also it should be pointed out that this ebike has large 700c wheels with thick tyres so this reduces the torque in actual use. The larger the wheel the less the torque as the torque is measured at the crank for mid-drive motors and at the hub for hub motors. However by decreasing the wheel size you increase torque hence why many cargo bikes have 20" wheels to boost effective torque of the motor either mid-drive or hub motor. 622+2x50 is 722mm compared to 406+2x50 is 506mm so roughly speaking a 20" wheel gives a 40-50% increase in torque compared to 700c everything else being equal. (edited)

Do you honestly think those two bikes appeal to the same person?

Might make it less attractive to a bike thief.

It's the Ashley way unfortunately. Not the company it used to be.

As already pointed out this is a mid-drive motor with far less hill climbing performance than most hub motors plus all the disadvantages of a proprietary mid-drive motor and battery. If you wear out the motor, the whole bike goes to landfill as not economically worth replacing, If the battery fails replacements are hugely expensive and if the frame cracks again the whole bike goes to landfill as the motor and frame are designed for each other. Replacement frames often cost more than the actual whole ebike was new. It's a throwaway product compared to most hub motor ebikes. The way you have written your text it makes it sound like you are getting something better but in this instance you are getting something inferior to most hub motor ebikes. This is not a good example of a mid-drive ebike.

When anyone buys this bike and realises how poor it is what chance have they got of returning it to Evans and getting a full refund? About as pleasant a procedure as getting kicked in the nads and pushed down a flight of stairs. This really needs a test ride before purchase and comparison with a few other similar priced ebikes. It is not a good blind purchase.

A legal Bafang BBS01 250w mid motor at 15amps has 80nM of torque and will push out up to 540w at 15a (they can be programmed to run at 18amps - 648w) and with the right gearing ( 40t chainwheel and say a 11-42 rear cassette) will get you up anything in Swansea (edited)

A delightful basket on the front maybe?

There are service kits available for most motors.

Raleigh Array sits around £1000

I'm thinking a wrap. Vinyl, not KFC mind.