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The fact that there is VanMoof in the list at the second place makes me think for sure that this must be a paid for/sponsored article, I live in Amsterdam, it's

The fact that there is VanMoof in the list at the second place makes me think for sure that this must be a paid for/sponsored article, I live in Amsterdam, it's all plain, no bumps, but still, I have to go every month to the customer care in order to bring in my VanMoof, it has continuously battery issues, and every now and then it is accompanied by additional issues, like right now for me it's the bell. So I am not sure if the author has ever driven a VanMoof or if he likes going to a place without knowing And I am not an isolated case, there are facebook groups filled by unhappy vanmoof customers, so maybe for bloggers it's the time to grow a conscience and stop advertising shitty products

dmurray 5y ago
The author acknowledges exactly these quality issues, and makes this his recommendation if you prioritize the anti-theft features over things like price and reliability. He does make it sound like they are very willing to replace problematic bikes, which might not be the experience of those in your Facebook groups: > these have a higher percentage of bikes with an issue than they’d like. In my experience, that meant sending the bike back and getting a replacement. So I wouldn’t want this to be my only bike
- lnxg33k1 5y ago
  Oh, missed that, then I guess the author already grew a conscience, and I have to grow a better pair of eyes
aigo 5y ago
Anecdata: I've been riding a VanMoof ES2 around London for 2 years with no issues at all
- lnxg33k1 5y ago
  Well, already the fact that you drove a bike in London for 2 years and survived is outstanding :D But maybe the frequency of use is also important for the context, like here you use the bike 2-3 hours a day, every day, weekend included, want to commute? Bike. want to go to the gym? Bike. want to go out with friends? Bike. want to go to visit Utrecht? Bike. When I lived in London (for few years) bike was not used with this frequency and the infrastructure (up to 2018) didn't seem to allow for that kind of use, so maybe if you take your bike once a week, it can survive that long without issues, is that your case? Or your use is compatible with the one in Ams?
  - IkmoIkmo 5y ago
    > 2-3 hours a day, every day, weekend included I mean, I use a regular bike for 30 years in Amsterdam, I really don't think 2-3 hours of daily biking is the norm... There's 5 supermarkets and 5 gyms within a 5minute bike ride, including the ones I go to. My parents are 20min away, friends are typically 5-15min. It's really rare to spend more than an hour on my bike each day, even though I use it daily for just about everything in the city, I think it's an average of 20min a day the past years and about 50m if I wasn't working from home and biked to work (I work from home due to covid, but otherwise take the metro, not a fan of biking in a suit in rain half the year). You can cut that by at about 30-40% if I had an electric bike, due to the speeds. Going to Utrecht by bike is not really done, it'd be about two hours at the legally max speed (25km/h), and another 2h back. You'd typically take a train. So 2-3 hours is really extreme. The Dutch average is just 16 minutes a day, by the way, Amsterdam won't be far off from that.
    - lnxg33k1 5y ago
      Then I guess that is more personal, I live in Diemen, and my work is at least 40 mins of bike away each way, and the swimgym is another 20-25, and all nice bars are far too
  - leoedin 5y ago
    I've been commuting daily by bike in London for almost a decade. I use my bike to get around on the weekends too. Never had an issue. Maybe this is because I've never had a job where I've had to leave it locked up on the street for hours on end. However, my bike is kind of crappy looking and I've left it locked up outside pubs and restaurants many times. I've never had an issue finding somewhere to lock it up anywhere in the city - there's always a bike rack, tall lamppost or solid railing near where I'm going. You have to be confident riding in traffic. But once you accept that you need to be assertive - take the centre of the lane if there's no space to pass, use your positioning to control the traffic behind you, don't go into peoples blind spots etc, it's pretty safe. I think traffic in London is pretty accustomed to cyclists - we're everywhere. It's when you get further out the city into the suburbs that things start getting unpleasant.
  - 5y ago
aikinai 5y ago
I don’t know if they just send the good ones to Japan, but I know a handful of people that ride them everyday and have had no issues.
ciex 5y ago
I've been riding a VanMoof in Berlin since May and it has been broken in some way almost all of the time. Wouldn't want to switch for any other bike regardless, it's that much fun.

dmurray 5y ago

The author acknowledges exactly these quality issues, and makes this his recommendation if you prioritize the anti-theft features over things like price and reliability. He does make it sound like they are very willing to replace problematic bikes, which might not be the experience of those in your Facebook groups: > these have a higher percentage of bikes with an issue than they’d like. In my experience, that meant sending the bike back and getting a replacement. So I wouldn’t want this to be my only bike

lnxg33k1 5y ago
Oh, missed that, then I guess the author already grew a conscience, and I have to grow a better pair of eyes

aigo 5y ago

Anecdata: I've been riding a VanMoof ES2 around London for 2 years with no issues at all

lnxg33k1 5y ago
Well, already the fact that you drove a bike in London for 2 years and survived is outstanding :D But maybe the frequency of use is also important for the context, like here you use the bike 2-3 hours a day, every day, weekend included, want to commute? Bike. want to go to the gym? Bike. want to go out with friends? Bike. want to go to visit Utrecht? Bike. When I lived in London (for few years) bike was not used with this frequency and the infrastructure (up to 2018) didn't seem to allow for that kind of use, so maybe if you take your bike once a week, it can survive that long without issues, is that your case? Or your use is compatible with the one in Ams?
- IkmoIkmo 5y ago
  > 2-3 hours a day, every day, weekend included I mean, I use a regular bike for 30 years in Amsterdam, I really don't think 2-3 hours of daily biking is the norm... There's 5 supermarkets and 5 gyms within a 5minute bike ride, including the ones I go to. My parents are 20min away, friends are typically 5-15min. It's really rare to spend more than an hour on my bike each day, even though I use it daily for just about everything in the city, I think it's an average of 20min a day the past years and about 50m if I wasn't working from home and biked to work (I work from home due to covid, but otherwise take the metro, not a fan of biking in a suit in rain half the year). You can cut that by at about 30-40% if I had an electric bike, due to the speeds. Going to Utrecht by bike is not really done, it'd be about two hours at the legally max speed (25km/h), and another 2h back. You'd typically take a train. So 2-3 hours is really extreme. The Dutch average is just 16 minutes a day, by the way, Amsterdam won't be far off from that.
  - lnxg33k1 5y ago
    Then I guess that is more personal, I live in Diemen, and my work is at least 40 mins of bike away each way, and the swimgym is another 20-25, and all nice bars are far too
- leoedin 5y ago
  I've been commuting daily by bike in London for almost a decade. I use my bike to get around on the weekends too. Never had an issue. Maybe this is because I've never had a job where I've had to leave it locked up on the street for hours on end. However, my bike is kind of crappy looking and I've left it locked up outside pubs and restaurants many times. I've never had an issue finding somewhere to lock it up anywhere in the city - there's always a bike rack, tall lamppost or solid railing near where I'm going. You have to be confident riding in traffic. But once you accept that you need to be assertive - take the centre of the lane if there's no space to pass, use your positioning to control the traffic behind you, don't go into peoples blind spots etc, it's pretty safe. I think traffic in London is pretty accustomed to cyclists - we're everywhere. It's when you get further out the city into the suburbs that things start getting unpleasant.
- 5y ago

aikinai 5y ago

I don’t know if they just send the good ones to Japan, but I know a handful of people that ride them everyday and have had no issues.

ciex 5y ago

I've been riding a VanMoof in Berlin since May and it has been broken in some way almost all of the time. Wouldn't want to switch for any other bike regardless, it's that much fun.