They should’ve really just used existing components for stuff like shifters, brakes, hubs, etc. by some of the many 50-100+ year old component makers with a proven reliability track record.
This is what easily happens when one invests more in building and marketing a brand name than in construction reliable and maintainable bicycles at competitive costs.
High quality products and good service provision is impossible for any business in financial trouble. All that funding has to be paid back. The road to failure is a long one. A business fails when the money finally runs out and one or more of the essential costs of being in business can no longer be afforded.
In urban areas, riders prefer bike sharing. No responsibility for theft, can leave and go, no large cash outlay, no repairs, no storage, no transportation into apartment, no garage. So many advantages over owning a bike. In suburban areas, you have a garage and don't need the anti-theft features as much. You can moreover choose an e-bike based on how well it fits, how easy it is to repair, weight, price and availability. VM had some novel engineering ideas, but they also created a lot of problems by adding complexity to the bike and manufacturing process.
Doesn’t make sense why they don’t have vans with engineers who earn a wage placed in each country that can help customers rather then letting bike garages completely mug them off. The garage I went to quoted £800 for a repair a day into me owning the bike, then it broke down again and they wanted me to take it to a garage again instead of just sending me a new one because it was clearly a problem with that specific bike. Great product, bad management
They developed new bikes rather than evolving a line to its max before building a new bike from the ground up. Giving customers upgrade paths from older models would have made them money twice; one for details & another for installation.
I tried on of the first S3 bikes. First delivery was completely wrong bike! second one was just useless on anything but the flat because of useless gearing. The best feature was a handlebar feature which allowed a flat against wall parking but that option soon seemed to vanish! One long test ride proved how useless it was outside of Holland...
Too specialised parts, poor manufacturing quality, very difficult to repair. Typical enthusiastic bike startup issues. Successful bikes have standardised parts, robust supply chains, quality manufacturing, and are easy to repair. Only very strong brands like Cannondale, Specialised, Brompton can afford special parts and expensive proprietary repairs.
VanMoof Consider: all the properties of a (innovative) product are linked to each other like a chain. Having been active as a product designer and a quality engineer in the past, my main concern has always been that all the chain links were strong and in balance with each other. That meant, whatever solution or concept I had to evaluate, it had to be subject to what a competitor could come up with, if “the product” were already in the market. It is much easier to see weaknesses of, and to react on, something real than to imagine these reactions! But that last thing is what an innovative company has to carry out meticulously before the major investments go on. At VanMoof, instead, they didnt want to loose time with playing their worst competitor in advance. Instead, they acted rather narcistic and opportunistic. In simple words, they wanted to prove that if you believe in yourself, you will win. That proved to be too much away from reality.
VanMoof is good bicycle design. But originality of parts costs too much time and money. In contrast,ordinary Mizuno parts are very easy to buy and fix anywhere.
Been an ebike rider for 3 years i do 15.000 miles per year these would be to unreliable and costly to repair,and to much down time.thats why i build my own digital electronic enduro mtb bikes with duel batteries and chargers,with air shocks,mid drives, to be honest they look a load of junk with hub motors cheap and nasty to ride
Yeah, briefly looked at one but even if they were reliable they still way too expensive for what you get. Couldn't cope with the hills on my commute as well as a Bosch mid drive but cost £1k more.
Bei Minderintelligenz bzw. Debilität sollte man kein Unternehmen gründen. Es wird untergehen. Und das ist auch gut so! Hier haben offenbar die Wirtschafts-Aufsichtsbehörden versagt.
if I may make a recommendation, I think you would make a fantastic business channel. This video was an excellent breakdown of the company, Vanmoof. I could easily see you pumping out more of these on other companies on a channel related to that. Anyways, good luck!@@eBikeInspection
Cowboy, the Belgian e-bike company is doing much better. Their bikes have NO problems, the company is profitable and delivers the bikes on time. Exactly what VanMoof failed to do! I wouldn't want another bike like my Cowboy Cruiser
Confused by the comment that you wouldn't want another bike like the Cruiser given that you seem to be a fan of Cowboy. Misspoke? Regardless, Cowboy aspires to breaking even this quarter, but hasn't had a profitable quarter yet.
The REAl reasons for their bankruptcy is too much attention of connectivity /electronics and not enough emphasis on reliable components . it was all fluff and coolness and no substance . it became a trendy Presitge bike not a reliable and practice form of micro mobility . in other words it was a crap bike that caught on becuse of gullible fools that place pretension above realness in their own lives . They had third party suppliers for parts that made crappy quality items and couldn't deliver on time and their service was almost non existent .
Has anybody told you that you sound like Kumail Nanjiani (you even have a similar lisp!) ? I kept expecting a witty dry line from Martin Starr to undercut you...
Another factor to add is that ebikes are just way too expensive for the vast majority of people, especially the branded ones. The majority of ebikes out there that I see are DIY ebikes. Why spend 3K upwards on an ebike when you could put together a pretty decent ebike at half that price.
