Raleigh Electric’s new Tamland IE is a versatile drop bar e-bike based on Raleigh’s Tamland adventure bike. The 20.4kg bike uses Brose’s belt drive electric motor and features an integrated battery, rack mounts, SRAM brakes and drivetrain, a 150km range in eco mode (32km at full power), and top speed of 45km/h (note this is over the 25km/h maximum as per current Australian law).
The 250-watt motor coupled with a 500-watt-hour battery produces 80nm of torque and features three modes of power depending on what you prefer. It has 650c wheels coupled with WTB’s 47c Horizon tyres.
The idea behind the Tamland IE, according to the team at Raleigh, was to make a fun and functional e-bike that could handle a little bit of everything from commuting to gravel road rides, and even some tame trails. I had the opportunity to take the bike for a quick spin around Boulder City, Nevada at Interbike to see what it was all about.
video courtesy of our American sister title Bicycling
After spinning up a bumpy gravel road for a couple miles, I decided to take on the singletrack trails at Bootleg Canyon. At first, the bike was a little tricky to manage…loose dirt and gravel coupled with a powerful motor made it easy to spin out and challenging to ride. The handling drastically improved once I turned the power to the middle setting. The wide 47c tires offer a lot of traction and forgiveness for when the road isn’t perfectly smooth, and the drop bar design gives a lot of control.
The Tamland IE wasn’t made specifically to ride technical singletrack trails, however, it can get through them with proper finesse. What it excels at is riding a variety of terrain well and conserving energy while doing so. This e-bike could be a great option for the e-bike rider looking to tackle mixed surfaces.
Possible availability of the Tamland in Australia is yet to be announced, but internationally it will be for sale in the first quarter of 2018 and has been priced at US$4,399 (around AU$5,600).
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