Anytime there’s a new technology, there’s a glut of companies that try to strike it big. Look at the field of automobiles in the early 1900s, airplane companies in the 1920s, and personal computers in the 1970s.
Then, as the market matures, many die out. Others consolidate. The same is beginning to happen to the ebike market, although we’re not too far into it yet. Some of those that die out were popular, brilliant, or both.
Here are three of my favorite ebike brands that’ve had, to put it mildly, a bumpy ride.
1. propella
Propella nailed the $1,000 ebike long before most other ebike brands could put out a quality machine at that price. Back in 2020, the prospect of a seven-speed, class two ebike that weighed 37 pounds and cost $1,000 was awfully attractive.
Nothing about it was complicated, but it used decent-quality, brand-name components, and you could also fit most regular bike accessories to it. I could easily carry it one-handed up a flight of stairs, and even though the motor wasn’t super powerful, it would hit 18 MPH without fail.
By 2025, though, the bikes began to feel dated. Prices on ebikes were falling, 40-pound ebikes were becoming more common, and more advanced mid-drive systems were starting to displace hub motors, like the Propella’s. After its bikes went out of stock for most of the year, the Propella website went dead several weeks ago. RIP.
2. juiced
Super73 has captured the “looks like a motocross motorcycle” ebike segment handily, even if others on the market, such as Ride1Up Revv1. I see them from Southern California to New York City.
Even years ago, I remember Cam Newton riding around Charlotte, North Carolina, in a puff piece on one of the sports networks. The Juiced bikes I rode impressed the heck out of me. I even preferred them to Super73.
Built like tanks, they were uncomplicated, with hub motors and cadence sensors that made it feel more like I was on an electric motorcycle with an on/off switch in the form of pedals. But it rode beautifully, and it was better made than most ebikes of its time. They went under in 2024.
Lectric Bikes purchased the Juiced Bikes brand and IP in spring 2025, though it was a rescue I didn’t see coming. We’ll see how this revival goes.
3. Vanmoof
Dutch ebike brand VanMoof wanted to be the Apple of ebikes, and they partially succeeded. Even as far back as the pre-COVID days, they sold slickly engineered bikes consisting primarily of proprietary components that you weren’t meant to repair or replace yourself.
Integrating closely with a smartphone app, the bike was heavy but packed with all sorts of high technology. Then, in 2023, VanMoof declared bankruptcy. New owners stepped in to plan first a continuation, and then an evolution.
VanMoof isn’t dead. I saw more of them on the streets of the Netherlands last year than I had two years prior, even. But when I spoke to my old contacts at VanMoof last month, they stated that they’ve ceased operating in the US for the time being.
It seems they’re getting their legs back underneath them. But as they’ve begun to introduce new models since the bankruptcy and purchase, I tentatively and cautiously look forward to the day they cross back over the Atlantic and return.
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