[afloatboat]

What makes these brands leading in your opinion? From a tech and design perspective I get the appeal that VanMoof and Cowboy have, I've wanted one for years because of that. But in doing research I've also read a tonne of horror stories about random failures and reliability issues where repairs mean shipping it back to Cowboy/VanMoof, waiting weeks or months and then getting your bike back only to do it all over again a short while later.

For a bike the traditional brands that use of the shelf parts like Bosch and Shimano still have the advantage in my opinion, especially if you don't live close to a dealer/repairshop that can handle it.

Edit: What's also putting me of from both VanMoof and Cowboy is their rocky financial history. Last month Cowboy secured funding, but it was looking sketchy for a bit. I wonder what would happen to all those cloud features from Cowboy if the company goes under.

[benoliver999]

Leaders in marketing perhaps. For that kind of money it'd always be a bosch/shimano mid-drive for me.