Originally Posted by
Revoltingest
I have no clue. I wonder how many were like me, not wanting to be a Kickstarter backer, but willing to place an order directly with Helix when things looked more mature & successful. The price increase was minimal ($300). We could've easily added as much money as was raised on Kickstarter, & with no commission taken from it.
Based on the timetable for production mooted at the time pre-orders were wrapped up, I seem to recall that pre-order bikes were to take about the same amount of time to complete shipping, once backer's were shipped, as the backer's bikes. From this, I assumed the volumes were similar.
Regardless, at this stage the Helix team must have a very good idea on cost to manufacture and they are still pressing on, which would be odd if they felt they didn't have a business case. Even at pre-order time, manufacturing costs would have been much clearer and pricing only stepped up $300.
Retail pricing has not been set and need bear no relation to the KS or pre-order pricing. It was always going to be more. How much more will, no doubt, reflect actual cost to manufacture, anticipated demand, Brompton and other competitor pricing and a premium for uniqueness and titaniumness.