[devn0ll]

I would say that this company is a prime example why "right to repair" should be the default. Companies go bankrupt all the time but that should not mean the end of the product you bought and own for as long as you can fix thing yourself.

p.s. They mention they are "proud" of what they accomplished. In light of all the e-waste they have generated, I would dial that way down...

[veidr]

What do you mean? You have every right to repair your VanMoof; they not only didn't try to stop me, they actively encouraged me to do it myself or just go to a local bike shop every time I called them for service.

I know it's a common (and shitty) thing these days, but in this case, it isn't like the bikes are going to stop working.

I think this article sort of implied (without really saying) that would happen, but it won't. It's theoretically possible that you could "brick" a VanMoof bike by:

1. locking it with the VanMoof app

2. forgetting your hardware unlock code

3. not downloading your bike token/passcode, thus preventing third-party apps from connecting to it

4. waiting for VanMoof to be gone, so you could no longer get the bike details , and thus would never be able to use any third party app

...except that the hardware unlock code is only 3 digits, so you might be able to brute force that if you really wanted to (?)

It's possible you could get the bike locked to "0 power assist" setting, though, and never be able to change it, so that's why I strongly recommend all VanMoof bike owners to download their bike details[1] ASAP so that they can use third party apps to manage those things.

[1]: https://keyexporter.grossartig.io