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Apr 18, 2024
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After being purchased out of bankruptcy are the company’s issues resolved?
VanMoof E-Bikes is back in business. Following the company’s 2023 bankruptcy due to a flood of warranty issues, Lavoie, a division of McLaren Applied, purchased the bike brand’s assets and prepared for a re-launch. We’re told that Lavoie was able to enlist its parent company’s engineers to re-engineer the S5 and A5 models.
The S3 and X3 models, which were the source of the reliability issues, are gone. The company has announced a coming model, the VanMoof V, a full-suspension city e-bike.
Going forward, VanMoof plans to build a network of independent bicycle dealers rather than the VanMoof-branded service centers.
As to their support for existing VanMoof e-bikes that were purchased prior to the bankruptcy, VanMoof has the following statement on their site:
“We are currently restructuring our teams and are running into delays in our answers. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.”
Such a statement does not instill a high degree of confidence that Lavoie has resolved all of the issues left in the wake of VanMoof’s bankruptcy. It remains to be seen to what degree they will support existing owners.
While there are some action photos of the S5 and A5 on VanMoof’s site, the fact that the product pages use 3D renderings gives us pause. The use of 3D renderings on product pages is plenty common in the e-bike world, but for a brand trying to rebuild its reputation, we would think that they would want to do as much as possible to assuage consumer concerns. Photos of real e-bikes at every turn would be a step in that direction.
Lavoie has ended VanMoof’s Peace of Mind insurance program that replaced stolen bikes if their “Bike Hunters” couldn’t locate the stolen e-bike. Lavoie’s leadership has seen the company begin turning things around by starting to deliver spare parts to their dealer network. Unfortunately, while VanMoof has already established a robust network in the Netherlands and Germany, with additional locations in Belgium, France and the U.K., there is only one approved partner in the U.S., Rybit x VanMoof, which has locations in New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
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