Helix Update?
#1151
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For me, the video is enough for me to put up with another year's worth of waiting. A piece of beauty the bike is. Only my Renovo wood bike will ever beat it, which BTW took 2 years before it ever got built.
#1152
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Why not invest in my vastly superior idea, the inflatable bicycle? Bike will take a minimum of three years to produce, but I'll produce interesting if inaccurate newsletters every month, together with the odd, and slightly out of focus video.
Buy in price is only 2500€, which I will invest in high interest accounts for several years. You won't see the interest, nor the money again, but, at the end, you can bask in the glory of a bicycle technically superior to any other, while I bask in the glory of a martini by the pool in Monaco.
What's not to like?
Buy in price is only 2500€, which I will invest in high interest accounts for several years. You won't see the interest, nor the money again, but, at the end, you can bask in the glory of a bicycle technically superior to any other, while I bask in the glory of a martini by the pool in Monaco.
What's not to like?
#1153
Stardust
Why not invest in my vastly superior idea, the inflatable bicycle? Bike will take a minimum of three years to produce, but I'll produce interesting if inaccurate newsletters every month, together with the odd, and slightly out of focus video.
Buy in price is only 2500€, which I will invest in high interest accounts for several years. You won't see the interest, nor the money again, but, at the end, you can bask in the glory of a bicycle technically superior to any other, while I bask in the glory of a martini by the pool in Monaco.
What's not to like?
Buy in price is only 2500€, which I will invest in high interest accounts for several years. You won't see the interest, nor the money again, but, at the end, you can bask in the glory of a bicycle technically superior to any other, while I bask in the glory of a martini by the pool in Monaco.
What's not to like?
#1154
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Gentle humor, gentle humor, that's all. Are you a citizen of the US? The sense of humor is a bit different here, you know.
#1155
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It might have been funny after the first year, but now it's just rubbing salt on the wound. Not that gentle. I went from excited to disappointed to amused to hopeful to paranoid to frustrated to angry and finally to praying for these folks. Lots of $$ involved, not a little cheap kickstarter you can blow off if it fails. At this point, I think only good thoughts are what is needed. In the U.S. we don't kick a man when he's down, right?
#1157
Stardust
#1158
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A few people are quick to speculate on the worst case scenarios as if they are fact. The reality is we don't really know anthing about the project's financial situation but we do know the project continues with demonstrable progress, albeit slower than any of us, including the Creator i'm sure, would like.
We've seen in some detail what apears to be near enough a production bike and the project apears to have moved firmly from a focus on engineering the manufacturing of the frame to a focus on optimising custom parts production, prepping and assembly processes. Still plenty to do in this and other areas and until optimisation is sufficiently complete and any remaining parts are all delivered we won't know a schedule.
I'm ok with that so long as we continue to see progress. I'm enjoying The Helix Show™ (genius smallboats, kudos) and looking forward to the next episode.
Last edited by Gibsonsean; 07-03-18 at 02:59 PM.
#1159
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Me too. As long as there are regular updates and things are happening, I'm going to stay calm. Would be nice if they actually shipped a bike, but let's see if bikes start shipping once they have the full complement of custom parts for the bikes.
#1160
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It reminds me of the Star Citizen video game. The devs have received millions from backers, the game isn't even nearly finished and they are releasing extra content that the backers are paying literally thousands for on top of what they have already spent so that at some point in the future they might be able to play this game built by mega rich developers.
Last edited by kidshibuya; 07-06-18 at 06:10 AM.
#1162
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Hmmm. Not sure what to do with that info. They must be working on the last 99.9%
And like finishing a new house, it’s the last 99% that’s the bugger. I’m really hoping that the few issues will be resolved soon and then it’s just bolting the bikes together like the kids bolting the Walmart bikes together as fast as their teenage hands will allow lol.
But seriously, it will be nice to get to the final assembly and start pumping these things out per customer spec
And like finishing a new house, it’s the last 99% that’s the bugger. I’m really hoping that the few issues will be resolved soon and then it’s just bolting the bikes together like the kids bolting the Walmart bikes together as fast as their teenage hands will allow lol.
But seriously, it will be nice to get to the final assembly and start pumping these things out per customer spec
#1163
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Agreed, it does seem as if progress is continuing, albeit at a much slower than promised pace. But I don't see any evidence of malfeasance, just poor estimates of the difficulty of bringing the project to fruition. Hope there aren't too many backers who were counting on this as their only commute vehicle and didn't have a Plan B.
