Bike delivered this morning in the case. Sans mudguard and rack, I guess it will come later. Probably took about 15 mins the first time to remove it from the case and set everything up. It looks beautiful, much better IRL than photos suggests.
The case is well designed and really compact. Time will tell how it fares against abrasion and baggage handlers.

I have a trip to Italy in 3 weeks time to cycle across Tuscany and back over 3 days. I want to take the Helix, but it doesn't have bottle holder or rack to hold panniers. I think keeping hydrated is going to be cruicial. Will have to take a Camelback instead or something. I don't really have time to shop around to find something that fits.
Will commute to work with it in the morning as and see how it goes. Tweaking the ride position will be interestion as I am use to road bikes, although the flat handlebar is pretty narrow.

Unfortunately not enough posts yet to post pics.

Yeah the tires against the frame when folded, probably prevents mounting a downtube bottle cage. You'll probably need one on seatback, or seatpost, or handlebar. I have a folder with bolt-on aero bars, to fold, I need to remove the forearm pads and arms, then swing the bar up instead of down. But anyway, they make a water bottle than hangs in the middle of the aero bar, which I can sip from via the long straw, without having to move the bottle. I really love that setup.

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.

I use the Fidlock Twist system on several of my folding bikes, there is no bottle cage needed.

On the Birdy, its mounted on a Zefal seatpost adapter behind/under the saddle, on the Bike Friday its on the main frame.

You've finally got yours! Nice~


You shouldn't have any rattle. I suggest you send an email to Ana and get instructions on how to fix it.


Helix has such a small formfactor when folded, which is very nice, BUT you will find that due to this tiny fold, it will be very difficult to customize your build.

Took me a while and lots of frustration to get my bike fitted (lot of compromise).


Since Helix doesn't have any mounting points you will need mount adaptors. I have tried mounting the the water bottle cage to the handle post, top tube, seatpost etc.. and finally came to this.

Handlepost didn't work as it would get in the way of folds. Toptube, you can just about getaway with, but bottle would touch my bum when I'm standing.

I had this Strida Monkii cage that I was using for my Dahon, so attaching it to a mount adaptor worked out well.





I didn't like the seat clamp so I changed it with a cheap 34.9mm seat clamp. You need 34.9mm so the shaft is long enough. Haven't had any problem with seat post doing down during ride.

However, seat post will do a free fall when the clamp is open, so I ended up putting a lil' sticker on the post to mark the height.




I have a framebag that is attached permanantly for spare tube, CO2, patches, tools, etc. You will need one that is below 5cm in width or it will get in the way of folding.

I ended up getting one with 4cm width.




I have changed the 36t chainring to 0 degree offset 40t chainring. I have more flexible gear ratio now but I'm unable to use the 1st cog (42t) as chain will constantly touch the frame.

0 degree offset 38t chainring is also the same. FYI only.


Took me forever to get the fit right for my body but once set, it's been really nice.

Kudos if you can get your money from Helix they've collected from me so far.

My offer from April of last year for you to come test the bike is still standing whenever you're interested. Looking back at our messages last we spoke you were going to get back to me with dates that work for you.

Also, to all, Helix emailed yesterday that they're having a special 10 year anniversary sale with upgraded versions of both the standard and Ultralight models:

The low price of this "Foundation" edition is obtained by mounting lower end components.

For the high end ultralight with the SRAM Red eTap AXS derailleur, its a pity that they choose the 12s road Red derailleur which is limited to 33t max biggest sprocket and not the XPLR Red that accept 10-36t and 10-44t cassettes. This Red road 12s derailleur is now replaced by the 13s Red road derailleur.

^^ Thanks Jipe. Your detailed knowledge is always helpful.

Hong Kong spec, if still called that, seemed the one to get for the bigger gear range.

I've personally experienced something that I've wanted going on sale, buying, then shortly thereafter they come out with an upgraded model and I feel burned.

The "Hong Kong" specs is not listed anymore!?

The widest range derailleur available are now 11-42 and 9-34 and the widest range available is the Alfine 11.

If true, bummer. The HK was 9-42 (467%) cassette machined from one piece of steel, the cost of that cassette may be key.

The 9-42t cassette is the same type as the 9-34t cassette they still use, also from E-Thirteen with a similar price.

The 9-42t cassette is not compatible with the Dura ACE derailleur the use with the 9-34t cassette, they had to use a MTB derailleur.

I am afraid that these 9-34, 9-39 and 9-42t 11s cassettes from E-Thirteen will be discontinued soon now that all manufacturers switched to 12 or 13s for their high end derailleur.

I do not understand why they do not mount the SRAM Red XPLR 12s designed for 10-36t or 10-44t cassette like I have of my Bike Friday All-day? Maybe they received a huge discount on the now replaced SRAM Red 12s road limited to 10-33t?

10-44 would not be bad. I wonder the same things.

