VanMoof eBikes Canada: 2023 Bankruptcy, Lavoie Revival, and What It Means for Owners
VanMoof spent a decade as the most talked-about name in smart city e-bikes — Amsterdam design, a hidden motor, an integrated lock, an app that turned the bike into a connected device. Then in July 2023 the company that built all of it went bankrupt, stranding roughly 190,000 owners whose bikes depend on VanMoof's servers, parts and proprietary tools (TechCrunch, August 2023). If you are searching for VanMoof today, it is almost always for one reason: you own one, or you are eyeing one, and you need to know whether anyone is still home.
The short answer is yes — but it is a different company. VanMoof was bought out of insolvency by Lavoie, the electric-scooter arm of UK engineering firm McLaren Applied, and relaunched with a new flagship (the S6) and a new repair network. This is a neutral, independent profile. Zeus eBikes does not sell VanMoof and has no commercial stake in how you read it. Every factual claim below traces to a named primary source — a court filing, a regulator, or the company's own pages — and where the public record is silent or contested, we say so rather than guess.
We re-derived every high-stakes claim from primary sources rather than secondary summaries: the Amsterdam bankruptcy notice published by the court-appointed trustees' own law firm (HVG Law) for the exact entities and dates; the U.S. CPSC recall database (cpsc.gov) and Health Canada's recall database (recalls-rappels.canada.ca) for the safety record; VanMoof's own newsroom and help pages plus TechCrunch and Bicycle Retailer for the acquisition and the voided-warranty reality; VanMoof's published warranty terms for current coverage; and Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau for the reputation signal, with sample sizes stated so you can weigh them. Performance figures are labelled as the manufacturer's stated specs, not independent test results. Recall findings are reported as a verified record as of June 2026, not a permanent guarantee. VanMoof, Lavoie, or any party named here has a standing right of reply — write to milad@zeusebikes.ca and we will publish a correction where the record warrants it.
VanMoof is not a scam — it is a genuine Dutch brand that went bankrupt in 2023 and was revived by a credible new owner (Lavoie / McLaren Applied), but the bankruptcy was real, legacy warranties were voided, and the relaunched brand does not ship to Canada.
VanMoof is back in business — but as a new company, and not in Canada. The original Amsterdam maker (founded 2009) was declared bankrupt by the Amsterdam court on 17 July 2023, then bought out of insolvency by Lavoie, the e-scooter division of McLaren Applied, which relaunched the brand with the S6. The catch for legacy owners: pre-bankruptcy warranties and the Peace of Mind programme were voided — the new VanMoof has stated it is not obliged to honour the old company's claims. On safety, the only recall on record is a 2017 fender-bolt fall hazard, not a battery fire. For Canadians specifically, the practical reality is the biggest red flag: VanMoof does not ship to Canada and has no Canadian dealer or service network. On reputation, Trustpilot rates the brand Average at 3.5 out of 5 across roughly 8,700 reviews, with the service-and-connectivity theme the most recurring caution. New to vetting eBike sellers? Start with how to spot a legit eBike store in Canada, or compare current options in our best eBikes in Canada guide.
What This Profile Covers
- Who Is VanMoof — and Is It Still in Business?
- The Warranty Reality: Why Legacy Coverage Was Voided
- The Safety Record: Is There a VanMoof Recall?
- The Lineup: S5, A5, S6 and Canadian Legality
- Reputation and the Canada-Access Problem
- The Honest Ledger: Green Flags vs Red Flags
- Frequently asked questions
- The bottom line
Who Is VanMoof — and Is It Still in Business?
VanMoof is still in business in 2026 — but not the company that built your bike. The original Amsterdam maker was declared bankrupt on 17 July 2023. Lavoie, the e-scooter arm of UK firm McLaren Applied, bought the assets out of insolvency and relaunched the brand with the S6.
The original VanMoof was founded in Amsterdam in 2009 by Dutch brothers Taco and Ties Carlier, who pioneered the integrated, app-connected smart-bike look the brand became famous for. That company collapsed: on 17 July 2023 the court of Amsterdam declared VanMoof Global Holding B.V., VanMoof B.V. and VanMoof Global Support B.V. bankrupt, appointing trustees Jan Padberg and Robin de Wit of HVG Law, according to the trustees' own published notice. The non-Dutch entities in Germany, the UK and the US filed shortly afterward.