#1164
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I am
It reminds me of the Star Citizen video game. The devs have received millions from backers, the game isn't even nearly finished and they are releasing extra content that the backers are paying literally thousands for on top of what they have already spent so that at some point in the future they might be able to play this game built by mega rich developers.
It reminds me of the Star Citizen video game. The devs have received millions from backers, the game isn't even nearly finished and they are releasing extra content that the backers are paying literally thousands for on top of what they have already spent so that at some point in the future they might be able to play this game built by mega rich developers.
Hopefully it will pave the way for better versions down the road, and we all stand to benefit.
#1165
Widely Despised
The latest update is posted for us buyers.
Parts are being made, & purchased parts are arriving.
Parts are being made, & purchased parts are arriving.
#1166
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I know I'm not supposed to share info from the backer portal, but there have been lots of people here that are just constantly talking like Helix is about to fail and we are going to lose our money, which does get boring to read, so I'll just note that the financial status of Helix was briefly mentioned in the update. Apparently they are healthy, and although the Kickstarter campaign raised a decent amount of money, some further investment has been required over the last 3 years. The part mentioning finances ends with " Of course, we absolutely have to deliver bikes soon as the runway is not infinite, but at this final stage, money is not a concern. "
Regarding shipping, they are still waiting on some custom parts, so can't fully assemble bikes, but they are still building all the frames etc. ready for the parts to arrive and everything is going smoothly. I really wonder if they will try to move some of the custom part production in-house after shipping all the current orders (assuming the company remains), as it seems to be their only remaining major headache, and it must be frustrating to still be unable to ship because certain suppliers are not fullfilling their orders quickly enough (and yes, we Helix backers and buyers know fairly well about waiting for orders to be fullfilled, before anyone makes that obvious joke).
Regarding shipping, they are still waiting on some custom parts, so can't fully assemble bikes, but they are still building all the frames etc. ready for the parts to arrive and everything is going smoothly. I really wonder if they will try to move some of the custom part production in-house after shipping all the current orders (assuming the company remains), as it seems to be their only remaining major headache, and it must be frustrating to still be unable to ship because certain suppliers are not fullfilling their orders quickly enough (and yes, we Helix backers and buyers know fairly well about waiting for orders to be fullfilled, before anyone makes that obvious joke).
#1167
Senior Member
A year ago I was sure this thing was kaput, but Helix is still grinding away at it. I don't know about its future as a sustaining company, but I think you'll get your bikes.
#1169
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#1170
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No one is going to know anything about orders being filled until the first bike is delivered. Any promises to the contrary are pipe dreams until we get to that point.
#1171
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There are a few backers looking to sell if you are that keen. We won't know about shipping projection for at least another 3-5 weeks..
Last edited by Gibsonsean; 07-22-18 at 07:13 AM.
#1172
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If we look at what happened and is happening for previous kckstarter projects, very often real customers buying the product from the creator pre-order website or from dealers selling the product receive it before backers.
This is currently happening for the Vellobike+ project: produced bikes are first delivered to dealers having sold Vellobike+ to real customers. Only the produced bikes that exceed the dealers demand are delivered to backers.
Even if this seems unfair for some backers who do not understand what being a backer mean, it is normal: the aim of the project (and the backer funding) was to create a new product and sparkle a new business.
So if the business is successful and bikes are ordered by customers, the produced Vellobikes+ must first go to these customers to satisfy these customers. It is not possible to make all these customers wait until all backers have received their bike, this would kill the Vellobike+ business.
I guess the same will happen for Helix if like for the Vellobike+, Helix become a successful business i.e. if Peter has many pre-orders and made agreements with dealer to show Helix in their shops and sell Helix.
This is currently happening for the Vellobike+ project: produced bikes are first delivered to dealers having sold Vellobike+ to real customers. Only the produced bikes that exceed the dealers demand are delivered to backers.
Even if this seems unfair for some backers who do not understand what being a backer mean, it is normal: the aim of the project (and the backer funding) was to create a new product and sparkle a new business.
So if the business is successful and bikes are ordered by customers, the produced Vellobikes+ must first go to these customers to satisfy these customers. It is not possible to make all these customers wait until all backers have received their bike, this would kill the Vellobike+ business.
I guess the same will happen for Helix if like for the Vellobike+, Helix become a successful business i.e. if Peter has many pre-orders and made agreements with dealer to show Helix in their shops and sell Helix.
#1173
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He has developed enough exposure to work without dealers.
Thanks
Yan
#1174
Stardust
i would expect a lot more...
#1175
Full Member