invisiblehand

Comparing it to other brands is a pretty important part of whether one should purchase one ... no?

... and honest discussion on whether the kickstarter will produce a finished product is also helpful.

Some of Jur's thoughts led me to thinking about Habenero frames. Without a fork, their bottom end is $1000. Since the Helix is a one-size-fits-all bike, you'd think that production costs would be considerably lower and quality higher. Maybe the price is high enough for a reasonable profit.

mulleady

Apologies if I was ambiguous. I meant owners or employees of company brands with vested interests. Otherwise it's what forums are all about and I agree with you wholeheartedly!

invisiblehand

Ahhhh ... sorry for the confusion.

jur

Boutakis has just posted an update. He is still on track to deliver on time. Sounds impressive. But soon they are going to put more orders on a longer timescale.

Ultralight

For future reference, I'm noting teh 1/4 million marks.

$1million US dollars (1.3+ million Canadian) at the end of the 14th day.

UL

Ultralight

For kicks, I'm still tracking.

USD 1.25+ million on 26th day.

UL

jur

I think anyone buying one at the pre-order discount would be able to sell at that price once full price kicks in. I am trying to convince my photographer son that it would be the ideal thing for his Porsche Macan. He asked me about a big-wheeled folder. He's balking at the price but I am still working on him, trying to convince him that he would be able to sell at full price later should he not like it.

BruceMetras

He's got a Macan and balking at a sub-$1500 Ti folder... should be an easy sell for you!

jur

You'd think so, but it's the classical problem of newbies, no knowledge.

Ultralight

Well.....he knows how much you spent on your beautiful Ti Swift and undoubtedly it was quite a bit more change than the Helix which has bigger wheels, folds smaller, and presumably is lighter. Unless of course you son has no interest in riding bikes. In that case....I guess it doesn't matter if the Helix cost $300 instead.

UL

Pine Cone

Kickstarter ends sometime on Oct. 1st, about 33 hours to go. Currently funded at $1,454,401 US dollars with 909 backers...

I'm one of the later ones. Looks like a pretty awesome bike if it works. I love my Ti Swift which both helped and hurt my decision process on this one. I recently joined the retired cohort which limits my funds but increases my riding time. Love my Ti Swift and how it rides, but it isn't a quick small fold. Not sure if I could make it fit in a 62" airline legal/cheap suitcase. The components and fold on the Helix look great. I went for the 1x10 derailleur option.

The bottom line is that the frame alone on my Ti Swift cost almost a much as this whole bike, so it seems worth the risk. With almost $1.5 million USD in funding it seems not too risky that they will deliver. They announced robotic welding and a crankset upgrade already and have two more upgrades to announce after the Kickstarter campaign is over. Got my first folder over 40 years ago and it seems worth the risk to help fund another this year. Nice to see a truely inovative bicycle frame design.

I really hope they pull this off and become incredibly successful.

psykoocycle

Now over 2 million funding with 17 hours to go.

I haven't been to this forum for awhile due to the two babies. But Helix woke me.

I have my doubts about this project, but in the end I had to support it as I live in Toronto. I dream of a competitor for Brompton, and an anchor company for my community. The last reason of which convinced me to support the project.

Really hope they do well.

Ultralight

USD $1.5 million on 29th day.

UL

Pine Cone

The Helix Kickstarter campaign ended with 1069 backers and total pledges of $2,262,621 CAN$

Who knows, maybe there is a market for folders...

Ultralight

Yes, always a market for superior design and value.

UL

Nightdiver

Very impressive campaign they ran. Can't wait to see how their bikes turn out.

GTizzy

For anyone who backed: what's the second surprise? 1st surprise was machine assembly and SRAM + Wolf Tooth Components crankset. Second surprise says it's for backers only... (see attached)

jur

Here you go:

GTizzy

Ohh! That's a nice perk!

ThorUSA

adding expensive components to an already wildly underpriced bike ? I wonder how they will be able to pull this off. I sure hope that there are no tears comes time for delivery ....
I wish them all the good luck in the world, I do know that they need it

Ultralight

I suppose it all depends on what OEM pricing is. The discount for OEM could potentially be great given the over 1000 quantity purchase. Also I wonder if Helix has enough cachet so that some manufacturers will want to have their components on the bike. I don't have a clue what the annual sales is for companies such as Bike Friday or Brompton (anyone know?) but I've read of people canceling orders with those companies to place orders with Helix. So there is some cachet there.

UL

downtube

Thor,

I bet you $1 these guys pull it off....paid via PayPal. Sometimes markets change, I believe this is one of those times.

Thanks,
Yan

ThorUSA

1000 bikesis nothing in the scale of things. Dahon is probably making close to 750 000 ..... Fridays is way bigger than 1000, Brompton is probably around 100000 all of them have a track record .... and long connections in the supplier world.
Now those guys have a million plus dlrs which hopefully they spend very wisely indeed.
My guess is that they indeed will be able to produce those bikes.... at least 200 of them .... than they will see the big mountain of money shrinking with every bike and at 500 bikes they will recognize that the mountain is now not big enough anymore to produce and pay for components for the other half ...
after 750 bikes the mountain is gone .... and than ? ....

I hope I am wrong.


And yes Yan I take you up on the bet ..:-)

Ultralight

ThorUSA, You also on tacktour?

Anyways, curious where you have your numbers. Lets say Dahon is 750,000 bikes produced. Lets say bikes average $1000. That's 750 million dollars on the retail market. That's quite a large company. In a few years will approach 1 billion dollar sales on a folding bike company? Wow. I had no idea that the folding bike market is so large. I'm pretty new to the whole folding bike scene.

As to Helix, over 1000 people are hoping you are incorrect in your assessment....

UL

GTizzy

Thor's probably right, and you need to recalibrate your estimate. For the bulk of Dahon's sales, you have to drop a zero. They go to market in China and throughout Asia for way cheaper.