{"id":182049,"date":"2021-03-04T12:05:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T12:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=182049"},"modified":"2021-03-04T12:05:30","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T12:05:30","slug":"vanmoof-bike-hunters-the-unstoppable-retrievers-of-stolen-bikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/03\/04\/vanmoof-bike-hunters-the-unstoppable-retrievers-of-stolen-bikes\/","title":{"rendered":"VanMoof Bike Hunters: The Unstoppable Retrievers of Stolen Bikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you sell e-bikes for about $2,000 apiece and you are targeting markets in large urban areas like San Francisco, New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, one of the selling points you absolutely must consider is security, because expensive stuff tends to get stolen in large cities. And stolen bikes are nearly impossible to recover, because they are often dismantled and the parts sold off, and they are not a top priority for police officers kept busy by more violent urban crime.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How, then, to convince prospective buyers that the bikes they buy from you are virtually theft-proof?<\/a> If you are the Dutch company VanMoof, you make them a bold offer they can\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n

\"VanMoof<\/a>
VanMoof found a bold approach to bike safety. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VanMoof\u2019s Peace of Mind program promises that if your VanMoof bike is stolen and the company\u2019s team of Bike Hunters can\u2019t recover it, the company will replace the stolen bike, free of charge, with \u201cone of the same (or better) age and condition.\u201d That\u2019s such an outrageous promise it almost makes me almost want to buy one of their bikes just to have it stolen. It\u2019s not free, of course, but at $340 for three years, it\u2019s not too pricey either.<\/p>\n

The program is more or less limited to cities where the company has retail stores. It has a recovery rate of about 70% in San Francisco and somewhat lower in New York, Daan Rekkers, the company\u2019s U.S. general manager and a veteran Bike Hunter, told Bicycling magazine.<\/a> According to Rekkers, the Big Apple\u2019s<\/a> bike thieves are \u201cmore professional\u201d and the city\u2019s many tall buildings and basements make it harder to track the bikes there. And tracking is what the VanMoof Bike Hunters do.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s all action in this month\u2019s Bike Hunt Report, as our teams search for high-profile missing bikes in San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Berlin. https:\/\/t.co\/Qnf4DsdNvO<\/a><\/p>\n

— VanMoof (@VanMoof) November 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n