avole

Being realistic, no goodies are available at all at the moment because the bike isn't in production.

Quick question: has anyone actually seen a bike in the flesh, preferably a production one?

By the way, I think you mean "backer" not "nacker", though that could be a Freudian slip?

Gibsonsean

The goodies are very good but no, they are not a full volume production bikes.

In all the photos and videos i've seen, the bike is made of titanium as advertised, not flesh. Boom, boom.

Not aware of anyone who has seen the bike in the flesh but as I've posted before, the photos and more particularly the videos are plenty convincing. I do understand that at some point at least one backer has doorstopped Peter at the factory so they may have seen a preprod version. All a bit stalkery for me.

I don't think i consider backers to be testicles, even on a subconscious level.

rhenning

There is no on the net info on this bike unless you have money invested in it. Either by ordering one or being part of the Helix Kick Start program. Roger

Joe Remi

It's not a bike, it's a website.

linberl

It's a gestational bike, and conceptual bikes are real bikes. I am pro-bike. ;-)

avole

Gibsonsean

. The ultrasounds look great. You can even see its little hinges moving.

Gibsonsean

In Ireland. While i am Irish by blood, i am culturally British. In Britain, nackers are dangly bits.

I don't get the gypsy traveller analogy 'in the circumstances'.

What do you mean, 'no bike, only videos'? The videos are of the bike. It's the nature of the internet.

rhenning

The videos could also be photo shopped art work. The few pictures I have seen didn't look like real photos but more like conceptual art work. Roger

Gibsonsean

The videos are convincing to me. The recent video of the near final pre-production bike for example shows a real person interacting in complex ways with what is clearly a physical bike. In a similar vein to the Kickstarter promo video but with more in depth discussion of key features if you want a frame of reference.

linberl

Yes! And it's a boy...couldn't really see the top tube well because of the angle, but as we all know, size matters.

Gibsonsean

24 inches is certainly unusually large for a little folder but it is not the size of the wheel but how the bike rolls that really matters.

Joe Remi

This thread, man...

linberl

Well, until there's a bike to actually talk about.....

avole

But there is! It's on all those videos we can't see!

You have to believe, you know.

Gibsonsean

If you are so cynical about the existence of the bike blah blah, why even partake of this thread? It's purpose is ultimately to provide some level of information on progress to those who are interested and have no other recourse.

avole

I'm not remotely cynical about the existence of the bike, only concerned no-one has actually seen one after - how many years? My only interest, if it does turn out to be a pipe dream, is that no-one loses either their money or their dreams

avole

Actually, it's not the money, it's their dreams.

firestorm135

Okay but seriously, it's been three years and no one thinks they are actually getting a Helix bike, right? I've been following this thread since the beginning and was holding out to buy one, but finally decided I needed to start living my life and just bought a Brompton.

Helix is like my friend who has been working on his PhD for six years and needs just a little more time to finish it... I don't understand why Peter doesn't just release it instead of tweaking the design every few months. I don't think anything will change...

Gibsonsean

I do believe there is a decent liklihood we will be getting our bikes at some point in the next 12 months or so.

The design has not changed for some time.

The focus for much of this year seems to have been on developing and establishing manufacturing processes (process automation in particular seems to have been very time consuming).

This all seems pretty much done now, but it looks like there remains plenty to do before full scale assembly and shipping can begin.

linberl

I'm a ShareRoller backer (friction drive for bikes) and it's been 3 years + for that as well. Just recently we were asked to pick our accessories so it's clearly coming in the next month or so (finally). The delay is because the developer kept improving and tweaking and responding to issues caused by the improvements and tweaking and then improving and tweaking some more, a constant cycle. I think that some of the developers are crazy perfectionists (and wouldn't you want someone like that to develop something you buy?) and they constantly see what could be instead of what can be now. And with no administrative structure to rein them in, they continue to "develop" their product well past the time when it could be released. They are idea people, with engineering skills perhaps, but the same qualities that let them envision a cool product also make them less likely to "let go" or be great at customer service commmunication, etc. I do believe Helix will materialize, but on the devs schedule, not the backers.

Joe Remi

At least the ShareRoller is delaying itself into a growing market, which makes the delays make some marketing sense. Helix seems to be a product waiting until the last rider is on an ebike and doesn't care anymore.

avole

Thay's a good point. Helix are hoping to buy into a market which is getting close to saturation. I can buy a folding bike at any local supermarket for not much money. I'll readily admit my Brompton looks heavily overpriced these days. I wonder what the Helix' sales projections are.

Joe Remi

Yep. The Bromptons that used to command almost-new prices and sell in a day on my area Craigslist are lasting weeks now, some with price drops. I don't think anyone is paying full pop for them.

linberl

That is true, they are over-saturated and too many people selling them off reducing prices. But, otoh, I know Blue Heron is doing quite well with new orders and REI sells them now as well. So they can't be doing that badly...