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Both VanMoof and Cowboy offer very exciting hardware. I actually bought a cowboy bike a year ago and could reach ludicrous speeds with the "unofficial" app to r

Both VanMoof and Cowboy offer very exciting hardware. I actually bought a cowboy bike a year ago and could reach ludicrous speeds with the "unofficial" app to remove speed restrictions. It was a amazing! Sadly it started "booting" on the second day and after some annoying support chatting back and forth ("please put the bike outside so it has mobile internet connection!") I returned it. Support chat partners changed multiple times per day for me, responses took a long time sometimes. Initial shipping times was also unacceptable and took months. They sold a lot more bikes than they had ready. Reddit forums are full of fed up people with buyers remorse. Generally, quality control is very lacking. Being at the mercy of a remote company 5 countries over that has no serious presence in your city to maintain/fix/ship your 3000€ bike is simply a terrible idea.

tokai 3y ago
>reach ludicrous speeds with the "unofficial" app to remove speed restrictions. It was a amazing! Hope that traffic police one day starts coming down hard on this.
- Traubenfuchs 3y ago
  That app (Cowboy Unleashed it was I believe) has an instant hard reset button that should make it very difficult for police to prove anything. Yes, it felt incredibly dangerous to be on a relatively light ebike going, what was it, at least 40 kilometers (25 mph) per hour. It's probably good I didn't get a replacement and gave it back.
  - the-dude 3y ago
    The concern is not about you.
- djaychela 3y ago
  I find it amazing that people are happy to ride with pretty much zero protection at speeds as fast as a small motorcycle would take you, where a proper helmet is mandatory and most sane people would be considering significant safety clothing, etc. Many years ago (I've been a motorcyclist since I was 16), I saw the result of falling off without safety gear. Even at 30 the results of human-tarmac contact is pretty horrible. Even faster and it doesn't bear thinking about.

tokai 3y ago

>reach ludicrous speeds with the "unofficial" app to remove speed restrictions. It was a amazing! Hope that traffic police one day starts coming down hard on this.

Traubenfuchs 3y ago
That app (Cowboy Unleashed it was I believe) has an instant hard reset button that should make it very difficult for police to prove anything. Yes, it felt incredibly dangerous to be on a relatively light ebike going, what was it, at least 40 kilometers (25 mph) per hour. It's probably good I didn't get a replacement and gave it back.
- the-dude 3y ago
  The concern is not about you.
djaychela 3y ago
I find it amazing that people are happy to ride with pretty much zero protection at speeds as fast as a small motorcycle would take you, where a proper helmet is mandatory and most sane people would be considering significant safety clothing, etc. Many years ago (I've been a motorcyclist since I was 16), I saw the result of falling off without safety gear. Even at 30 the results of human-tarmac contact is pretty horrible. Even faster and it doesn't bear thinking about.