u/241nn

I have owned my S3 for around a year and a month (July 2025) and surpassed 5000km last week. This is my update since 4000km and also an overview of what’s happened since I first got it.

Since 4000km milestone, this is what happened:

- Re-soldered and refitted a new boost button cable, a simple job if you can solder. Many posts about this on the forum, hardest part is getting the handlebar grip off. Probably cost around £10-15

- Changed the motor nylon gears. I brought the part last winter when I noticed an intermittent knocking sound past 32kmh from the motor, and a singular knock when the motor engages/disengages. It didn’t affect performance but last month it completely broke and the bike was super noisy and there was no motor assistance.

A few hours to fix, grease was supplied with the part as I paid a few extra pounds. The bike now works well but as there was a broken part within my actual motor which was unrelated to the nylon gears (the stud/rod which goes through the gears) my bike is a bit noisy during motor engagement and past 32kmh it’s fairly noisy but not enough for pedestrians to look because of it. £25 for the part but this was brought a while ago

-Cleaned the bike, can’t remember what I used, minimal cost as it was things from home

- Changed the ABUS lock holder to some kind of bungee cord which wraps around the rear bike leg, 100x more sturdy and does a great job.

Now a few comments to give about the experience owning this bike for a while now, and using it to commute, for leisure, and a lot more:

I think the total cost of ownership, including the bike (bought second hand) is around £875-950, the bike was £750, beeline Velo 2 was £40, the lock was £15, and the rest would be parts and maintenance.

This bike has been a lot of fun and has probably saved me £thousands in saved public transport fees or lime bike rentals, and has brought me a lot of new experiences and memories with the rides I have taken with friends. I get compliments on the bike a lot, there is just a couple more vanmoof bikes in my city (birmingham, UK) but I rarely ever see them.

I am still not tired of this bike and I have grown to not worry so much about it, which I was very much so when I first brought it. It’s a sturdy bike, I do treat it with care but sometimes carelessly and the roads in my city aren’t great, so I see lots of steep curbs, crazy potholes, and things like that. I feel like I should do maintenance more, which I recommend to new owners, as it goes a long way. Taking care of the mechanical things is necessary, as once electrical components may work too hard and possibly break, it’ll cost a lot.

Other than that, I’m not sure what else to say but I am happy to answer any questions about my experience and the bike. Happy riding to everyone!

My bike broken recently, there’s some video on my page. Gladly it’s wasn’t the socket as the bike is working now, and the wheel still wouldn’t roll back once I disconnected the motor cable and tried to roll it back (good way to diagnose your motor noise root cause)

But inside one of the planetary gears, the rod in the middle had snapped. Not sure when this happened. For now we just held it there in place when reassembling the motor. We dry cleaned the motor to make sure the pieces of broken teeth were gone. Used new grease. Was a pain to disassemble.

The bike works great now, but the motor is a little more loud, not as loud as before though with the knocking and grinding of course, I can’t remember if it used to be this loud when I first brought the bike, I can’t expect a motor to be silent Ofc, Maybe that noise is to do with the broken rod in one of the gears but the bike works at least. Reached 32kmh easily and there was no knocking even when going 40+

I’ve had this issue for a while, where when the motor kicks in it knocks once, and then past 32kmh it’s intermittent knocking. I suspect it was the nylon gears.

But today the knocking is both heavier and consistent as soon as the motor kicks in until it’s not engaged anymore (manual cycling?) and sometimes it gets very scratchy e.g very fast simultaneous knocking.

Will replacing the nylon gears solve this? Or could it be something worse? I’m hoping it’s nothing to do with the socket as the display is on at all times and the speedometer works. Maybe someone has dealt with this too.

Thanks!

I was quoted 12-14 May and 14th May is fine but I’m hoping it does come then, as I won’t be able to collect it on the 15th onwards as I leave the UK. I got this delay message today and not sure what that means in terms of when it comes, as the 14th hasn’t passed yet and I don’t think if that’s a possibility for delivery anymore.

Anyone know anything or had similar experiences and can comment?

Thanks

Pretty sure this is different than the oatmeal raisin cookie there is in the USA, but it can’t be that different for there to be so significantly fewer calories? It’s a pretty medium sized cookie but this seems very misleading, what do you guys think? It said 68 both in store and when I found it online.