Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders stranded

Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by sebstefan on Thursday August 24, 2023 @05:28AM (#37246758)

People often buy e-scooters here in France because they cost less than an e-bike, take up less space, interoperate better with the public transit network and can be folded up into a manageable size. You can take them with you in busses, trams and trains. You can put them in a trunk easily too if you're still using a car for some trips.

The disadvantage is the smaller wheels and being lower to the ground, it forces you to keep your hands on the handle all the time as it's not self-balancing like a bicycle, makes going up curbs trickier (you have to take them face-on, you'll tip over approaching them with too steep of an angle), and scraping the ground if you're going down a tight slope/leaving the ramp of a flight of stairs (the platform isn't that much higher than the wheels)

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by kmlx on Thursday August 24, 2023 @05:34AM (#37246811)

for me the biggest disadvantage of e-scooters is the lack of exercise.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by dagurp on Thursday August 24, 2023 @05:36AM (#37246827)

The main disadvantage IMO is that if you crash you're going to land flat on your face.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by harvie on Thursday August 24, 2023 @05:46AM (#37246895)

which is going to happen quite soon, because of the pathetic wheel diameter.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by GoToRO on Thursday August 24, 2023 @06:04AM (#37247010)

I crashed a few times. You land on your feet. You are so close to ground that there is no time to fall on your face. The scooter goes one side, you jump a little and you go forward at 15cm above the ground and land. The worse is that the back of the scooter will rotate one side and it comes and hits you in the back of your legs.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by stringsandchars on Thursday August 24, 2023 @06:13AM (#37247082)

> I crashed a few times. You land on your feet.

I have one of those 'funny' interview stories where the candidate turned-up with large scrapes all over his face attributed to falling off a scooter which suggests your data-point-of-one is contradicted by my data-point-of-one.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by GoToRO on Thursday August 24, 2023 @07:05AM (#37247432)

You need to know how to fall. If you know, it is easier to fall correctly from a scooter, than a bike f.e. This was my point.

Most people try to regain control and straiten their legs when in fact you have to abandon it and bend your knees. Less height, less pain.

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by sebstefan on Friday August 25, 2023 @08:58AM (#37261183)

I've falled out of an e-scooter and landed on my feet so I just kept running, I'd have eaten the ground on a bike

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Re:Dutch e-bike maker VanMoof goes bankrupt, leaving riders ... by sebstefan on Thursday August 24, 2023 @10:33AM (#37249183)

I crashed it a few times, I don't see how you could possibly fall on your face. One was on my side (guess how I got that curb story), the other on my feet (sprained an ankle)

Small injuries happen more often than on a bicycle by a margin

If I get a scratch I get a scratch, I'll trade that for a shorter commute

What I really care about are real injuries. Those are from drivers and they are the same whether you're on a bike or anything else

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