9 hours ago
VanMoof's co-founders have a new e-bike coming from Raleigh
Ties and Taco Carlier, who founded VanMoof as an alternative to Big Bike, are working for Accell Group, the Dutch cycling giant responsible for over a dozen bicycle brands including Batavus, Sparta, Carqon, and Raleigh. According to multiple sources, the first e-bike, developed for the Raleigh brand and pictured above, is nearing completion.
The bike's development has been an open secret in my home city of Amsterdam. It's here that the brothers founded VanMoof in 2009, before the heavily-funded startup went bankrupt in 2023. It re-emerged later that year without its co-founders under McLaren Applied's stewardship.
Various prototypes of the brand-less e-bike have been spotted in and around the city over the last year — sometimes nearby the home of one of the brothers. The prototypes match images of a Raleigh-branded e-bike that recently leaked. Those images were inadvertently made public (and later removed) by Amsterdam-based Uni_verse Studio, the digital production house that lists VanMoof as a client.
The Raleigh commuter e-bike looks very VanMoof-ish, only better: the battery is removable for charging, it's belt driven, and the motor has been moved to the rear wheel. The result is an e-bike that closely resembles the Tenways CGO009.
When I reached out to Raleigh for comment, Accell Group Brand Lead Ertu Bilgin said that the e-bike was developed with help from 'some former VanMoof team members,' but it's 'very much a product of the Accell Group.'
In 2022, the Accell Group reportedly turned down a financial stake in VanMoof when approached by the rival co-founders, desperate for capital to offset almost €150 million in debt. With this new Raleigh e-bike, it would seem that Accell managed to avoid the sickly cow and still get its milk for free.
