This thread is devolving into something decidedly unhelpful.
There are those - who probably invested in the Kick Starter campaign, and others who have been eyeing a folding bike as a potential purchase - hoping (desperately perhaps) the project will succeed and are asking for any detail that gives a glimmer of hope. Wow – a folding bike with some innovations that might distinguish it from the current market! Really? Cool. Since this is the folding bike forum, there’s a lot of appeal behind the Helix and what it represents.
Then there are those who are bashing it, almost from the outset: too cheap given it’s made of titanium, too ambitious in its design and production, too few communication updates, lack of management oversight, etc. In some cases, the assertions verge into libel: accusing the Helix founder of starting a scheme that cannot possibly be fulfilled, or worse, that he’s a crook. Really? Well, you better have some evidence.
Those who put money into the KS campaign should have asked themselves: if I commit US $2000 and never see it again, can I live with the consequences? Sure, if the bike materializes, that’s the best case scenario, but be prepared for the worst case scenario. At the end of the day, KS is a great promise at best, and a bad gamble at worst.
Those who keep bashing away at it – enough already. Please. Yes, fulfill your public service commitment and advise everybody that this is a gamble until a physical bike is available for commercial sale, but everybody’s heard you – three times over. If the bike never materializes, is Helix guilty of over ambition, poor management, and some bad business decisions? Probably. Is Helix a crook? Probably not. If you want somebody’s money for nothing, there’s likely an easier way to do it than to propose and build a prototype for an innovative titanium frame bike on KS that appeals to maybe 10% of the cycling population (when most of the general public doesn’t even know – or care - what a folding bike is), and go through this headache for more than two years. He probably had the best of intentions – and it didn’t work out. So be it. It certainly would not be the first business initiative to suffer such a defeat.
Caveat emptor – or as close as you can get to it anyways. If the bike actually shows up, great! Those who invested will be rewarded for their faith, and will say to the naysayers, “I told you so.” If the bike truly dies and Helix shuts down for good, all the holdouts will feel vindicated for their abundance of caution and say to the believers, “I told you so.” Life isn’t about guarantees. Case in point… I found out a co-worker’s daycare suddenly closed doors on the first day back in the new year. Now she has to re-arrange child care on the spur, nevermind losing any money paid already for an established business. This is arguably a lot more critical than a folding bike.
Time to move on… but if you really want to engage in an enjoyable, no-win thread, head over to the Safety forum and ask about helmets… now that is a LOT of fun. 
Last edited by Ozonation; 01-04-17 at 10:26 AM.