The sophisticated bicycle has attracted fans in Europe and the U.S., but repairs under warranty have bled the company of money.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    60
    ·
    1 year ago

    A few canals away at a bike repair shop, Joram Hartogs says he refuses to repair VanMoofs, “because they’re impossible to repair.”

    “They’re so sealed off with their own equipment that nobody else except them can fix it,” he says.

    “All bike brands have a certain standard,” says Hartogs about VanMoof, “and they went around every standard that was available because they didn’t want to do anything with regular bike parts. So now they created everything themselves, and it keeps breaking because they wanted to over-design it.”

    Sounds like it’s good that they went under. Nobody should support a manufacturer that does that.

  • cwagner@lemmy.cwagner.me
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.”

    Seems like Rob Schmitz had fun writing this article ;)

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    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!

    • aard@kyu.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      1 year ago

      Feel sorry for owners but that is the price of being cool.

      How often do we need to repeat that cycle of “Product needlessly locked in becomes useless because manufacturer goes bust” before people are surprised that it happens?

      I’ve been recommending not to buy locked in shit for pretty much two decades now, and I’m still considered a nutjob for doing so. Only thing I have left for people stupid enough to buy into something like that is schadenfreude.

      • doublejay1999@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Contempt for the conman, compassion for the conned .

        Reality is that the yahoos that jump on the latest trends probably won’t missthe money, and will still bore people a work talking tech, but stilll.

      • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Seriously, seeing these proprietary locked down garbage products die the death they rightfully deserve makes me happy. Sucks that people lost their jobs, but there are other ebike companies that don’t make horribly anti-consumer garbage that they could work for. Shitty tech companies who prioritize anti-repair and lock-in strategies simply need to go away. It’s bad for consumers and it’s bad for the environment.

  • Elise@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    OK I’m totally out of my depth here but isn’t it an induction motor with a battery attached to it?

    • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah but the way the battery and electronics are integrated into the frame is probably the problem here

    • lenathaw@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      afaik, tyres and brakes are proprietary too

      edit: nonstandard would be a better term

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    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!