"Within a week" means he would have to start producing bicycles for people. That's not gonna happen.

Ah, OK, I am ignorant about what exists over there... Perhaps the hubs that are already here would be dealt in that way. The front wheels are built in Asia due to custom lefty hubs built by Formula. Not sure about the rears. Formula also supply the 10-sp rear hubs so it makes sense that these also will be built at the same time. Maybe just the Alfine wheels will be built in Canads.

yeah but its real cheap to sent hubs over here.... rims and spokes are plentiful here in the US
shipping complete wheels is expensive from Taiwan... but he does have enough money I assume ..


Its relatively easy ... purchase the hubs from Formula, have them send to Sta True ( as an example ) or somebody like them in Canada ( like Cycle Lambert, or procycle ) tell them what spokes and what rims and they built the wheels ...


:-)

I wonder what the Burn rate for the company is...

It does not take long to run through a lot of money running a company when it is not producing anything.

Big Money upfront for starting a business can often cause a higher burn rate.

Major changes in direction from Welded to Glued back to Welded scare me also.

It would not be all that expensive to ship wheels from Asia. You could easily get 1000 to 1500 wheels in a 40 foot container---my guess---and that is about $4k to $10k for shipping. I don't know about Duty however.

You can get right at 300 Mountain bicycles in a 40 foot container---that is my baseline for size.

My last 40' container costed $3500 including truck delivery ( in NC ).

Thanks,
Yan

Costed??

I have gotten a few containers through the port of Seattle. It seems like there are so many added fees. I don't remember exactly what the total was but I am also 400 miles from the port and shipping to here was included. $3500 seems pretty good.

In 13 years I don't recall ever paying under $4500. $3500 including fees and trucking is a bargain!

Thanks
Yan

I'm not a backer, but if I was, I think I'd be angry because it seems like he delayed delivery for a very long time while using the backers' money to fund development of intellectual property and pay lawyers for patent applications. Was any of that in the Kickstarter presentation?

Seems like he could have built and delivered the bikes sooner simply by foregoing his IP goals and not turning his backers into unwitting and unrewarded venture capitalists.

I'm sorry but,... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

That dude's talent is taking peoples' money and buying a girlfriend with it. I'm kinda pissed I never thought of trying that!

joe
i hear you ..lol but the good thing is we can sleep at night
that is worth maybe more than just being rich

:-)

...and I did not eventually end up with a functional and amazing Ti bike, I would shrug it off as a bad investment and move on with my life. Kickstarter is not ebay, amazon, alibaba, or online shopping, it's taking a risk with some promised investment payout.

If I wanted a Ti folder, I'd get one currently in production. If I wanted THAT design, I would certainly be disappointed, but at this stage, I'd be hopeful that the intellectual property would be sold and that someone would make it a reality.

If I was just some piker looking for a deal on Ti folding bike, meh, I might get angry, or I might shrug and think to myself, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is..."

Here's a few pics of the pre-production bike:

I believe he is going to pull it off. As a backer I would rather wait to have a better riding and more durable folder than the prototype. If he doesn't then, it will be lesson learned. $1300 would hurt, but it doesn't going to make you poor. It would be foolish not to bring it to market. If it rides as good as it looks, then he has a money making folder.

Double O

I believe that too. The design is locked down, the bike works extremely well, "all" that is now needed is to produce it. I expect there to be many production-related hiccups, and if he can solve those, then he should be able to produce at least 219 bikes.

(I am backer 219 )

I still can't see how the folded bike measures 23"x26"x9.5" as claimed.


-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

The pedals are removed in the folded pic.

The Helix will be delivered with those type of removable pedals plus a set of folding pedals.

I'm also a kickstarter backer for the bike. I don't have a problem with the delays, per se, but I do have a problem with the company's wildly unsubstantiated issuing of updated delivery dates. The "delays" exist because the company fails to meet it's own absurd completion schedule. This undermines confidence. It would have been entirely reasonable to have stated design and production will take 36 months, or whatever. Of course, if the reason for being overly optimistic about the release date was to dupe investors, I'd be thinking about, one way or the other, getting my money back.

There is just something about a Titanium frame---Those are great pictures.

Those great pictures are all that exists of Helix Bicycles. That dude is a crook.

Sorry for being a bit of a "lurker" here, but I haven't had much to add or ask until now. Although I didn't jump in during the Kickstarter campaign, I am very interested to pre-order a helix when that option comes.

Jur, would you please post the rest of the new photos you had access to as one of the Kickstarter backers? I would love to see more images of how the front end design was resolved.

Regarding Joe Remi's comment, "That dude is a crook", that's a very strong accusation. I have not seen any evidence here or elsewhere that would make that a true statement. Yes, there have been numerous delays and it seems he should have made managed expectations better with more realistic delivery date projections, (it sounds like he's had his share of challenges along the way) but the time spent developing/resolving/patenting the design seems to have been in the interest of putting out a better/stronger/safer bike. How many of us have ever tried to start a bike company from scratch, let alone one that has a truly unique folding frame/fork design?

That's nice. He's a crook.

yep will do in about 12hours from now.