The Dutch start e-bike Vanmoof returns two years after bankruptcy with the first model designed under new leadership. And despite the criticism of the past that Vanmoof’s excessive dependence on custom components has led to the fall of the company, the S6 sticks to the design of the brand signature.
Today, Vanmoof bets that higher quality adapted components, along with a more powerful network of service, will allow it to remain faithful to its design, technological heavy core, avoiding repairing and serving the traps that resulted in a very quick product.
“I don’t think there is a reason to have Vanmoof if we are going to use accessories outside the shelf like everyone else,” Co-Heo Elliot Wertheimer told TechCrunch Backstage at Micromobility Europe in Brussels this week. “We’re here to push the design. We have a bike that, if you’ve never drove an electronic bike in your life. You get it and it’s intuitive.
Vanmoof previously set more than $ 200 million in business capital capital and won a cult after premium, minimalistly designed e-heads equipped with complete lights, batteries and engines.
Vanmoof’s only sale point became his greatest responsibility. Like many business -backed hardware businesses, the company has grown very quickly to operate in a sustainable way. When bicycles broke, customers were incorrect by an underdeveloped repair network and a limited supply-coherence of the company’s decision to use custom components instead of accessories outside the shelf.
The launch filed for bankruptcy in July 2023. A month later it was rejected by the manufacturer e-scooter Lavoie, a business section of McLaren, which was previously part of the McLaren team building sections for McLaren F1.
Wertheimer said with support from McLaren Applied Formula 1 know -how, Vanmoof has managed to redesign any element that had caused problems on previous models, using performance data to create more reliable custom components. Many of these parts are designed with large manufacturers, which not only ensure the quality but also the availability of components should happen and anything that will happen again, according to Wertheimer.
In some parts of the business, Vanmoof is sent to a more standard industry approach. The company’s batteries, for example, are now designed and manufactured by Panasonic. Vanmoof only provides mechanical integration and software. Previously, Vanmoof had led to battery design.
The real critical part, however, is an improved support network, according to Wertheimer.
“We have corrected the whole business, from the unit economy, the logistics and the after -sale service,” Wertheimer said. “We couldn’t go out with something new before creating the infrastructure to do so.”
Vanmoof has set up a network of 250 repair centers and 130 sales partners and focuses on markets such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
‘We have created a technological suite for [our repair partners] As for where they can buy accessories, a Diagnostics application, a suitable tracking system that monitors which components went where they went where etc. We add 10 stores a week. ”
Vanmoof also hopes to start in the US by the end of 2025. However, Wertheimer said these plans have stopped as the company is waiting to see how President Trump’s invoice policy is shaking.
The company has already begun to receive reservations about the S6 in its current active markets and expects to deliver the first thousands of vehicles in early August.
Vanmoof S6: A new hope
Customers had already complained about slow repair times before Vanmoof’s short break in 2023. When it went bankrupt, some customers were falling with broken bicycles. Others who had put on deposits for new bikes were out hundreds of dollars. Trust in the brand fell.
While some can never forgive Vanmoof for its failures, the new S6 could just help customers remember why they loved the brand in the first place.
I gave the S6 a quick rotation this week in Brussels and it was happy to finally understand why so many riders had once gone to Vanmoof.
It’s a sexy bike. The S6 has the vanmoof virtual frame, which becomes even more elegant without visible welding. It also comes in many matte colors, including an “electric blue” that looked more like Lilac for me, and a pearl mint that Wertheimer says “changes to light” from white to green.
“We spent a lot of time in the colors,” he said.
The technical features are also impressive. Wertheimer said the company redesigned the electronic suite with the help of McLaren applied to ensure longevity even after cycling passed through the rain, cold, heat and other conditions.
The S6 platform provides other features that will be recognized by Vanmoof fans, such as the halo that replaces a traditional screen and shines different colors to inform riders about the life and speed of the battery. The halo on the S6 is much brighter, addressing complaints from previous models that they are overly dim in direct sunlight.
The new technology features include a complete navigation that combines the bike into a mobile accompanying application, providing turn-by-by-turn instructions through lights and sounds halo. There is also a new ecosystem sound, which includes a soft but stable, cricket that looks like a cricket that a rider can use in the position of a bell to warn other street users for their presence.
The anti-clop features have come standard in almost all Vanmoof e-bike models, but Wertheimer says the S6 is even better.
“We have a new monitoring system that is much more expensive,” he said, noting that the system is based on a triangular cell tower, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signal to determine the vehicle’s position within two meters.
Wertheimer also said that Vanmoof would soon introduce conflict detection and other security features.
As for the route itself, the improved S6 mechanical displacement system comes from the plant and is automatically regulated by speed, allowing the smoother momentum. It also operates alongside the four levels of bike bike. The front wheel engine, developed with “a major Japanese manufacturer”, contributes to a more natural, intuitive driving experience. And the new SeatsPost Sepens handles the street hits well. For a bike weighing only 51 pounds, it is amazingly durable.
And, of course, the virtual push button adds this extra piece of Ohmph, making riders feel like they have just driven over a mushroom to Mario Kart.
“When we take over Vanmoof, I inherited the big plan and an impressive product ecosystem,” Wertheimer said. “We spent two years of rebuilding our company and brand to get to this launch … We are ready to show the world what we can do again.