What followed was a rescue, not a winding-down. Lavoie, the electric-scooter division of UK engineering firm McLaren Applied, acquired VanMoof's assets out of bankruptcy in a deal announced at the end of August 2023 for a reported 'tens of millions,' per TechCrunch and electrive. The Carlier brothers were not part of the new leadership — Dutch financial daily Financieele Dagblad reported there was no place for them in the future management team, and the revived 'VanMoof 2.0' is run by Lavoie executives. Under the new owner the brand has relaunched: it introduced the S6 — its first new model since the takeover — and returned to the UK market in 2026, per BikeRadar and road.cc.
So the distinction that matters is corporate, not cosmetic. The brand, the designs and the app live on under Lavoie; the legal entity that took your money and made your original promises does not. It is a pattern worth knowing how to spot before buying any eBike — our guide to vetting a legit eBike store covers the exact questions to ask about ownership, warranty continuity and parts supply. Almost everything else on this page follows from that single fact.
VanMoof did not simply 'pause.' The original Dutch company went bankrupt in July 2023; Lavoie (McLaren Applied) bought the assets and relaunched the brand. It is a new owner standing on the old name — which is exactly why warranty and parts questions need a careful, sourced answer.
The Warranty Reality: Why Legacy Coverage Was Voided
Pre-bankruptcy VanMoof warranties and the Peace of Mind programme were voided when the original company went bankrupt in July 2023 — the new owner (Lavoie) has stated it is not legally obligated to honour the old claims and does not have access to the money customers paid. If you bought your bike before mid-2023, treat that coverage as gone. The warranties and 'Peace of Mind' services sold by the old VanMoof did not survive the bankruptcy. The new VanMoof has stated plainly that it does not have access to the money riders paid the old company and is not legally required to resolve those claims, and it ended the Peace of Mind maintenance and anti-theft programme (sources: TechCrunch; VanMoof newsroom). If you bought your bike — or your service plan — before mid-2023, treat that coverage as gone. Understanding what warranty terms actually protect you — and what they do not — is one of the most useful things to read before buying any eBike in Canada; our eBike buying guide walks through it.
The new owner did make one goodwill gesture, and it is narrow: a discount (€1,000, or about £850 for UK customers) for customers whose bikes were never delivered before the collapse. That is not a warranty, it is a discount toward a new purchase, and it does not apply to a working bike that simply needs a repair. Per TechCrunch, even that gesture required proof of the original pre-order plus evidence of a bank chargeback attempt, and had to be claimed by 31 December 2027. Customers who pre-paid for undelivered bikes were otherwise directed to file claims with the bankruptcy trustees — an unsecured-creditor process with no guarantee of recovery (the specific distribution from VanMoof's estate was administered by the Dutch trustees and has not been publicly confirmed).
For current bikes, VanMoof's published warranty (per its warranty pages) is more generous than the old terms: a 3-year standard warranty on the S6, with the battery, motor and ECU covered for 3 years or 7,500 km in the EU/UK/Asia (1 year or 3,750 km in the US), the frame for 2 years, and parts and accessories for 3 years. Three years on the battery, motor and ECU is above average for this price tier — most entry-level eBike brands cover those components for one year — though it applies only where VanMoof has an authorised repair network, which excludes Canada. We report those as the manufacturer's stated terms. The hard truth for a Canadian reader is that none of it is reachable here — see the lineup and Canada-access sections below.
Your manufacturer warranty and any Peace of Mind plan are, in practical terms, void — the company that issued them no longer exists, and the new owner has said it is not bound by them. Your realistic paths are the rebooted VanMoof repair partners (where they exist), independent shops familiar with VanMoof's proprietary systems, and the active owner community for parts and diagnostics. Budget for out-of-pocket repairs and keep your frame number and firmware details handy.
The Safety Record: Is There a VanMoof Recall?
