The sophisticated bicycle has attracted fans in Europe and the U.S., but repairs under warranty have bled the company of money.
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.
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I thought they went a month or 2 ago ?
Feel sorry for owners but that is the price of being cool.
I don’t feel sorry for them. It was a stupid purchase.
Thanks Hugh
OK I’m totally out of my depth here but isn’t it an induction motor with a battery attached to it?
Yeah but the way the battery and electronics are integrated into the frame is probably the problem here
afaik, tyres and brakes are proprietary too
edit: nonstandard would be a better term
