Well, there was recent activity on their Q&A blog a couple of months ago.. I'm pulling for Jur to get his plus the Helix before Christmas!

I've owned a brompton and swift in the past before I bought a car and stopped bike commuting full time, and sold the bikes. But I have the itch to start bike commuting again for excercise! This bike to me looks like it could be just what I've been looking for in terms of ride quality, folded size, and non clown-like appearance because of the bigger tires. Looking forward to when these ship and we start seeing pictures. Will have to start saving now.

I pre-pre-ordered, so I had reserved a pre-order spot as I remember, so hopefully I'll be sorted to get a bike at the beginning of the pre-order bikes. I haven't received any updates, so maybe I should contact them, but I'm still able to log into the user portal, and can see that I have a bike on order. Actually, it gives my order date as January 30th, but I could have sworn the first deposit was due earlier than that.

My order happened the same way, also posting on January 30th. If I don't get my order by December 2017 however, I might silently move towards a New Year's resolution - getting a full refund by 2018. I believe the pre-orders were supposed to begin January 20th. Out of all the people who run off with people's money on a large scale, I know of one person who wasn't late. Helix, even this lowly guy (rhymes with Gump) has got a few notches up on you - at least he showed up to work on time, January 20th.

I have two bikes on the waiting, one as a backer and one as pre order. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions waiting for them. Now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I should have had more faith on my God that hasn't ever let me down. I did prayed before ordering and after sleeping on it many nights, I got the peace I get when consulting with Him before big purchases. What I'm a little concerned is in the ride quality and durability of the bike. I know that if titanium is not done right, it can crack on the joints.
However, if the ride quality and durability end up all good, I think this bike would sell as hot cakes for $2200-$2500 (my humble guess as a long time bike consumer). Yes, we get lower price and backers, but it doesn't come free with the wait and the ups and downs of emotions that come with any startup. The bigger the risk the bigger the rewards!

Double O

My bible learnin' ain't so good, so here it goes:

The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, "It is good." Nail it down so it will not topple. - Isaiah 41:7

Pray that the welding gets nailed (successfully). :thumb:

Actually, what would keep me off the emotional roller coaster is that Peter/Helix put out the updates on time. For example, let's say the next notification is due August 2017. Looks like the next payment/installment's going to be required. It'd be okay that Peter is missing the mark for delivery. Just let us know at that time, even if things aren't going right. Don't leave us hangin' with the communication, Peter!

Communication would be my first-really-only question if I ever met that guy. Mistakes and delays are part of the deal with something as dicey as creating your own titanium folding bike company, but his inability to sit down at a computer in a timely manner to type some words to his backers is inexplicable.

Personally for me, if this form of communication continues, I'm out after 1 year, give or take a month.

You are complaining about a situation that does not exist any more and you know this. For more than three months now backers have been getting updates every second friday as Jur wrote: http://www.bikeforums.net/19494471-post384.html You were involved in that discussion three months ago in exactly this thread, therefor you should know about this fact.
And as Jur is posting info from these updates here on a regular basis they seem to be made reliably. So what again are you complaining about? Still about the fact that you do not get a personal letter from the inventor every other week as you are no backer? :p

The latest update which happened this past Friday: Welding process being very complicated and groundbreaking, requires ongoing refinement of programming and setups. I estimated 2 weeks ago that this process will easily eat at least 2 weeks, and that was spot on - it was on-going last Friday, and looks like the welding would be able to swing into production in this next 2 weeks.

Also, the laser cutter was fully commissioned and programmed. Videos were posted of the cutter cutting complicated frame tubes such as the seat tube which has complex cutouts for the locking mech.

So ever moving closer. Based on what we see in the updates, I estimated that the earliest production could begin, was September. That estimate still stands.

Well, genius, I'm responding to two fellows above these comments who say they aren't getting timely updates. So no, I don't know that the communication problem is solved. It seems to be "solved" for a select group of people, of which you are one.

Only backers are getting timely updates, and that was after a year of people being very vocal that updates needed to happen more often due to the delays and not knowing what has happened to their money. I am so glad that Jur is giving us summaries here, since I wouldn't have a clue what's going on otherwise. Definitely going to fire off an email to Peter/Helix to find out what the current situation is.

[MENTION=449532]MrFlamey[/MENTION]: preorder-customers seem to be in the situation that backers used to until the recent change of information politics. Absolutely understandable if they are unhappy. However - Joe Remi explicitly did not mention the preorder-customers but the backers...

... and therefor pulled the wrong plug.

The fact that there's an information gap between "backers" and "pre-order customers" is self-explanatory about this guy's communication issues. This situation is ridiculous, and hopefully will all be a distant ridiculous memory when everybody involved gets a bike.

A few people have mentioned that despite Helix's slow (but now fixed) update rate, they are better than anyone else on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. I am also backing the Shareroller V4 and I also see a huge difference between the 2 cases. Jeff Guida updates us perhaps 3 times per year. So the Helix communication has been market leading by all accounts, even though more was asked for.

Jur I suspect Bike Friday was much better with their Haul-a-day Kickstarter program than this fellow seems to be. You shouldn't say all are like he is. Roger

actually, i'm pretty sure that bike friday kickstarted the haul-a-day and the pakit and delivered all the pre-orders and backer goodies in the time it's taken this guy to not spend a million dollars to order a pallette of ti tubes and a laser cutter.
that being said, i still hope he gets this done for all the nice people who contributed.

OT: I see no reference to a shareroller v4 on the main site or indiegogo...?

It was highlighted as early as Feb / March that the suggested delivery dates for backers and pre-orders will be missed.

It has.

Let's see if the early backers get their deliveries before the first snowfall in the northern hemisphere.

It was launched as V3, but Jeff made such substantial and drastic changes/updates to it during subsequent development that he abandoned the V3 concept and moved everybody to V4. Those who have been given a personal preview of V4 were unanimous that it is indeed drastically better. Some preview pics were sent to us a while back showing the battery as a separate disconnected unit rather than integrated, and that more mounting options were possible, such as on a seatpost.

It's been a while now since we heard anything, last in April. Jeff expected production to start in June. Another month would easily be possible due to supplier delays so hopefully they're just in production now. If so, I expect another update shortly.

I wish he had been better about communicating that. I was on the mailing list but not notified and just gave up on v4. I am backing the Urbanext all-in-one-wheel and I have to say their communication has been very impressive. Two days on emailed questions and no more than 5 days between responses to comments. First backers should be getting their wheels from UPS in a week. But I really wanted a shareroller; I just thought he had shut it down. :-(

Latest update from this past Saturday: Welding development still ongoing - welding torch space issues, and another month before that is sorted. So my earliest estimate for full production start is now October. Other aspects of production has swung into motion, e.g. handlebar and seatpost-saddle assembly.

Thank you, jur! :thumb:

Just had another update on the ShareRoller. Last minute production niggles are being sorted and some parts are awaiting delivery. Most parts are on hand. I don't have a good estimate on when they will start delivery. Could be another month, so September at the earliest.

So far Helix and ShareRoller are tracking each other in delays. Just my luck, picking 2 projects with 2y delay. But both seem to be imminent, no sign of moribundity from either.

Jeff was kind enough to respond to me and said he thinks they will be available for pre-order on his site in September, which means you lucky kickstarter backers will get shipped then. For a lot less than I will be paying (had hoped v4 was going to be a kickstarter but when he rolled it into v3 that was that) plus you credit for waiting. Pre-orders will have a 4-8 week wait. I'll be thrilled if I get by New Years (although something new is coming from rubbee.uk in a friction drive as well). Thanks for mentioning it or I never would have realized shareroller was alive again.