Van poof! Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders stranded
https:// www.npr.org /2023/08/23/1195201692/vanmoof-ebikes-bankrupt-netherlands Van poof! Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders stranded
The sophisticated bicycle has attracted fans in Europe and the U.S., but repairs under warranty have bled the company of money.
the brand's engineers made it next to impossible to open the frame that contains all the parts
VanMoof's creators fancied their company to be like Apple — creating unique products that would spawn its own ecosystem
Well there we go, nothing to add that.
130Yep, this was a well known scheme. They tried to be this hip and overpriced designer brand that people flock to for the name, with a bunch of proprietary parts that requires their own service centers to maintain them. Complete garbage tier imo. One of the nice things about bicycles is that they're so piss easy to maintain by yourself even. The majority of it doesn't even require special tools and it is a fun experience to learn too. Imagine if brands like this became the norm and suddenly you could barely find bikes where you could do that? You'd always have to pay up to some corporate entity instead. Definitely good riddance.
30Bikes are mostly easy to maintain but there are some things like adjusting the spokes or the derailleur that a shop will get done much faster.
I don't agree that much about the tools, unless you consider Allen keys to be a normal tool and you exclude the drivetrain or the headset, which need all kinds of specialized ones. Brakes can also need some less common stuff.
2I seem to remember needing several special tools for changing my bottom bracket, not sure how common that is though.
2One of the nice things about bicycles is that they’re so piss easy to maintain by yourself even
And the most fashionable style where I'm from is the fixie, whose fans specifically value the mechanical simplicity (no derailleur!).
Granted, there's a big untapped market of people who have absolutely no interest in maintaining or understanding their mode of transport, and have a consumerist/maximalist philosophy. There are also lots of people who treat bikes as disposable, as evidenced by the huge number of abandoned and rusted bikes you can see in any college town. So I see why someone might think that's a path to success.
For me personally, I do not want a computer in my bike. I want every bit of technology — electronic or mechanical — to earn its place. Because complexity comes at a cost. It means more time, energy, and money spent maintaining it. My derailleurs easily add enough value (for me personally) to justify the added complexity. Disc brakes, honestly, don't. A built-in computer? Helllllll no.
1
Good riddance
24IToddlers btfod
-1
I think it's time for products to disclose whether they can function or not without the cloud and/or a subscription.
26frequently pressing the bike's "boost" button to pass fellow commuters
...
VanMoof's specialized bikes often broke down, and their maintenance shops and generous warranty policies couldn't keep up.
Assuming the boost was related to the frequent bike breakdowns, why did they include a boost feature if the electronics couldn't handle it 😒 at least the company faithfully repaired them until the money dried up though!
23Glad that my bike is from a traditional bike manufacturer.
14Also, how do they go bankrupt during bike hype times like these, lmao
10A little tutorial for you:
It helps if the people in charge are artists whom just want to create something unique, without too much thought on all the intricacies of running a company in real life.
Also exclusively using custom-made parts instead of using off-the-shelf parts that have proven themselves time and again, is a great way to not be able to leverage the costs and reliability benefits of mass production.
So now that you've ended up with the situation of high operating costs, you also end up with a lot of issues due to your fancy custom designed components breaking down within warranty. And it gets even better: because regular bikeshops cannot handle warranty cases, as they do not have the necessary training or components, you need a large number of in-house mechanics that only cost you money instead of helping you earn it!
33Bad planning.
2Their core market was always the Netherlands. That market is absolutely saturated with bikes. There are more bikes than people in NL. It's not like the US where it's a relatively novel fenomenom with lots of growth opportunities for new markets.
1
I’m glad Aventon buys off-the-shelf components for their bikes. I’ve already swapped out my chainring for a much larger oval ring. Couldn’t do that if it was built on proprietary parts.
5
For such a small ebike maker, there sure are a whole ton of stories about them posted here!
11Glad I bought a RadRunner instead. Even now when they've left the European market (why are e-bike companies so poor at running their business?) I can still get parts from wherever as it's a pretty modular and tweakable system.
6Fairly expensive in my country. I see them also fairly often outside but not too many people can afford it.
They cost, cca 2-3x monthly salary, for which you may get some A to B car or better, which most people do.
1About 1 month salary here. Even less when they had a sale so it was a no brainier for me and my gf since we live and work in the city. Sold my car years ago. More conviniet and cheaper to just rent in the rare cases we need one.
1
This is the best summary I could come up with:
But the brand, considered by many bicyclists the Tesla of e-bikes, has gone bankrupt; its cofounders are in talks with outside groups to revive the failed company.
Rueterkemp bought his VanMoof nine months ago for around $4,000, and he's ridden it nearly every day since, frequently pressing the bike's "boost" button to pass fellow commuters on his way to his startup in downtown Amsterdam.
Hartogs says VanMoof's creators fancied their company to be like Apple — creating unique products that would spawn its own ecosystem — but Hartogs says the company ran out of money because, unlike Apple's products, VanMoof's specialized bikes often broke down, and their maintenance shops and generous warranty policies couldn't keep up.
With VanMoof no longer paying him to fix bikes under warranty, Tamor Hartogs is now left negotiating complicated repairs with individual customers.
He's also been reduced to taking out the company's patented cylindrical batteries from VanMoof bike frames by carefully breaking them apart and installing new internal components.
When asked for comment, VanMoof's global head of communications replied by email: "I'm afraid I can't make anyone available at the moment — seeing that we're all fired except for the founders."
The original article contains 696 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
5So close to to unauthorized bread.
4