Originally Posted by RatonLaveur

Hi Mr. Flamey, this is an educated guess from snipets of official and unofficial information:

The difference between backer and retail: Ti-Seatpost vs. standard (Al or steel) seatpost.

Shot-peening finish: May be a one-off for backers but since this process changes, (to a small extent), the stresses distribution in the frame, I believe this could be generalized to all back.

Per helix team: pre-orders were "the last time the bike would be offered at this price", so unless their business strategy changes, I expect retail buyers (such as myself) may have to shell out a heftier amount of money. And it would make sense.

From my experience in manufacturing (machine tools): Once the first production demonstrator is down, it is almost immediately (2 weeks) possible to produce more of those, at a slower rate. To increase the rate, 2 months is a solid estimate (February), 3-4 months if the production team really screws the pooch. (I've seen it happen first hand, it's extremely frustrating when everyone is ready and the ball is dropped that way, however, it usually is amenable to someone in the organization being lazy/soft/incompetent, so it's a human factor at this point most of the time).

Anyway, I'm trying to say end of Feb. is reasonable for first deliverable bike, from the technical point of view.

However, they need to have the bike certified now...how long does that take? (To be added to the Feb. estimate).