Yes, there is one recall on the public record — and it is important to characterise it exactly, because it is not a battery-fire recall. On 15 May 2017 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a recall of VanMoof B-Series and S-Series commuter bicycles from model years 2014–2016. The hazard, in the CPSC's own framing, was that the stainless-steel front-fender bolts did not break away when an object became lodged between the front tire and the fender, posing fall and impact hazards. Two injuries were reported — one rider suffered scratches and a broken arm, another a concussion — and the free remedy was a set of replacement nylon (break-away) fender bolts (source: cpsc.gov; PRNewswire). A 2017 Halifax local-news post referenced a Canadian fall-hazard recall of these bikes, but no matching Health Canada notice is retrievable in the recalls-rappels.canada.ca database as of June 2026 — so the verified primary record here is the U.S. CPSC recall.
That distinction matters in 2026, when 'e-bike recall' has become shorthand for lithium-battery fires. No VanMoof battery-fire recall or fire-hazard advisory was found in either the Health Canada recall database (recalls-rappels.canada.ca) or the CPSC database as of June 2026. The 2017 action was a mechanical fender-bolt fix on pedal-era and early bikes, not a battery or electrical hazard, and it was remedied with a free part. We state the recall record as a verified record as of June 2026, not a guarantee about every unit VanMoof ever built.
One recall, from 2017, for a mechanical fender-bolt fall hazard on B-Series and S-Series bikes — fixed free with replacement nylon bolts. No battery-fire recall and no fire-hazard notice for VanMoof in the Health Canada or CPSC databases as of June 2026. On the specific question of lithium-battery safety, the public record on VanMoof is clean.
The Lineup: S5, A5, S6 and Canadian Legality
Every current VanMoof model — the S5, A5, S6 and S6 Open — is legal in Canada on specs: all run a 250 W motor capped at 25 km/h with functional pedals, comfortably inside the 500 W / 32 km/h motor-cutoff threshold that Canadian provinces converge on for e-bikes permitted on the road. The range itself is small and squarely urban, with the S5/A5 now end-of-line and the S6 (£3,098 / €3,298 per VanMoof's listed UK/EU prices as of June 2026) as the only current flagship.
VanMoof's current range is small and squarely urban. The Series 5 (S5 high-step, A5 low-step) launched in 2022 at the manufacturer's US launch price of roughly US$2,998 and is now end-of-line, found mainly on the certified secondhand market. The Series 6 (S6 and the step-through S6 Open) is the relaunch flagship, priced at about £3,098 / €3,298 per VanMoof's listed UK/EU prices as of June 2026; no Canadian pricing is available. VanMoof states these run a 250 W front-hub motor with up to 68 Nm of torque — enough for flat urban streets and gentle slopes, though less than the 80–100 Nm typical of competing 500 W hub-drive bikes built for Canadian winter conditions (Zeus editorial estimate) — a torque sensor, automatic gear shifting, integrated smart security, and a ~487 Wh integrated battery — enough for roughly 50–80 km of city riding at moderate assist, consistent with a five-day commuting week on a single charge (Zeus editorial estimate derived from published Wh figure, not a manufacturer range claim) — with a 25 km/h pedal-assist limit set for the European market.
On Canadian legality, the specs are reassuring on paper. At 250 W and 25 km/h with functional pedals, no VanMoof model approaches the 500 W / 32 km/h motor-cutoff threshold that Canadian provinces converge on for e-bikes permitted to ride as bicycles — these are, if anything, conservative city pedelecs. (The federal PAB definition that used to set that threshold was repealed effective February 4, 2021; road rules are now set province by province, not by a single federal standard — not the US Class 1/2/3 system. If you are unsure where you can ride, our guide to electric bike laws in Canada walks through it province by province.) The legality is not the problem with a VanMoof in Canada. Getting one — and keeping it serviced — is, which is the subject of the next section.
VanMoof builds 250 W, 25 km/h smart city bikes that sit comfortably inside Canadian provincial e-bike limits — no legality concern on specs. The friction is everything around the bike: price (£3,098+ for the S6 per VanMoof's listed UK/EU prices as of June 2026; no Canadian pricing), a tiny model range, and heavy reliance on VanMoof's proprietary app, parts and tools.
