Originally Posted by
Pahana
The base prices seem a little low for Ti frame bikes. As the owner of a Ti Brompton and the ex-owner of a Ti 18 pound mountain bike something doesn't add up here. The frame of a Ti bike should cost $2,200 alone. Something doesn't feel right. Also the $100 difference between the single speed and the 10 speed seems strange. I could be wrong but a Ti bike made in Canada should be more expensive. We're talking China prices here Can someone enlighten me about this?
While I'm not particularly qualified to answer this, my impression is that the robotic welding saves a lot of labour cost and reduces time needed to weld each bike, so this could save a substantial part of the cost of making the Ti frames. Also, the $2200 you are talking about is presumably from the Helix website, which still appears to have not really been updated recently (save for the year of the preorder resumption date!), so there is a chance retail prices will be a little higher than those currently stated on the site. However, the original preorder price was substantially cheaper, and the Kickstarter price cheaper still (and with better components), so maybe $2200 is the planned price - if so, it would certainly be interesting to know their margin on each bike.