Raleigh Select Five Electric Bicycle???

[Fordulike]

Spotted this slightly unusual Raleigh electric bike on Fleabay, but couldn't seem to dig up much info about it.
Anyone know anything about this bike, or actually ridden one? The motor in particular looks old school.

Raleigh Select Five Electric Bicycle

 

[flecc]

I don't know that one, but there was a flush of Chinese motors on these lines in the 2003 to 2005 period, mostly on cheap e-bikes in the £300 to £450 bracket at that time. Raleigh UK had a variety of attempts to introduce e-bikes, all very short lived until they adopted the Derby Cycles Kalkhoff designs in 2008 and bearing the German Raleigh gmbh name. Now they use e-bikes produced within the Dutch Accell group companies using their Accell Raleigh brand name rights.

With so many companies in different countries having rights to the Raleigh brand name, it's almost impossible to keep track of all the products.
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[mike killay]

I seem to remember seeing one of these in a LBS about 1990. In fact, it was the first electric bike I ever saw.

 

[Fordulike]

The motor unit looks particularly interesting. If you zoom in on that third picture, you can see more clearly.
The nearside cover with the power lead, appears to stay static, while the wheel part moves independently from that.
I'm wondering if the motor is attached to the static assembly and drives the moving part by way of a cog.

 

[flecc]

That type could either drive the rack with a cog, a bit like the Heinzmann etc but with the motor bulging externally, or use a chain from a motor sprocket to a larger sprocket, a bit like the old Cyclemaster petrol bike motor hub drive.

The last one I ever saw like this was imported by F2 Motorcycles in 2004, after which the smaller and neater SB motors and clones took most of the market.

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

Must be before my time!

Interesting fact though...
If it has a metal 'pressed' Raleigh heron emblem on the front, it is most likely a 'Real' Raleigh bike.

If it has a heron sticker on the front it is generally not a Raleigh bike, but that which has been commissioned to put the Raleigh logo on the front. It would have never actually touched the Raleigh warehouse.

Don't believe me? Visit my shop 'Crank Cycles' take a look. Then go up the road to Halfords and compare

Martin

 

[Fordulike]

Someone over at ES, did liken the motor unit to the Sanyo/Rabbit Tool geared hub motor.

Endless Sphere thread on Sanyo/Rabbit Tool hub motor

Very interesting inner workings if it is the same unit.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Good find. The motors are identical. It looks very sophisticated. I seem to remember another thread too where that motor was discussed. I can remember the toothed belts. The shunt is hanging there waiting to be soldered!

 

[neilg]

Gosh, that's a coincidence!

I bought one of these [they were called raleigh select six - six gears] way back in the 1990's. I had an unexpected bonus payment burning a hole in my pocket and by chance saw one in the local bike shop, thought an electric assist bike was a brilliant idea and bought on a whim[£1000?]

At the time I had a camper van and used to haul it into the van, drive out into the countryside and explore - charging it via a dc-ac inverter. I sold the van and the bike gradually fell into disuse; it had a limited range [20 miles?] and as I only had a small 'city car' and it was impossible to transport to the countryside.

Time passed. Again I was in the happy position of having some unexpected cash, so I bought a Brompton - this could be folded and transported in a small car, but minus the electric assist. I have used the Brompton for leisure rides over the past decade or so, but age catches up with us all [60th birthday this year!] so I have used the bike less and less over the last few years - those hills I sailed up a decade ago, seem to have become a lot steeper!

Last September, there was a sudden downpour, the drains couldn't cope and my cellar was flooded. Along with lawnmowers and power tools which were wrecked, was my old 'select six'. The kind people at Axa informed me that the bike was covered, offered me a replacement [one of the latest raleigh offerings] and also offered a cash settlement for the bike. I took the cash and had the Brompton ' Nanoed' ... and I'm very pleased with result.

The 'select six' still lives in my cellar smothered in wd40. I had thought it was a total write off, but reading the ES link, there might be hope for it yet... a restoration project perhaps. Its been an interesting read to see how the electric assist was arranged - I always did wonder.

From what I recall, the bike was very heavy, had limited range [ni-cad battery] and had inadequate brakes. The plus point was that it had a lot of torque and seemed to climb hills well, though I did find myself pushing the bike up hills in order to extend the range!.... If any more turn up on ebay [at that price], it might be worth a punt for the enthusiast to play with.