Reputation and the Canada-Access Problem
VanMoof's reputation signal is genuinely mixed, and the sample is large enough to take seriously: Trustpilot rates the brand 'Average' at about 3.5 out of 5 across roughly 8,700 reviews, with newer S5 and S6 design and ride quality praised, and delivery delays, customer-service responsiveness and connectivity, firmware and brake issues recurring as complaints. The Better Business Bureau lists VanMoof as Not BBB Accredited on both its San Francisco and Brooklyn profiles, and the San Francisco profile additionally carries an F rating for failure to respond to complaints. None of this is unusual for a heavily app-dependent, direct-to-consumer brand — but the connectivity-and-service theme is the one to weigh, because a VanMoof leans on the company's software and proprietary parts more than a conventional e-bike does.
For a Canadian buyer, though, the decisive fact is structural, not reputational. VanMoof does not ship to Canada. Per VanMoof's stated markets — the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and the UK, as reported by BikeRadar and road.cc — the relaunched brand sells directly in that short list of European countries only, with no Canadian storefront, no Canadian dealer, and no Canadian service partner on its network. Getting a VanMoof to Canada means a third-party package-forwarding service, and supporting it here means relying on independent shops and the owner community for a bike built around proprietary tools. That is a meaningful after-sales risk to price in before buying — the same kind of risk we flag for any orphaned or hard-to-service brand in our legit eBike store checklist.
The reputation signal is mixed but ordinary for an app-dependent direct-to-consumer brand; the decisive fact for Canadians is structural. VanMoof does not ship to Canada and runs no Canadian dealer or service network — so before buying, plan for how you would import the bike through a forwarder and keep it serviced through independent shops and the owner community.
Want a smart city eBike you can actually service in Canada?
Our editorial guides walk through how to vet any eBike seller and how to choose a bike on its own merits — with Canadian warranty, parts and support in the picture from the start. No sales pressure.
How to Choose an eBike →Best eBikes in CanadaThe Honest Ledger: Green Flags vs Red Flags
The sourced record on VanMoof is genuinely split: the bikes are clean on battery-fire safety, legally compliant in Canada on specs, and under new ownership with a stronger S6 warranty — but the 2023 bankruptcy voided every legacy warranty and the Peace of Mind programme, and the relaunched brand does not reach Canada at all.
Green Flags
- Genuinely revived, not dead — Lavoie (McLaren Applied) bought the brand out of bankruptcy and relaunched it with the S6 and a rebooted repair network (TechCrunch; BikeRadar)
- Clean lithium-battery safety record — no battery-fire recall or fire-hazard advisory for VanMoof in the Health Canada or CPSC databases as of June 2026
- The only recall on record (2017) was a mechanical fender-bolt fall hazard, remedied free with replacement nylon bolts, not a battery or electrical fault (CPSC)
- Current S6 warranty is more generous than the old terms — battery, motor and ECU 3 years / 7,500 km (EU/UK/Asia) or 1 year / 3,750 km (US); frame 2 years; parts and accessories 3 years — more generous than the voided pre-bankruptcy terms (VanMoof warranty pages)
- All models fall within Canadian provincial e-bike limits — 250 W, 25 km/h, operable pedals; no model exceeds the 500 W / 32 km/h motor-cutoff threshold provinces converge on (the federal PAB definition was repealed in 2021; rules are set province by province — see electric bike laws in Canada)
- Large reputation sample rather than a thin one — about 8,700 Trustpilot reviews at an 'Average' 3.5/5, with newer-model design and ride widely praised
Red Flags
- The original company went bankrupt (Amsterdam court, 17 July 2023) — a real insolvency that stranded owners and pre-paying customers, not a quiet restructuring (HVG Law trustees' notice)
- Pre-bankruptcy warranties and the Peace of Mind programme were voided — the new VanMoof has stated it is not obliged to honour the old company's claims (TechCrunch; VanMoof newsroom)
- Customers who pre-paid for undelivered bikes were left to file claims with the bankruptcy trustees, with only a narrow goodwill discount (€1,000, about £850 for UK customers) offered toward a new purchase
- VanMoof does not ship to Canada and has no Canadian dealer or service partner — direct purchase and support here are not available (VanMoof's stated markets, as reported by BikeRadar and road.cc)
- Heavy reliance on proprietary app, parts and tools means service depends on VanMoof's ecosystem — a risk a defunct-then-revived brand makes more acute
- Recurring owner complaints centre on customer service, delivery delays and connectivity/firmware/brake issues (Trustpilot); BBB lists the brand as Not Accredited, with an F rating on its San Francisco profile for unanswered complaints
RIGHT FOR: A Canadian rider who already owns a VanMoof, knows how to navigate the owner community for parts, and is not depending on factory warranty coverage. WRONG FOR: Anyone shopping for a new eBike in Canada in 2026 — there is no direct purchase path, no local service network, and no warranty reachable from here.
