Clyde1820

Looks like VanMoof have gone bankrupt, with the trustees attempting to seek a buyer.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/18/va...of-bankruptcy/

https://apnews.com/article/vanmoof-e...d1af094b720e24

https://www.vanmoof.com/en-NL

Broctoon

Were they some kind of force to be reckoned with in the e-bike industry? I've seen a couple different stories about this in my news feed (the algorithms know I like bike stories). Until this, I had never heard of Van Moof.

Germany_chris

Young Dutch company that won a lot of design awards, they also had auto dealer like service options and theft recovery they built urban mobility tools not something that would attract enthusiasts in the states.

mstateglfr 

How I read this-
"e-bike company with a history of quality products that were beaten with an ugly stick past the point of submission has declared bankruptcy.'

smd4

Never heard of 'em.

blacknbluebikes 

1. get a good idea
2. prove it out
3. take way too much money from a slick VC bro
4. take VC bro advice, because you took the money.
5. grow faster than you can reasonably manage because VC bro said "you have to" and "get big or get out" and "we know all about this"
6. some great successes overlaying hundreds of microfailures.
7. watch it collapse, ruin your coworkers' lives, destroy your reputation
8. lather, rinse, repeat.

Barry2 

Worse yet... You could be locked out of your own bike if Vanmoof takes their servers offline.. <<Clickable link to the details.

The solution in the article is the IOS Bikey App to save your bikes security key before/if it becomes unavailable from Vaanmoof's servers.

Barry

mattcalifornia

Van Moofs are pretty popular in LA. They have a store in Santa Monica (also Brooklyn and San Fran, I believe). I have considered buying one a few times for commuting/errands, but I never pulled the trigger. They have some very cool and well thought-out features, but they also have had a lot of quality control problems, and they use a lot of proprietary parts that cannot be substituted if things go wrong. I'll bet somebody buys them (or at least the name and certain assets).

tyrion

Too hip, too limited, too expensive. Maybe a little too ahead of their time.

chaadster

I know Van Moof from many years ago for their integrated, top-tube lights, but didn’t know they made e-bikes!

t2p

Were they better with Sammy Hagar than with David Lee Roth ?

Bald Paul

Can we change the thread title to "Van Moof goes Poof"?

smd4

Oof...

prj71

VanWho?

Bunch of nobodies in the bike industry.

Gresp15C

Conversation with my techie son:

Gresp15c: VanMoof went bankrupt

Son: What's VanMoof?

Gresp15c: A high-end e-bike with digital features enabled by a phone app...

Son: Uh-oh.

mschwett 

a vanMoof S3 was the bike that got me back into riding. still ride it for errands and carrying my now-5-year-old around. the integration of the kick lock/alarm, theft tracker, controls, speedometer, lights were/are really great. automatic shifting IGH is the right tech for many or most urban riders. their bikes are INCREDIBLY popular here in san francisco - by far the most recognizable single model/series of bike out there, with possible exception for radrunners but i can't really tell the different radrunners apart. the only bike likely to appear in multiples in our office bike room is the vanmoof S/X3 and i see them pretty much every time i'm out in the neighborhood. their service model - IF you live near the brand store - was amazing. make appointment via app. 15 seconds. drop bike off within 15 minute scheduled window. get an identical loaner to ride away on. retrieve bike in a day or two. so much better than the "welllll we're busy hmmm lemme see yeah i'll do you a huge favor and we'll try and get to your [simple repair job] next thursday as a favor" that most LBS were giving for the last 5 years around here.

so, lots of good ideas.

my gross oversimplification of their demise is this: they made major engineering or production/quality control mistakes with the IGH (a crummy sturmey archer unit) and e-shifter integration, plus more typical minor electronic issues. the immense costs of replacing those components over and over and over again under warranty sunk them. although the service was always excellent at the local shop (a 15 minute ride from home) my S3 had, if i recall, three rear hubs, two e-shifters, two front motors, two or three batteries, and two smart cartridges. they typically replace the entire tire/tube/wheel/hub assembly when replacing either front or rear. there is NO WAY they made any money on me/my bike, and likely tens of thousands of others.

i believe they rectified the hub and shifter issues with the two subsequent models, which have a different design as well as a torque sensor to prevent it from shifting when under very heavy load. i'll keep riding it until something breaks that can't be fixed post-bankruptcy, and then it'll be tough to figure out what to replace it with. it's a fairly unique mix of features, affordable, appropriate for many urban utility tasks in a very hilly place.