VanMoof Bike Hunt Report: February
Is it luck, skill, or dogged determination? Our Bike Hunter’s unbeaten track record suggests their success is a combination of all three. This month, Folkert tests his nerve tailing a bike in downtown San Francisco, a Berlin rider joins the Bike Hunters for some much-needed revenge, and the Amsterdam team launch an emergency mission to chase down an opportunist brand store thief.
Folkert may be relatively new to San Francisco – he moved there last year – but he’s already an expert in Bay Area bike crime, tracking down a different would-be-thief almost every day of the week. This time round, he’s in hot pursuit of a stolen bike’s buyer, having just witnessed a particularly shady exchange in Dolores Park. Folkert immediately tipped off the local police, but the bike would be out of Bluetooth range by the time backup arrived
There was only one thing for it – to follow the illegal buyer. To call it stressful would be an understatement. Folkert knew he had to keep his distance and stay stealthy, but he couldn’t risk letting this one away before the police could ID the bike. Pulling in closer, it looked like this would be his last chance before his cover was well and truly blown.
Then, in true Bike Hunter fashion, help arrived in the nick of time. With sirens wailing, the police were suddenly on the scene, and the hapless buyer was all-too-willing to hand the bike back over to Folkert. Heart still racing, he biked his prize back to base – soon to be reunited with its rightful owners.
Over in Berlin, devoted VanMoof rider William was back in the brand store with bad news; his Smart S had been stolen… again. Having seen proof of the Bike Hunter’s expertise in 2019, William was keen to get in on the action himself, and saddled up with Dan to go hunting himself. This time it may have been personal, but William was the consummate professional, operating the high strength Bluetooth scanner like an expert. The bike’s signal took our duo on a tour of the German capital’s seamier districts, arriving in a spooky square of disused warehouses.
William knew this had to be it, and followed the scanner’s pings until he was just meters away from the bike. A familiar start-up sound confirmed our new Hunter’s on-the-fly tracking skills; the bike was safe and sound, hidden behind an open door. “My faith in humanity has been restored!” cried an ecstatic William – but it was faith in our custom tracking tech which saved the day.
Back in Amsterdam, Bike Hunter Hidde witnessed one of our ballsiest getaways yet. Walking past our flagship brand store, an over-eager thief hopped on one of our test ride Smart S bikes, riding off before anyone could stop him. Luckily, our veteran Hunters were ready to deploy, racing after the fresh tracking signal. They followed the bike to a residential street in central Amsterdam, stopping only to collect another stolen bike they stumbled across on the way.
The signal was at max strength, but the bike was nowhere in sight – it had to be indoors. Even though the boys knew the criminal could be waiting on the other side of the door, they had to take this chance before it was too late. As it turned out, the thief was nowhere to be seen, and a semi-bemused neighbour opened the door to reveal the stolen Smart S sitting in the hallway. Taking a moment to catch their breath, the Hunters returned to the brand store with both bikes in tow. Another lucky break? At least the Bike Hunter's luck shows no sign of running out.
Does the thought of someone stealing your Electrified send you into a cold sweat? Peace of Mind Service to the rescue! It’s our ironclad guarantee that we’ll recover your bike in the event it gets stolen.
How does Peace of Mind theft protection work? Simple. When you report your bike stolen in the VanMoof app, we alert our ruthless Bike Hunter team to track it down. If we can’t recover it for you within two weeks, we'll replace it with a bike of the same (or better) age and condition.