I'm asking about the Ti-Swift; I want to know about the original model that is no longer made. I did spend time reading the threads and was unable to find out about the original model; I did find out about the clones people made.

With apologies to the Helix people:

You can read about the Swift here: Story

Peter Reich still sells Swifts, using either steel or aluminum frames. Xootr, which used to sell aluminum versions, no longer does. There is a long thread on the Swift here: https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-b...t-folders.html

Neither Reich nor Xootr ever made titanium frames. A poster on this board who goes by "jur" designed a titanium version and had it made in China by an outfit called either Titancycles or Titanproduct. There is a long thread about the ti version here: https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-b...nterested.html

Eventually, Titan made the frame (and other parts of jur's design) available on aliexpress, and you can see that here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gr-9...c-453489cf8e1f

That version, which you can buy now, is the only titanium Swift there's ever been (as far as I know).

I briefly considered the Ti Swift a few years back. Until the Helix showed up. Looking at the price of the Swift frame on Aliexpress makes the Helix a bargain in comparison and it is a better bike by a mile in my opinion though I have not ridden a Swift due to the larger wheels, and smaller folded dimensions among other things.

Anyone interested in taking over my spot (1500ish) for a single speed version of the Helix?

PM sent.

Can one change to the Alfine model at a later point?

Reply sent with contact info

I'm sure there are other folks interested in the Helix now that it's an actual, real bike. Since this thread appears to be the only public place seriously talking about the Helix, I would suggest that its a perfect place for current backers to offload their pending bikes.

It would also be helpful to know what options remain available for those who are looking for a Helix... as [MENTION=350933]anga[/MENTION]'s question above implies... non-backers don't know much about the order finalization process.

Good luck!

Seems that more bikes are produced

Ward00, I did not get your reply via PM. Can you try again? Thanks.

I sent a pm with contact info

not sure what to do, my replies by PM are not going through - contact me at wardas at yahoo dot com

Afline and 1 / 10 speed have different drop outs, those dropouts can be changed, but then you will need to rebuild the wheel, if you're thinking of taking over a single speed, see if the seller can contact Helix and change the order to Afline or 10 speed (and pay the difference) so when the bike is built, it's built to your desired choice.

Is any other backer interested in selling their bike?

Update
 

Update: over 65 bikes delivered so far. Expecting 4 bikes a day by end of month. To be updated every two weeks.
👍

That sounds much better, but Peter should really stop making time estimates and promising updates at certain times or intervals, because somehow he is almost always late :)

Anyway, 4 bikes a day ~= 300 days until they reach my bike :( I hope there are still gains to be made in the production speed, and I hope they mean 4 bikes a day average over 7 day week, not a 4 bikes per work day. That's probably hoping for too much, though :/

If they can maintain that rate, I should get mine by June 1, 2020.
I can live with that.​​
(Latest update is 65 biked shipped. I'm #1405 . [1405-65]/4=335 days)

That presumes they will work 7 days a week.


The video reviews of the Helix are very positive. My only info is what I read on this forum (Helix's own web site has not had updated info in two years.)


One still has to wonder how the Helix story will (no pun intended) unfold. The original business plan would not of accounted for years of delay or even the current slow rate of production. Some part (or the assembly) must be very difficult. While Helix is making bicycles, and apparently really nice bicycles... at this slow rate of delivery it has to be at a loss. Likely a significant loss.


Years ago, Helix rather brilliantly sold a lot of titanium bicycles at an aggressive price. Only a tiny fraction of those bicycles have been delivered. At some point, well before the number now on order, do they run out of money? If I had order #200 I'd feel OK. If I had order #1 ,400 - I'd have to wonder if that will actually happen.


Could they take more orders (to bring in more $) when delivery is at best a year out? Or is there investment money that could cover up the near term losses?


I really like the look of the bike. Here's hoping it becomes a real company.

still can't do mass production....can it be build in alumnium and bring the cost down? and to scale up production.

Maybe, but the whole point of this bike is that it is built in Titanium.

The demand for the bike is mostly based on a titanium frame.

Thanks
Yan

And also, based on the description of the bikes as being a bit over-engineered, I'm not sure what sort of price savings there would actually be with Aluminum. After accounting for the difference in materials, the bike might need entirely different solutions to the issues and opportunities encountered with the existing design. (I'm not an engineer... so please feel free to correct me on this). All of that trouble with no guarantee that anyone would actually want an Aluminum version of the bike... because as previously stated, the whole point is Titanium.

I would think that a Steel version would make more sense if you wanted to make a cheaper one. However, I would still argue that the whole point of the bike's popularity is that it is designed from the ground up to be Titanium.

I hear from a backer that Helix is not producing 4 bikes a day and for various reasons involving titanium problems and labor issues may not be able to hit this mark in the short term.

80 delivered so far.

Yes, titanium is a big selling point for Helix. But I don't think it's "the whole point". For me (and I suspect for some others too), the titanium is just a bonus.

I think a lot of people might be interested in the Helix design (big wheels, small folded package) in steel or aluminum. Probably heavier, probably cheaper, but with most of the benefits of the original titanium bike.

Or would moving away from titanium make it necessary to do substantial redesign?