Too many brick and mortars versus drop shipping priced them out of the market..... trend example... some designs shifted to fat tire style type bikes ...didnt trend with the market changes....Example..Amazon crushed brick and mortar with focus on what customers wanted and needed...fast reliable service....need existing bike stores to become dealers/service centers, aggresive u tube marketing..I am availale to CEO .comeback..lol
Dunno. One of the key points of the video is that they spent too much money on R&D for the volume of sales. As for the design, it seems to be a love-or-hate thing. I personally find it attractive.
200k bikes since start of company? That is what Canyon or Cube produce in 2 months. VanMoof was always aimed at a tiny niche market for the young urban consumer who valued design more than reliability and quality. They burned a large junk of their money by dealing with faulty bikes, repairs and replacements.
They should’ve really just used existing components for stuff like shifters, brakes, hubs, etc. by some of the many 50-100+ year old component makers with a proven reliability track record.
Good observation.
This is what easily happens when one invests more in building and marketing a brand name than in construction reliable and maintainable bicycles at competitive costs.
Good point 👉
Exactly.
Well i partially agree. The bikes was sold on a competitive price. An E-Bike with those features for just 2000€? Its insane for its time.
I have a VanMoof and I love it. I hope the company stay in business.
We hope so as well!
Very low quality defective bikes with proprietary parts, and poor supply of replacements and no customer service. Very poor strategy.
Agree with you.
High quality products and good service provision is impossible for any business in financial trouble. All that funding has to be paid back. The road to failure is a long one. A business fails when the money finally runs out and one or more of the essential costs of being in business can no longer be afforded.
How many YTers in the bike/fun/livestyle industry have praised VanMoof as if there is no tomorrow? All of them. They bowed to a piece of crap.
In urban areas, riders prefer bike sharing. No responsibility for theft, can leave and go, no large cash outlay, no repairs, no storage, no transportation into apartment, no garage. So many advantages over owning a bike. In suburban areas, you have a garage and don't need the anti-theft features as much. You can moreover choose an e-bike based on how well it fits, how easy it is to repair, weight, price and availability. VM had some novel engineering ideas, but they also created a lot of problems by adding complexity to the bike and manufacturing process.
Agree with you.
We need standard eBike battery sizes. No joke.
It will be very convenient.
Doesn’t make sense why they don’t have vans with engineers who earn a wage placed in each country that can help customers rather then letting bike garages completely mug them off.
The garage I went to quoted £800 for a repair a day into me owning the bike, then it broke down again and they wanted me to take it to a garage again instead of just sending me a new one because it was clearly a problem with that specific bike.
Great product, bad management
Good observation, it helps!
Great product? A great product does not brake down again and again.
@@neilclark8087 the new one hasn’t broken once and has been ridden every day for around 8 months now.
@@JD-hh2qb wow 8 months, guess it's above average
@@neilclark8087 I’ve only had it for 8 months… Neil
They should've made it a priority to make their bikes serviceable and get them into established retailers.
You are right. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Expanding rapidly with stores worldwide is a recipe for disaster.
They need to focus on their materials & cost rather than store expanding.
Agree that there is obvious risk, but counterexamples abound. Starbucks is one.
They developed new bikes rather than evolving a line to its max before building a new bike from the ground up. Giving customers upgrade paths from older models would have made them money twice; one for details & another for installation.
Good observation. Thanks
Too expensive for what you get & poor on hills, that's why I dismissed them when I got an ebike for commuting.
Most of the people got same opinion as yours.
I tried on of the first S3 bikes. First delivery was completely wrong bike! second one was just useless on anything but the flat because of useless gearing. The best feature was a handlebar feature which allowed a flat against wall parking but that option soon seemed to vanish! One long test ride proved how useless it was outside of Holland...
Proprietary parts should only be used when there’s a good reason to do so. No need to literally reinvent the wheel.
Good observation
Excellently well made and very informative video.
Glad you liked it!
I would say that sitting up retail brands stores was an expensive and bad idea.
Good point!
17th subscriber
Bro you deserve millions
Just keep it up
Thanks for your appreciation. Stay with us!
Too specialised parts, poor manufacturing quality, very difficult to repair. Typical enthusiastic bike startup issues. Successful bikes have standardised parts, robust supply chains, quality manufacturing, and are easy to repair. Only very strong brands like Cannondale, Specialised, Brompton can afford special parts and expensive proprietary repairs.
Agree with you.
