BIKE TEST – After VanMoof was taken over by the British scooter and bicycle brand Lavoie at the end of last year, it was a matter of waiting to see what would happen to the Dutch brand. Would the new owner start with a clean slate and bring a completely new VanMoof to the market? Or did Lavoie want to pick up where VanMoof left off? We now have the answer: neither.
After the restart, VanMoof decided to put the well-known S5 back on the market, whereby this model has been significantly improved under the skin.
The S5 has been thoroughly examined by the experts at McLaren Applied, the parent company of Lavoie, with the aim of eliminating the teething problems, but also to improve performance and make the bike more maintenance-friendly. Something that VanMoof also succeeded in doing.
Of course, it was enough reason for Business Insider to test that. The experience we had with the S5 last year was not very great. We encountered several connection problems that could not be resolved even after a visit to the workshop. There were also problems with the support and the e-shifter, which VanMoof calls the automatic gearbox.
According to VanMoof’s new co-CEO Elliot Wertheimer, these problems mainly arose from VanMoof’s earlier urge to quickly develop and market the bicycle. Wertheimer says that many problems have been solved thanks to the expertise of McLaren Applied. The connection between bike and phone should run smoothly and the e-shifter should also shift smoothly at the perfect moments.
We cycled around on the new S5 for two weeks, including two long rides of almost 50 kilometers to get a good feel for how the bike is holding up and to determine whether there was a real difference compared to previous experiences.
VanMoof S5: what stands out about the new version?
To get straight to the point: during the first kilometers we hardly noticed any difference. The bike was still in the default settings, as we had also assessed the previous S5 on that. During last year’s test we had no option to adjust the settings due to software problems.
After driving a few more miles on the S5, some differences were noticeable. The distinction between the support levels, for example. They were more pronounced now.
Where in the previous version we could no longer feel a difference after the second position on the third and fourth, this was the case now. The disadvantage remains that the bicycle starts to slow down above 25 to 26 kilometers per hour and you can therefore pedal all you want, but you hardly gain any speed while you have to work harder and harder. It is something we had less with other electric bicycles.
We did not notice much difference in the operation of the automatic gearbox. In theory, it should shift more accurately and no longer change gears when the rider applies force. Although we did not experience the latter, we regularly encountered the fact that we had to pedal very quickly before the bike noticed that it had to upshift. Strangely enough this only happened in first gear, second and third actually responded as expected.
An additional advantage was that we could now use the software, and therefore the settings of the e-shifter. This means that we could determine ourselves at what speed the gears were adjusted. Very useful, because if you have a headwind, it is better to keep pedaling in second gear than to shift up to the heaviest gear. With a small adjustment in the app, this was easily arranged and it worked excellently.
Connection problems are a thing of the past
The connection problems that bothered us so much during the previous test were now not noticeable. The app actually had a consistently good connection with the bike, which is also a must for the VanMoof S5, which is overloaded with technical gadgets.
Despite the significantly improved connection, the software did not work flawlessly. For example, we occasionally encountered the problem that the bicycle did not automatically unlock when we wanted to unlock it with one push of the button on the handlebars.
Opening the app and trying to unlock it that way did not always provide relief. Not even if we were standing next to the bike and the app actually indicated that it was unlocked. Ultimately, it is of course a small effort to unlock the VanMoof via the PIN code on the steering wheel, but that is not the standard option.
What is striking is that you quickly get used to the convenience of the kick-lock on the rear wheel. You lock the bike when you park it somewhere and open it with the push of a button when you return. It’s so easy that when it works, it’s really nice. However, if it does not work, this immediately causes disproportionate irritation.
On balance, the VanMoof S5 remains an extremely pleasant riding e-bike. The pedal assistance feels nice and the bike can be steered very well through traffic without ever feeling unsure about the handling in, for example, faster bends. And the boostbutton that gives you that little push to overtake other e-bikers, remains a nice extra.
Long-term reliability of the VanMoof S5
Whether the VanMoof S5 is actually more reliable and will continue to do what it is supposed to do in the long term? We cannot answer that based on what we experienced in two weeks.
What we do know is that the criticisms we had were immediately noted by VanMoof, with the promise that technicians would work on them. Feedback is therefore actively taken into account and can find its way into a future firmware update for the S5.
Perhaps the most important change at VanMoof is that an e-bike from the brand no longer has to go to a VanMoof branch for maintenance. Repairs and maintenance are now done via external partners who have received training from VanMoof to be able to tinker with the bicycles.
The number of partners is growing, because VanMoof is actively training new parties and connecting them to the network. For the VanMoofer, this means that his or her bicycle may be able to be repaired at the bicycle repair shop on the corner, if something is wrong.
Nowadays you get all those improvements for a lower price than the previous S5 was offered for. Before VanMoof’s bankruptcy, 3,500 euros had to be paid for the e-bike. Now you have a new S5 for just under 3,300 euros.
That is still a lot of money, but for that you get a city bike (we found that it is not pleasant for longer rides) with technical features that you will not find on other e-bikes. The S5 does still have a front-wheel motor and an old-fashioned chain instead of the more modern center-over rear-wheel motor and carbon belt drive. Although we didn’t notice much of this in practice.
All in all, it seems like many of the issues with the S5 have been resolved. Unfortunately, we cannot judge how and whether the problems we encountered will be addressed and how reliable the bike will be in the longer term. The conclusion is that you can currently buy a better VanMoof S5 for less money than a year ago.
