Two good things have come from the 2023 bankruptcy of VanMoof. The first is the all-new VanMoof S6 e-bike that recently launched under new ownership. The second is a new commuter e-bike developed for Raleigh by VanMoof’s departed founders, Ties and Taco Carlier.
Like a VanMoof, the Raleigh One e-bike comes with anti-theft features like GPS tracking and an alarm, cables routed through the aluminum frame, wide tires, mudguards, integrated lighting, and hauling options needed for daily commutes across a city. It also comes packed with lessons learned about reduced complexity and serviceability, including a bevy of off-the-shelf parts and a single-speed, belt-driven transmission connected to a rear-hub motor with a battery that can be quickly removed for indoor charging. The bike also emits pleasant sounds when doing things like powering on, enabling the lights, and arming security without being all hey, look at me and my fancy bike like VanMoofs of old.
It’s pretty much the simpler VanMoof I always wanted the company to build. The only thing missing is the boost button, which is a shame.
I’ve been testing the Raleigh One in flat Amsterdam for the last few weeks. That’s important to know because this single-speed e-bike produces just 35Nm of torque from its 250W motor with a max speed of 25km/h (16 mph). It really suffers on hills without the boost button found on VanMoofs and the Tenways CGO009 this e-bike resembles.
Nevertheless, it is a very good e-bike priced at £2,399 / €2,699 (around $3,000 USD) for the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. That’s expensive for a Raleigh, but it’s still close to the €2,681 average for European e-bikes and cheaper than local competitors like Cowboy and VanMoof.
$3155
The Good
- Simple, single-speed belt drive
- Removable battery
- Decent range, fast charging
- A very pleasant ride
The Bad
- Weak 35Nm of torque and no boost button
- Frame too tall for shorter riders
- Software is a work in progress
- Subscription upsell
The Raleigh One is the first premium, connected e-bike from the British brand established way back in 1887. Unfortunately, in 2025, Raleigh is essentially a logo on top of a marketing strategy after several acquisitions and factory closures. The brand is currently owned by the Accell Group, an industry behemoth responsible for brands like Batavus, Sparta, and Carqon’s electric cargo bikes.
Most people that buy a Raleigh One will take delivery at a local bike shop where it’ll be assembled and prepped for handover. I asked to have mine shipped to my house to test the direct-to-customer route. I had it ready to ride in 30 minutes with the help of excellent illustrated instructions and efficient packing. That’s fast for a DTC e-bike!
The nearly silent Mivice motor, wide 27.5 x 2.2-inch Innova tires, and 21kg (46.3lbs) bike weight combine to produce a sturdy ride. The pedal assist feels intuitive, with the Gates Carbon belt drive delivering power commensurate with the force exerted by my legs. The Tektro hydraulic disc brakes bring everything to a stop with confidence and control. Everything feels very serious, lacking the fun felt on more torquey e-bikes.
The Raleigh One performed fine on slopes up to about five percent, allowing me to maintain the 25km/h top speed without too much additional effort on my part. The single-speed transmission was utterly defeated by a 10 percent slope common in cities like Lisbon and San Francisco. Starting from a dead stop on a three percent slope was doable but required a strong push from my quads. It was my testing on hills that made me really miss that boost button.
Integrated front and rear lighting.
The controls and display are simple and intuitive. This single red light tells me the bike is armed.
The Mivice motor is paired with a single-speed Gates Carbon belt drive for flat city commuting.
A removable battery!
I felt comfortable riding in that single gear at speeds up to 30km/h on the downhill side without feeling like a clown. That’s good because many single-speed belt-driven e-bikes will have your legs spinning wildly at speeds that high.
Raleigh claims a range of up to 80km in the lowest pedal-assist mode, or closer to 50km in max power. I did all my testing at level five of five and managed 47.7km before depleting the battery. Most of my range test was ridden into a 10 to 15 knot headwind, with an hour spent trying to update the e-bike’s firmware from a problematic version 1.8.0 to a much more stable version 1.9.0.
