The VanSpoof is a small circuit board that replaces the one inside your VanMoof e-shifter. It lets you permanently put your bike in a single gear and clears any "44 Err" statuses. It does this by pretending to be a genuine e-shifter and spoofing the communication with the bike. It's not capable of actually changing gears for you, but it knows how to communicate with the bike as if it could.

Comprehensive installation instructions are provided. The board, firmware and documentation are all Free and Open Source. If you have any improvements or enhancements you'd like to make, or see made, contributions are welcome and will be shared with the community.

Choosing an option

If you're wondering which option to pick, then "Fully Assembled" is the one for you. It's a ready-to-go unit; the PCB's soldered together and the chip’s been programmed. It’s pretty much just plug and play.

The "Full Kit" option is for electronics enthusiasts and hackers. It comes as a bag of components that need to be assembled manually. If you're interested in contributing to the Open Hardware aspect of the project and are a dab hand with a soldering iron, this one's for you.

Background

After my original e-shifter, a warranty replacement, and an aftermarket refurbished e-shifter all stopped working, I decided that enough was enough. I chose to cut my losses, permanently run the bike in 3rd gear and work out how to stop the error 44 codes.

I documented my experiences reverse engineering the e-shifter on my blog:

• Reverse Engineering a VanMoof e-shifter – Part 1 – Connectors and Connections
• Reverse Engineering a VanMoof e-shifter – Part 2 – Decoding the Signals
• VanSpoof - Prototype 1 - Hardware
• VanSpoof - Prototype 1 - Firmware
• VanSpoof - Prototype 2 - Echo Firmware
• VanSpoof – A-Muntzing We Will Go
• VanSpoof - Prototype 2 - Shrunken PCBs
• Low Tech Prototyping
• VanSpoof v1.0

I've released all of the design files, source code and documentation as Free and Open Source:

• https://codeberg.org/MikeCoats/van-spoof/

Why pick VanSpoof over the alternatives?

Aftermarket companies offer refurbished e-shifters, but results vary. My refurbished unit cost upwards of £100 and failed again after less than 500km.

VanMoof's partner network do now have an option to replace your bike's rear wheel with a 2-speed mechanical shifting hub, but that's at a cost of hundreds of Pounds, Euros or Dollars and many days' time sending it off to a workshop. A VanSpoof board can be DIY installed in under an hour and will get you back on the road error free!