They spent a lot of money on expansion, opening stores in places like NYC and Tokyo. I'm also betting that since all the parts in their bikes are custom-produced for them, the production cost of their bikes is quite high as well (that is, they're not making that much money per bike).

Then why do they do it? What is the supposed gain from producing your own parts, when mass produced parts like Shimano are available all over the world? Is it to increase sales of their repair services after the warranty ends?

They want to "re-invent the bike". They do (or did) produce some pretty new/innovative designs; I haven't really followed them since they went electric because I'm not that keen on electric bikes, but the original (non-electric) had the lock roll up inside the frame for example, which is pretty nifty. Lots of people also like the design from an aesthetic point of view.

"Use standard stuff" has a lot of value, obviously, but it also limits you. This is true for everything: from bike parts to the POSIX API or POSIX shell.

They said because of repairs

It's not about how expensive it is, it's about how much you sell.

how can you lose money with every sale then tho

Maybe they have other expenses?

You make up for that in volume!