Dutch e-bike manufacturer VanMoof has started selling e-bikes on its own website again after a nearly year-long hiatus broke in July last year.
The models offered are updated versions of The S5 and A5, which were first launched in 2022. Although the improved e-bikes look exactly the same, they have been redesigned in almost every aspect, says company co-CEO Eliott Wertheimer.
Although this is just the beginning of VanMoof's lengthy relaunch, The ability to sell bicycles directly again “represents a huge milestone for us as a company” Wertheimer told TNW.
This had been the case before VanMoof filed for bankruptcy make big losses been on his e-bikes for years. The proprietary, high-tech parts that made the bikes so attractive but meant that they could only be serviced by VanMoof itself proved to be the company's Achilles heel.
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Overnight, hundreds of thousands of riders around the world were left with a software-heavy bike worth thousands of euros that couldn't be repaired or upgraded anywhere.
Get VanMoof back on track
Fortunately, the company was bought out of administration (if there was any?) three months later, still remaining loyal to the VanMoof brand. The new owner is LaVoie, an e-scooter maker that is part of McLaren Applied, an offshoot of the British motorsport racing business.
LaVoie took on the difficult task of getting a cash-hungry brand with a lot of angry customers back on track.
The updated S5 and A5 models released yesterday include new firmware that has fixed some bugs and improved connectivity between the bike and the smartphone app. On the hardware side, they have e-bikes more robust sealing, a stronger motor mount and a new saddle connection to prevent the seat from lowering while driving.
The e-bikes also have some new features, including a light that flashes when braking and the ability to configure the taillight to indicate when you turn.
The bikes now for sale were either made from scratch or are redesigned versions of existing bikes that were lying with resellers or creditors.
McLaren Applied was directly involved in testing these new motorcycles. And instead of being shipped directly from the factory to the customer as before, each bike has to go through two quality control centers before being sold.
“We chose to upgrade the five-series because it is still a highly reliable product with technology that is years ahead of all competitors,” he said Wertheimerwho previously held the same position LaVoie before the merger.
VanMoof's new management decided to shut down the company 3 and 4 Series due to “deep-rooted” maintenance issues.
Aside from the bikes themselves, the new owners have overhauled almost every aspect of the brand's business model.
Restore trust
Maintenance is no longer carried out in VanMoof branches, but in a number of approved dealers There are now 80 in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.
Owners of the 3 Series and newer can repair their bikes at these new centers. Everyone else has to hope that a mechanic has the expertise to repair their bikes. For this purpose, VanMoof has created maintenance manuals for Series 1 and 2 Publicly available.
The new models S5 and A5 cost 3,298 euros. For now, they are only available to customers who are close to service workshops, which are mainly located in the Netherlands and Germany. However, sales are expected to expand to more European countries over the next month.
“Perhaps our biggest priority right now is expanding our partner network so new and existing owners can get their bikes repaired and serviced.” Wertheimer said.
“Providing a reliable service will be crucial to rebuilding trust in the brand.”
However, VanMoof is still a complex bike that relies on proprietary parts. And competition from startups with similar offers to the Belgian one cowboy or Estonia Ampler bikes is stiffer than ever before.
Despite it, You have to admire the progress VanMoof owners have made so far. In less than a year, they have managed to resume supply of spare parts, open dozens of third-party service centers and now resume e-bike sales.
“From the beginning, we wanted to combine the magic of riding VanMoof bikes with a better customer experience, customer service and reliability,” said Wertheimer.
“There’s still a long way to go, but I think we’re definitely on the right track.”
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