VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike maker that gained a zealous following but declared bankruptcy last month, has been acquired by Lavoie, an upscale electric scooter company, the firms announced on Thursday, the New York Times reported. Riders of the expensive and technologically advanced VanMoof bikes were left in limbo by the company’s bankruptcy, because the machines are built from proprietary parts that only the company made and many of the bikes’ functions are linked to a smartphone app that runs on the company’s servers. Despite the buzz around the brand, VanMoof had run into financial problems that led to a production backlog and monthslong waits for sales and repairs. But riders will not be completely out of limbo under the new ownership. “What they can’t expect in the first couple of weeks is definitive answers to the problems,” said Nick Fry, the chairman of McLaren Applied, the British motorsports technology company that owns Lavoie. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed, but Mr. Fry said Lavoie would spend “tens of millions” on the transaction as well as in investments over the coming months to “rectify some of the challenges we face.” One of the new owner’s priorities, he added, is improving the availability of parts and repairs, something that had become increasingly difficult for VanMoof owners. Regular bike shops could not — or sometimes would not — fix the bikes. Mr. Fry said he wanted other bike mechanics to be able to fix VanMoof bikes and maybe make the bikes available for sale in retailers other than the shops owned by the brand. Another priority, he said, is to address some of the reliability issues that plagued the bikes.
