Thread: Helix Update?
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Old 06-17-25 | 08:02 PM
  #3054  
Duragrouch
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Originally Posted by SHUmeister
Thanks Duragrouch. I'm thinking of some bolt on cage holders, one on the steerer tube and another on the top tube or seat post, almost where one would be on a normal bike. I don't intend to fold that often, only when i travel.

Tried the bike out today and a couple of issues bothered me.
  • The seatpost clamp was just loose enough that over a period of a few mins the seat height would drop by 6in or so. Easy fix which I couldn't do by the side of the road as the nut was a locknut and I didn't have any tools with me.
  • I replaced the quick release Wellgo pedals with my own Garmin Powermeter pedals, unfortunately the axle protruded too far through the crank arm and just kisses the left hand roller every revolution.Need to add back a couple of the spacers that was installed with the Wellgo pedals.
  • Last one I am not sure how to fix, the bike is quite rattly over rough surface. A metallic rattle which I managed to narrow down to the locking mechanism that sits inside the front hub. The metal bayonet fitting that locks onto the rear wheel axle. Its almost like its missing an o-ring or something and its constantly ratting against the ID of the front hub. Or its just loose. Anyone have any suggestions? I tried to look at the manual to see if there is a way of tighening it up and there isn't any reference on how to even remove the front wheel.
Kind Regards
Top tube bottle mount: Dahon's have this, but a) bottle nozzles often leak when horizontal, and b) cage was frequently hit, no matter how careful I was, with foot when mounting or dismounting the bike, laterally bending the cage. Once I mounted the aero bar and bottle, I took it off. But I left the cage screws, to keep out water in the rain.

Seatpost clamp: On my folder, a previous frame cracked at the seatpost clamp slot (in front instead of back, wrong location), both due to stress from rider weight, and too much distortion there due to excessive compression of plastic bushing when clamped; Newer frame has aluminum bushing, far less compression and adds strength, but still more movement there under clamping than is desired (for ease of seatpost sliding when folding). I don't fold often, so I added, between the bushing and seat tube, a 1-thickness wrap of soda can side material as additional shim, full length of bushing, cut easily with scissors as it's soft, and now it clamps with almost no movement. More difficult to move seatpost up and down when folding, but worth it to me for perhaps better frame life. Because between factory shim and seat tube, doesn't move when sliding the seatpost, if I make sure to hold the clamping collar down when pulling the seatpost up.

Rattle: I have a Dahon, not a Helix, but I promptly removed the magnets for folding front and rear, were rattling, and unusuable once I installed rear rack (has disc spacers, which I don't need) as it prevents perfect 100% folding.

At least with your single-sided cantilever front hub, you don't need to remove the wheel to fix a flat. That appealed to me regarding the Giant Halfway circa early 2000s (front and rear), the first folder I ever saw. But glad I didn't buy it due to the drawbacks of that design in terms of mounting rear rack and such.

Last edited by Duragrouch; 06-17-25 at 10:47 PM.
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