VanMoof built a technically ambitious smart-city bike that the original company failed to sustain financially, and is now on its second life under a new owner. The bikes themselves are clever, Canada-legal city pedelecs with a clean battery-safety record — the lone recall on file is a 2017 mechanical fender-bolt fix, not a fire hazard. But the story that governs any 2026 decision is the 2023 bankruptcy and what it left behind: voided legacy warranties, a Peace of Mind programme that no longer exists, and pre-paying customers sent to a creditors' queue. The relaunch under Lavoie is real and the new S6 warranty is stronger — yet for a Canadian buyer the verdict writes itself on logistics alone. VanMoof does not ship to Canada, has no Canadian dealer, and leans hard on proprietary parts and software that an independent local shop cannot fully support. If you already own one, plan for out-of-pocket service through the owner community and any rebooted repair partners; if you are shopping, we consider a VanMoof a hard recommendation to make in Canada today — not because the bike is bad, but because there is no dependable way to keep it running here. VanMoof, Lavoie or any party named in this profile has a standing right of reply — if anything on this page is factually incorrect, write to milad@zeusebikes.ca and we will correct the record.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is VanMoof still in business in 2026?
Yes, but as a new company. The original VanMoof (founded 2009 in Amsterdam) was declared bankrupt by the Amsterdam court on 17 July 2023. Lavoie, the electric-scooter division of UK engineering firm McLaren Applied, then bought the assets out of bankruptcy and relaunched the brand, introducing the S6 as its first new model and returning to the UK market in 2026. The brand lives on under Lavoie ownership; the legal entity that built pre-2023 bikes does not.
What happened to my VanMoof warranty after the bankruptcy?
Pre-bankruptcy warranties and the 'Peace of Mind' programme were voided in the insolvency. The new VanMoof (Lavoie) has stated it does not have access to the money customers paid the old company and is not legally required to resolve those claims, and it ended the Peace of Mind maintenance/anti-theft service. A goodwill discount (€1,000, or about £850 for UK customers) was offered only to customers whose bikes were never delivered — that is a discount toward a new purchase, not a warranty. Treat pre-2023 coverage as gone.
Is there a VanMoof recall — and was it a battery fire?
There is one recall on record, and it was not a battery fire. On 15 May 2017 the U.S. CPSC announced a recall of VanMoof B-Series and S-Series bicycles (2014–2016) because the front-fender bolts did not break away when an object lodged between the tire and fender, posing fall and impact hazards; two injuries were reported and the free fix was replacement nylon bolts. A 2017 local-news post referenced a Canadian recall of the same bikes, but no Health Canada notice could be independently confirmed; the verified primary record is the U.S. CPSC recall. No VanMoof battery-fire recall was found in the Health Canada or CPSC databases as of June 2026.
Can I buy a VanMoof in Canada?
Not directly. Per VanMoof's stated markets — the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and the UK, as reported by BikeRadar and road.cc — the relaunched brand sells directly in that short list of European countries and does not ship to Canada, with no Canadian dealer or service partner on its network. Getting one to Canada means using a third-party package-forwarding service, and servicing it here means relying on independent shops and the owner community for a bike built around proprietary tools and software.
Are VanMoof e-bikes legal in Canada?
