Yeesh. I got the yips when I was about to buy one some years back, precisely because they’d stopped selling basic bikes without app unlocks and alarms and stuff, as I didn’t want the thing to become obsolete or stop working entirely. Glad I did!

I bought a gazelle instead which has been bomb-proof and has standard parts anyway.

I hadn’t ever looked at VanMoof’s website, and I was only vaguely aware of them. As soon as I went to their website and I saw them advertising that their bikes receive “over the air updates,” I suddenly understood why they are going bankrupt.

Their bikes look really nice, and who knows? Maybe they’re nice to ride, too. I’ll just say they’re not for me.

I have one of these, well, the older S2 which I got for half the price before they began selling the S3, it’s not fully connected (does not require a phone/connection to function), it’s been nice and reliable for the 3 years and 6000 kilometers I’ve ridden with it. Now I’m still concerned about parts availability if the company goes under…