Glad that existing customers will be able to maintain their bikes more easily. But I also look forward to (hope for?) an era where e-bikes are a lot more like regular bikes: totally generic, interchangeable parts that don’t require any single manufacturer.
Any ebike company that's using parts that my local bike shop can't work on is not getting my money. Also any local bike shop that insists they need to charge more for an ebike is not getting my business either. Ebikes are bikes with battery + motor mostly and not a new invention.
I wonder if companies like VanMoof just had a very small window there where they were compelling.<p>I think when the VanMoof came out it was sleek and easy to use in a field of much more clunky eBikes. Now, if you want something that looks good on the road and is easy to operate, you have a lot of options, including ones from familiar bike manufacturers.<p>Suddenly VanMoof no longer had such a differentiating factor compared to everyone else.
Keeping an eye on second hand market, I noticed that many were desperate to dump their VanMoofs in past few months. Some going as low as 1000 bucks but apparently, were finding hard to find someone fool enough to buy a bike who's parts are not available off the market otherwise in case something goes wrong down the road which means, you're purchase is total junk.
Reddit thread about the same:<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/vanmoofbicycle/comments/166as7v/mclaren_appliedx27s_lavoie_buys_bankrupt_dutch/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.reddit.com/r/vanmoofbicycle/comments/166as7v/mcl...</a>