On specs, yes. VanMoof states its current bikes use a 250 W front-hub motor with a 25 km/h pedal-assist limit and functional pedals — well inside the 500 W / 32 km/h motor-cutoff threshold that Canadian provinces converge on for e-bikes permitted to ride as bicycles. (The federal PAB definition was repealed effective February 4, 2021; road rules are now provincial, not set by a single federal standard — and not the US Class 1/2/3 system.) Our electric bike laws in Canada guide covers the province-by-province details.
How reliable is VanMoof, and what do reviews say?
Trustpilot rates VanMoof 'Average' at about 3.5 out of 5 across roughly 8,700 reviews — a large but Europe-skewed sample. Newer S5 and S6 design and ride quality are widely praised, while delivery delays, customer-service responsiveness and connectivity, firmware and brake issues recur as complaints. The Better Business Bureau lists VanMoof as Not Accredited, and its San Francisco profile carries an F rating for failure to respond to complaints. Because VanMoof bikes depend heavily on the company's app and proprietary parts, the service-and-connectivity theme is the most important one to weigh.
The Bottom Line
VanMoof's history reads as a cautionary tale with a sequel: a brilliant, over-extended smart-bike pioneer that went bankrupt in July 2023 and was revived by Lavoie under McLaren Applied. The bikes are clever and Canada-legal, and the battery-safety record is clean — the only recall on file is a 2017 mechanical fender-bolt fix. But the bankruptcy voided legacy warranties and the Peace of Mind programme, and the relaunched brand does not ship to Canada or maintain any Canadian dealer or service network. For a Canadian, that last fact is decisive: a VanMoof is a bike you would buy through a forwarder and support largely on your own. If you are deciding what to ride next, do it the way you would vet any seller — read our legit eBike store checklist, confirm you are legal where you ride, and match the bike to your real use case with our eBike buying guide. And if you have been burned by a brand that vanished, the stranded-owner playbook we wrote for Rad Power riders walks the same decision from the other side.
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Why Buy Canadian
This VanMoof profile is part of the Canadian eBike Brands & Shops directory -- verified brand profiles and city-by-city shop listings, launching soon.
Researched and written by the Zeus eBikes Canada editorial team as part of an independent directory of eBike brands sold in Canada. Zeus eBikes does not sell VanMoof products and has no commercial relationship with the brand; research and sourcing follow the same neutral standards applied to every brand in this directory. Last verified: June 22, 2026.
Sources: Amsterdam bankruptcy notice for VanMoof Global Holding B.V., VanMoof B.V. and VanMoof Global Support B.V., published by court-appointed trustees Jan Padberg and Robin de Wit (HVG Law, hvglaw.nl, 17 July 2023 declaration); TechCrunch (Lavoie/McLaren Applied acquisition, August 2023; voided legacy warranties and the customer goodwill discount, July 2024); electrive and Cyclingnews (acquisition terms); NL Times and Financieele Dagblad (founders excluded from VanMoof 2.0 leadership); BikeRadar and road.cc (S6 launch and UK relaunch, 2026); U.S. CPSC recall database (cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/vanmoof-recalls-bicycles — 15 May 2017 B-Series/S-Series fender-bolt fall and impact hazard, two injuries, free nylon-bolt remedy) and PRNewswire release 300457544; a 2017 Halifax local-news post (Haligonia) that referenced a Canadian fall-hazard recall of these bikes, for which no corresponding Health Canada notice could be independently located in the recalls-rappels.canada.ca database as of June 2026; Health Canada recall database (recalls-rappels.canada.ca) and CPSC (no VanMoof battery-fire recall found as of June 2026); VanMoof published warranty pages (current S6 warranty terms); VanMoof's stated markets (the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and the UK — Canada not listed), as reported by BikeRadar and road.cc; Trustpilot (trustpilot.com/review/www.vanmoof.com — ~3.5/5 across ~8,700 reviews); Better Business Bureau (bbb.org — Not Accredited on the San Francisco and Brooklyn profiles; the San Francisco profile additionally shows an F rating for failure to respond to complaints, verified live June 2026). Performance specs are reported as the manufacturer's stated figures; the recall record is reported as a verified record as of June 2026; reputation figures are reported with their sample sizes so readers can weigh them.
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