Helix Update?
#1976
Senior Member
That's a lovely story. I'm going to keep commenting on this bicycle as interest warrants, and you guys can keep complaining about repetition and posting "dead horse" emojis. I don't care.
#1977
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I dont find my Bike Friday Pakit hard to carry folded at all....I have a Brompton Off Yer Bike handle on it and carry it just by that handle. Same way you would carry a Brompton, except my BF Pakit only weighs 19 lbs, lol.
#1978
Senior Member
I presume the poster is thinking of the traditional NWT-type design, which is indeed unwieldy..it's really more a packable bike than folding one. PakiT OTOH is a very compact and light, it's a great little folder.
#1979
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Perhaps, but the NWT is a packable bike for travel, not a bike made for multi-modal use. It fits in a standard suitcase so there's no airlines fees. I do think I was very restrained in my response, however......holding back that "passionate" attitude, lol.
#1983
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#1985
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After chastising some posters in the past for complaining about a now existent "non existent" bike, now its my turn to complain. The primary reason I plunked down money for the bike was the weight. For me, that what made the bike stand out over the rest. Now that advantage is gone, I'm really not sure why I needed another average weight folding bike. I ordered the bike with the single speed option. Anyone want to trade cash for my expected for delivery in July bike?
#1986
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Yea I am talking about the original design; the newer ones were designed to be multi-modal friendly. I have a pocket rocket pro which is also about 19 lbs, which is great. But when I take it on the bus all the dangling parts pop out and poke people in the shins.
#1987
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Yeah, but that's not what it was designed for, unfair to judge it in that regard. It would be like complaining that the Brompton doesn't float, lol. That said, I did take my NWT on the bus a few times....folding pedals and velcro straps work wonders or you can use a carry bag. Or you can just get a Pakit for multi-modal and save the NWT for travel =).
#1988
Senior Member
A question for those that know. How many bikes has Helix delivered so far?
#1989
Senior Member
#1990
Senior Member
It's anniversary day. Three years later!!!
#1992
Junior Member
The backer of bike no. 6 is expecting to take delivery on the 11th of March. No indication yet on the quantity in this second batch.
#1993
Senior Member
#1994
Junior Member
The current indication is that there's 5 bikes in the second batch (not confirmed by Helix). If that is confirmed, they're currently making 5 bikes a month. Looks like the ramp up in output is going to be painfully slow.
#1995
Senior Member
So... a hypothetical 10 bikes shipped. I recall there were over 1,000 ordered in the Kickstarter, plus perhaps some more after during an online ordering window?
What is the total order backlog?
What is the total order backlog?
#1996
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#1997
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Is it possible he's going slowly for a reason? My ShareRoller is ready to ship but the dev is sending a few units at a time to backers in his local area first to see if there are any issues or feedback he can incorporate before going into full shipment mode....maybe Peter is intentionally sending a few at first as well?
#1998
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Once the parts are available (frame, fork, rear frame, components...) assembling the bikes is mainly done by hand and the amount of bikes assembled per day or week or month depend of the amount of people working on the assembly. Once the bikes are assembled, testing them is also manual work, testing more assembled bikes before shipping them, requires more people.
These people are different people than the one building the frames.
To speed up assembly, Peter must set up an assembly chain (search for video of the Brompton factory to see how it s done for a factory producing about 50K bike per year), does such a chain already exist ?
The Vellobike+ KS project had the same problem and could never reach the initially announced production rate (that was smaller than what Helix would need to deliver all bikes in a reasonable amount of tine). Shipment of Vellobike+ started about one year ago and all bikes aren't shipped yet.
For the assembly, I think that Helix also requires more effort/time than a normal bike (examples: the lefty folding fork will take much more work/time to be assembled and mounted on the frame than a normal fork, the rear frame with its complex locking needs also more work/time, same for the folding stem...).
These people are different people than the one building the frames.
To speed up assembly, Peter must set up an assembly chain (search for video of the Brompton factory to see how it s done for a factory producing about 50K bike per year), does such a chain already exist ?
The Vellobike+ KS project had the same problem and could never reach the initially announced production rate (that was smaller than what Helix would need to deliver all bikes in a reasonable amount of tine). Shipment of Vellobike+ started about one year ago and all bikes aren't shipped yet.
For the assembly, I think that Helix also requires more effort/time than a normal bike (examples: the lefty folding fork will take much more work/time to be assembled and mounted on the frame than a normal fork, the rear frame with its complex locking needs also more work/time, same for the folding stem...).
#1999
Senior Member
Once the parts are available (frame, fork, rear frame, components...) assembling the bikes is mainly done by hand and the amount of bikes assembled per day or week or month depend of the amount of people working on the assembly. Once the bikes are assembled, testing them is also manual work, testing more assembled bikes before shipping them, requires more people.
These people are different people than the one building the frames.
To speed up assembly, Peter must set up an assembly chain (search for video of the Brompton factory to see how it s done for a factory producing about 50K bike per year), does such a chain already exist ?
These people are different people than the one building the frames.
To speed up assembly, Peter must set up an assembly chain (search for video of the Brompton factory to see how it s done for a factory producing about 50K bike per year), does such a chain already exist ?
#2000
Junior Member
More photos of bike 5. I haven't made enough posts to include the full link. sh/ndyg0gzagmrgius/AADMPg1vhfNBbdb2_Oaeeof9a?dl=0 preceeded by dropbox dot com and a forward slash. If you're lucky enough to get your hands on one of these things, the first job will be to fix some temporary guards to keep the road debris out of the helixes (helices?) and the rear frame latch mechanism.