"...huge discount...": Cessna had designed a new model of plane, the 177 Cardinal. Designed for a 180 hp engine. But when launched, it came with a 150 hp engine; Originally I heard it was because they got a tremendous deal on the 150 engines, but I read now it was (also) because they had moved the pilot (and thus engine) forward with respect to the high wing, for better visibility when turning, that was the primary feature, and it turned out to be too nose-heavy, and the 150 hp engine was lighter, so corrected that. (Never mind that later ones came with 180 hp, although a different engine than the previous one.) Anyway, with 150 hp, it would not take off in the distance that was specified in the operating manual. Especially under hot or high conditions. People died. Tests were done, Cessna was sued, successfully. The 150 hp Cardinals were STC'ed (supplemental type certificate) to install 180 hp if folks wanted. The incident was one reason Cessna stopped building light planes for 10 years, until the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, which shielded manufacturers from liability for aircraft beyond 18 years age, even if manufacturer negligence was a cause.

So... yeah, cost discounts driving specifications... it wouldn't be the first time.

FYI, seems helix is finally getting ready to launch the electric model, after many delays. They shared a bideo on their instagram and facebook accounts (I'm not allowed to share links yet).

The "bottle" in the video appears to be some variant of an HZPT battery, and you can see a wire coming out of it.

I emailed helix, and they basically confirmed it. They also said it will be backwards compatible with existing Helixes.

Alongside the new racks and fenders, glad to see things seem to be picking up a bit for Helix

There is now a page describing the electric assist system of Helix.

As usual, with Helix, the claims are partly fake.

This hub motor, from an almost unknown Chinese assist system supplier, is not really open, only the battery is open, the motor, display and control are proprietary and i do not think that the freewheel of this hub support any Shimano 12s cassette like claimed which explains why Helix use an 11s Shimano transmission (but with a 11-36 cassette that doesn't come from Shimano since the 11s road derailleurs from Shimano are according to Shimano limited to 11-34).

The low weight of the assist system is not due to a low weight hub motor (Mahle X20 weight 400g less than this Keyde P100) but to a low capacity battery that surely won't provide 100km range in typical use as claimed but is too big to be taken in an air travel.

Eh, I think that's a little harsh. A 252 Wh battery alone isn't enough to get the weight down to 27-31 lbs. ~252 Wh is one of the most common battery size for lightweight folding ebikes (common for bikes with integrated batteries, or batteries built into the seatpost), and most of those are significantly heavier than the Helix.

And maybe it's not quite as light as the Mahle X20 (it's lighter than the older X35), but it's definitely one of the lighter motors out there. Keep in mind the benefit to the Keyde is that it's an almost all-in-one system: the torque sensor and controller are integrated into the motor itself.

I also don't think Helix was saying the motor itself was open, but rather that the Helix as a system was. I guess one could argue that's a bit of a stretch, as in that sense any acoustic bike with an electric conversion kit could be considered "open". But I nonetheless read it more as suggesting that the motor and battery aren't locked into one ecosystem, and that upgrade systems could be available in the future. For example, I can't just upgrade the motor or batteries on Brompton Electric or Tern Vektron as easily as I theoretically could with the Helix (again... theoretically).

The 100km range estimate is definitely an idealized estimate with low assist, but not particularly egregious relative to the rest of the ebike industry given the battery size and motor output. I'm a large person and I've squeezed out ~75km out of a 252 Wh battery before on level 1. Lemond bikes (which use a MahleX35 with a 250Wh battery), claim 110 miles.

My main issue with the bike is no word on UL or any other safety certification. The battery wiring in the image certainly looks a bit janky. As such, I'm hesitant to consider or recommend it.

Edit: The battery has a UL logo, but will need something more legit than that lol.

There are several mid motor with a weight similar to the one of the Keyde P100 and higher performances from TQ, Fazua and Bosch but they require a specific frame so much more investment from the bike manufacturer.
The all in one approach benefit is actually also more important for the bike manufacturer than for the bike user.

Globally, Helix choose this system to offer an eHelix with minimal investment.

For the user, the most important thing is how the e-assist system behaves and this is unknown for me, I haven't seen any ebike using this system nor read any independent review of this system while the behavior of the previously mentioned mid motor system from well known manufacturers is also well known and easy to test since there are many ebikes that uses these systems.
For Helix, its almost impossible to know how the e-assist system behaves before buying one since its only sold online.
The fact that there is a torque sensor doesn't mean that it work well because the performances of this torque sensor are not specified (a good one is expensive), because its not located into the crankset and because the actual behavior of the e-assist system depend a lot of the e-assist control algorithm which is part of the proprietary knowledge of every e-assist manufacturer (there are huge differences between different mid motors manufacturers).

You are right about the claims of other ebike manufacturers who also give very optimistic range estimates. But potential customers should know that the 100km is totally out of reach if the e-assist is really activated.

In 2021 July, someone in Korea converted Helix to e-bike. Most motor hubs are quick release type, so he asked Helix to design a new dropout and Helix provided such design.

He had an ebike shop convert Helix with Keyde motor (old wired type). He said Helix was very interested in this process and he shared it with them.

this is the full process video.


With the Helix ebike upgarde kit out, I checked out Keyde and it looks like they have 2 main version. S and P.

S is very quiet but less power.

P has more torque with built in torque sensor and smaller form factor but slightly louder.

They have one model that is thru-axle but the size is too big for Helix, which is a shame coz then, we wouldn't need a different dropout.

Since Helix kit has P100, I asked them to send me a video of the operational sound comparing the two and got this from them.



I was interested in the kit, but compared to S110, P100 is kinda loud, and I'm having second thoughts. I wonder how loud it is in real world.

I hope Helix sells just the modified dropout in the future so people can try out different hub motors.