[HN Gopher] Cowboy rides to the rescue of VanMoof owners with ap...
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Cowboy rides to the rescue of VanMoof owners with app to unlock
threatened bikes
Author : j-a-a-p
Score : 38 points
Date : 2023-07-13 18:45 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (techcrunch.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (techcrunch.com)
| golf1052 wrote:
| Glad to see Cowboy release an app to potentially save us VanMoof
| owners. For US residents VanMoof had a leg up because there were
| brand stores open in the US to take bikes to for repair. There's
| a couple of other features VanMoof bikes had that I preferred
| over Cowboy's so it's sad to see them go.
|
| At least in Seattle both Amazon and Google partnered with VanMoof
| to let employees rent or buy bikes so there's a ton of VanMoofs
| around. I wonder what's going to happen with them.
| samlambert wrote:
| I bought a Cowboy and it broke within 2 weeks. VanMoof is so much
| better. It is sad to see them dying.
| timjver wrote:
| VanMoof bikes are known for breaking quickly. Calling them "so
| much better" than Cowboy based on a single bad experience
| doesn't seem totally reasonable.
| theduality wrote:
| Here in the Netherlands VanMoof has an _awful_ reputation for
| shoddy manufacturing and barely existing customer service.
| madspindel wrote:
| Hopefully, they can open source this app. And maybe the firmware
| for VanMoof can be open sourced as well - allowing the community
| to build a better bike together.
| cratermoon wrote:
| On a related note, anyone have any DRM'd books they can no longer
| read because the company that owned the tech ceased to exist?
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36705070
| gowld wrote:
| Sounds like they were VanMoof renters (undefined rental term),
| not owners.
| intrasight wrote:
| Who else was expecting an article about a guy on a horse chasing
| down a rogue eBike?
| dixie_land wrote:
| that's exactly what I was picturing
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dsq_jZiB1_U&t=47
| intrasight wrote:
| Well there ya go! Yee-haw!
| cianmm wrote:
| This is the sort of marketing that I support. It's providing a
| service that has a clear value to the user, and is also god-tier
| trolling, all while getting us to check out their product too
| (without being pushy about it).
|
| I own a VanMoof and I've got very little faith that this thing is
| going to last another year - but I hope it does. I really like
| the bike, and it's sad to have seen the company focusing so
| heavily on growth to the detriment of quality of their product
| and service.
| blopker wrote:
| The sad reality is that this will be more common over time as
| more ebikes come onto the market. The companies making them don't
| even need to go out of business. For example, Super73 released
| what they called their 'torque update' which added a small torque
| boost, but also removed features. They didn't tell anyone about
| the downsides of updating.
|
| People installed the update without knowing about the removal and
| were understandably upset. I went ahead and released an app that
| mitigated some issues [0]. It can't fix everything, but makes
| using the bike much easier through automation. The problem is,
| Apple has rejected the app from their store until I get Super73's
| approval, which will never happen.
|
| Anyway, I'm now looking into jail breaking the bikes, so we can
| install a custom firmware. (Reach out if you're interested in
| details!)
|
| [0]: https://github.com/blopker/superduper
| gowld wrote:
| That's not an eBike. That's a hardware dongle for an app.
| enriquto wrote:
| Why would anybody ever want a bike to be associated to an app?
| What are the advantages?
|
| I already feel dirty because my bike has a nabendynamo. Cannot
| even imagine having an ebike; but I understand its purpose. But a
| bike connected to the phone? Makes no sense at all. Anybody can
| explain it to me in terms that I can understand?
| barefeg wrote:
| In the case of the VanMoof s3 and above the app is used to
| unlock the bike. It has a "kick lock" that basically locks the
| rear wheel. When the phone approaches the bike then they
| communicate via Bluetooth and allows the "kick lock" to release
| either by pressing the button on the handlebar or tapping on
| the app's button (or watch app companion).
|
| Apart from that it allows to change some settings that are not
| configurable on the bike. The bike has only 2 buttons and an
| LED display. Useful settings are for example the speed profile
| for the automatic gear shifting.
| enriquto wrote:
| Thanks! This answers what the app does (unlock the bike) not
| why anybody would want that horrifying feature. So if the
| battery of your phone goes off, you cannot take your bike?
| Why whould anybody pay for that? I use a cheap D-lock that
| locks the rear wheel with a tiny key.
| cianmm wrote:
| If your phone battery dies you can unlock the bike by
| entering a PIN using a sequence of button presses. It takes
| about 10 seconds.
|
| I get that you might not see the value in the product, but
| please try empathise with those who might find it useful.
|
| Personally, it (along with a few other security features)
| caused the bike thieves who stole my VanMoof recently to
| give up on the bike and dump it where I was able to grab it
| thanks to a combination of VanMoof's inbuilt tracker and
| the AirTag I stuck in the saddle.
| pnathan wrote:
| It's amazing.
|
| I can appreciate the _desire_ to have a linked app to deal with
| the electronic internals of an ebike. We have a Yuba cargo and a
| Rad, and it'd be cool to "open up the insides and tweak". Yet.
| Yet.
|
| Honestly, I got a non-ebike very recently (I've been wanting a
| particular set of features for about 5 years now), and it has
| been very, very nice to use. No concerns about battery, speed
| limiting, etc. No cloud servers connecting to an app, either. I
| can't say I'd recommend an non-ebike to everyone, but it does
| simplify certain elements of the experience.
| hrunt wrote:
| My son just got an non-ebike, and we bought parts to convert it
| to an ebike (a better, a kit with a wheel/motor, control unit,
| screen, and pedal assist sensor). What I found is that the
| collection of parts was very much like building a PC. My friend
| just bought an ebike, and even though functionally it's
| basically the same, it's more like a Mac in that he can't
| really swap things out and tinker with it.
|
| Also, not related, but your post sounds like someone who just
| discovered regular bikes after only having used an e-bike. For
| someone who only has a regular bike and has grown up with them,
| that view felt recognizably foreign to me. The world is a
| changing ...
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(page generated 2023-07-13 23:02 UTC)