The battery recharged to 50 percent in 55 minutes from the bike’s large 5A / 42V charging brick, 80 percent in 92 minutes, and full at 2 hours and 40 minutes — relatively speedy numbers for a 360Wh battery.
The Raleigh app is basic but does what I need. On the left is the main status screen, on the right is the dashboard displayed when riding.
The software on a connected e-bike needs to be as robust as the vehicle itself and here’s where Raleigh currently falls a little short. My review bike suffers from battery drain of about three percent every 24 hours when parked in my living room. A little drain is normal for connected e-bikes that regularly check in on owner proximity and use GSM/GPS to track location, but three percent (about 10.8Wh) is excessive. I also found the app to be a bit buggy, displaying the occasional “this operation can’t be completed” error or just going unresponsive if left open too long. These issues are concerning for a company offering subscription services highly reliant on its mastery of software. Accell Group is aware of the issues and is addressing my concerns.
“Our engineers are currently refining the power management algorithms,” says Darren Smith, Senior Category Manager at Accell Group. “A firmware update will be released shortly to optimize this standby mode, significantly reducing battery drain while the bike is idle without compromising its security features.” Likewise, the bugs I’m seeing in the app are attributed to its connection state. “Our app team is implementing a more robust connection handling protocol to resolve these specific bugs and an update addressing these stability points will be released very soon,” says Smith.
To be clear: you absolutely don’t need a subscription to ride the Raleigh One or to apply firmware updates, but you also won’t be able to track your bike if it’s stolen. For that you’ll need to pay €7.99 per month which also gets you theft alerts sent to your phone, fall detection to alert loved ones of a crash, and more. You can even pay €14.99 per month to add theft insurance for what Raleigh calls “peace of mind” — a line lifted from VanMoof — that lets you file a claim with Raleigh to handle replacement of your stolen bike. Arranging theft coverage from your e-bike company is certainly the easy route, but you’ll likely save some money with an AirBell and private theft insurance, instead.
Subscriptions suck, but they’re increasingly the norm for premium e-bikes. And with so many bike companies going under or posting dire losses, I’m not going to bemoan the Accell Group’s business model. For all its resources, the bicycle giant isn’t immune to the forces of bikeaggedon that took down VanMoof and Cake, and nearly wiped out Cowboy, Ampler, and many more European micromobility brands.
- I like that the bike’s integrated front and rear lights can be set to automatically turn on when it’s dark.
- The display ring next to the left hand grip is useful and remains mostly visible in direct sunlight. The five light segments change color and animate to show battery level, current power setting, alarm status, firmware update, and more.
- The integrated SP-Connect phone mount requires a compatible case you must buy separately. I still prefer my Loop Micro.
- The Raleigh One is only available in a step-over frame with a standover height of 83cm. I’m six feet tall and can barely straddle that top frame tube — this bike is for tall riders only. Arrange a test ride if you’re unsure.
1/17The ride is pleasant and serious, but there’s not enough torque to call it fun.
Overall I like the £2,399 / €2,699 Raleigh One for European commuters living in relatively flat cities. Sure, I wish the anti-theft features weren’t locked behind a subscription and the bike would benefit from a boost button to make up for its anemic torque. The idle battery drain will certainly be annoying if it’s not fixed in a future firmware update as promised, but at least you can remove the battery and charge it inside. I also like that all those off-the-shelf parts can be serviced at your local Raleigh shop.
Yes, the Carlier brothers failed at VanMoof, yet many of the lessons learned seem to have been applied to the Raleigh One. But I’ve only had it for a few weeks and most e-bikes perform well when new. Let’s see how it does after months of wear and tear in crowded bike racks, rain, dust, sand, snow, and the occasional fall or attempted theft. Ties and Taco’s attempt at redemption will take time, so let’s see how things are going in about a year, shall we?
Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
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