Insightful, thanks for the knowledge sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Is there any source to the claim that the bike costs 4.000€ to produce?
here's the source : discerningcyclist.com/vanmoof-news/
VanMoof
Consider: all the properties of a (innovative) product are linked to each other like a chain. Having been active as a product designer and a quality engineer in the past, my main concern has always been that all the chain links were strong and in balance with each other. That meant, whatever solution or concept I had to evaluate, it had to be subject to what a competitor could come up with, if “the product” were already in the market. It is much easier to see weaknesses of, and to react on, something real than to imagine these reactions! But that last thing is what an innovative company has to carry out meticulously before the major investments go on. At VanMoof, instead, they didnt want to loose time with playing their worst competitor in advance. Instead, they acted rather narcistic and opportunistic. In simple words, they wanted to prove that if you believe in yourself, you will win. That proved to be too much away from reality.
Totally agree with you.
VanMoof is good bicycle design.
But originality of parts costs too much time and money.
In contrast,ordinary Mizuno parts are very easy to buy and fix anywhere.
Point!
They are back
Yup
Been an ebike rider for 3 years i do 15.000 miles per year these would be to unreliable and costly to repair,and to much down time.thats why i build my own digital electronic enduro mtb bikes with duel batteries and chargers,with air shocks,mid drives, to be honest they look a load of junk with hub motors cheap and nasty to ride
Great! Have a good ride!
Yeah, briefly looked at one but even if they were reliable they still way too expensive for what you get. Couldn't cope with the hills on my commute as well as a Bosch mid drive but cost £1k more.
Bei Minderintelligenz bzw. Debilität sollte man kein Unternehmen gründen. Es wird untergehen. Und das ist auch gut so! Hier haben offenbar die Wirtschafts-Aufsichtsbehörden versagt.
Good point! It is the reason of the failure of this company.
great video. holy crap. very high production quality in your first video
Wow, thanks!
this cant be your first channel, right? @@eBikeInspection
Yes right, our another channel: www.youtube.com/@tech.inspection
if I may make a recommendation, I think you would make a fantastic business channel. This video was an excellent breakdown of the company, Vanmoof. I could easily see you pumping out more of these on other companies on a channel related to that. Anyways, good luck!@@eBikeInspection
Cowboy, the Belgian e-bike company is doing much better. Their bikes have NO problems, the company is profitable and delivers the bikes on time. Exactly what VanMoof failed to do! I wouldn't want another bike like my Cowboy Cruiser
Confused by the comment that you wouldn't want another bike like the Cruiser given that you seem to be a fan of Cowboy. Misspoke? Regardless, Cowboy aspires to breaking even this quarter, but hasn't had a profitable quarter yet.
That's great!
Ze hadden net alle “kinderziekte uit de s3 en x3 “ zijn te snel met de a5 en s5 gekomen . Ze zijn daar door in de “kinderziekten blijven zitten “
Yeah
The REAl reasons for their bankruptcy is too much attention of connectivity /electronics and not enough emphasis on reliable components .
it was all fluff and coolness and no substance . it became a trendy Presitge bike not a reliable and practice form of micro mobility . in other words it was a crap bike that caught on becuse of gullible fools that place pretension above realness in their own lives .
They had third party suppliers for parts that made crappy quality items and couldn't deliver on time and their service was almost non existent .
Good observation. Thanks
Wish you would have looked up how to pronounce the company name first. It's Dutch, so "van moaf" like "loaf (of bread)", not "moof"
Thanks Dear.
Has anybody told you that you sound like Kumail Nanjiani (you even have a similar lisp!) ? I kept expecting a witty dry line from Martin Starr to undercut you...
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Where are the fanboys now?
Maybe they are crying in the corner of their backyard.
Looks almost identical to the bird a frame bike
you mean bird e-scooters??
@@eBikeInspection no, the bird A frame, not a renal scooter
oh! okay
Another factor to add is that ebikes are just way too expensive for the vast majority of people, especially the branded ones.
The majority of ebikes out there that I see are DIY ebikes.
Why spend 3K upwards on an ebike when you could put together a pretty decent ebike at half that price.
good point
Uh, because they were ugly expensive bikes with anemic motors, minuscule batteries, high failure rates and ho hum technology.
Yes.
Too many brick and mortars versus drop shipping priced them out of the market..... trend example... some designs shifted to fat tire style type bikes ...didnt trend with the market changes....Example..Amazon crushed brick and mortar with focus on what customers wanted and needed...fast reliable service....need existing bike stores to become dealers/service centers, aggresive u tube marketing..I am availale to CEO .comeback..lol
Adopt the change and set up the business regarding market demand, or else, you will be the next Vanmoof. That's the msg we got.
No surprise. They are just so incredibly ugly. The company have to spend more in development and design. Then the buyers will come.
Agree with you.
Dunno. One of the key points of the video is that they spent too much money on R&D for the volume of sales. As for the design, it seems to be a love-or-hate thing. I personally find it attractive.
200k bikes since start of company? That is what Canyon or Cube produce in 2 months. VanMoof was always aimed at a tiny niche market for the young urban consumer who valued design more than reliability and quality. They burned a large junk of their money by dealing with faulty bikes, repairs and replacements.
They need to focus more on their marketing strategy rather than price game and design.