Helix is a fully-folding titanium bicycle with 24” wheels and a price tag of only £800.
Claims that the Helix is smaller, lighter, safer and easier to use than any other folding bike in the world are bold, but the bike’s specifications are impressive.
The Helix folds to 23” x 25” x 9” – narrower than a Brompton, which rides on 16” wheels – and tips the scales at 9.45 KG.
Side-by-side folding places the wheels beside the frame. The rear wheel, front wheel and handlebar can be folded in any order. And there is no need to rotate pedals during the folding process as the Helix’s wheels fit right in between them.
Spring-loaded locking mechanisms pass through the fork and steerer tubes to create a lock and a secondary safety mechanism ensures the design is inherently safe.
£800 price tag
What is most remarkable about the Helix titanium bicycle is that it is available to pre-order for £800, less than half the cost of a comparable titanium / steel Brompton. It’s recommended retail price is expected to be £1,000. The bike will be launched next month on Kickstarter. Visit ridehelix.ca to learn more.
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Margaret Turner
The film of the Helix is overly repetitive – I only need to see it unfolded, ridden and folded up once to get the message. But I watched the whole film as I expected any moment to see how the bike’s luggage carrying worked, though no such thing was shown or even mentioned.
So I’ll stick to my 15 year old steel Brompton with its brilliant large stable front pannier, enabling me to do truly integrated long distance travelling! As for the weight, well, at 75 I find I delight in the kindness of younger people who so often spring forward and do not leave me struggling alone!
Georgetta Semlyen
At 65 I would not be caught dead on a rust bucket. The video was most informative. FYI, Helix will offer a carrying bag. I love new ideas and progressive thinking.
Junksupposed
I wish this bicycle was more finished. Note there is no rear brake, nor is there a cable leading to the derailleur. Also there appears to be no mechanism to lock the rear triangle to the frame whilst riding. An intriguing design, but I would wait a year or so before making a purchase.
It’s unfortunate that Brompton has not produced a full titanium frame, but they did see fit to update the brake levers and colors.
Kevin
At last a folding bike which seems to be lighter and with a narrower fold than all the others with their ‘tiny’ wheels.
Can’t wait for launch day which apparently is in September.
Hopefully some one will take up distribution rights here in the UK. Would take them up myself given half the chance!
Bob Jones
The Helix web site claims that the Helix is ‘the world’s smallest of folding bike’ and that ‘other folding bikes have smaller wheels but don’t fold as small.’
The dimensions shown 23 x 26 x 9.5 inches mean a total volume of 5681 cubic inches.
The Brompton is 23 x 22.2 x 10.6 inches. That’s a total volume of 5412.36 cubic inches.
The Helix is 5% larger (to the nearest 2 decimal points).
Would you trust the engineering if they can’t get that simple calculation right. Or their marketing, if it’s based on deception?
Banana
The Helix weight is 3 kg less than a brompton that cost £150 more too. I think that the 5% of volume more is nothing compared to advantages
Jordan
Is this entire Helix Bike a scam? There is no company address, phone number or any contact information in general.
How do you order a bike without having the ability to test it out first?
It looks like a great product, but i’m just getting these red flag alerts every time I think about it.
Does anyone know how to contact this company?
Cori
The Helix bike is looking like a scam with each passing week.
The January 2016 and February 2016 pre-order dates have passed and now the “early March 2016” date is upon us and I think that this date will also pass with no production models having been made yet.
Remember, there are several hundred kickstart contributors that invested enough to get a bike already — none of them have a single bike yet. The lack of a Company Address, Telephone Number, and Contact Person in Canada is really suspicious, but now if you check the Helix Bike Facebook site, you’ll see that all Comments made that questioned the lack of company address/telephone/etc HAVE BEEN REMOVED from the site —- WHY????
Don’t give a penny to this company until you get 100% verification from the early kickstart investors or on the bike review forums that the bike has been shipped and in their hands!
ETA
Thanks for posting this, Cori. It’s a sad, and largely unpublicised, fact that Kickstarter is completely unaccountable for the projects it lists. This means that some funded projects do not deliver at all, and a proportion of those that do send out completely substandard goods. It’s very much a case of buyer beware.
burhan
Where can I find the türkite
Jianliang
Three comments at this moment.
(1) The mud guards are very necessary. Can mud guards be installed? I ride a bike for commuting to office in weekdays. It rains often in the UK. Of course there is often light shower, which makes some road muddy. I don’t wear raincoat/rain trousers unless it rains heavily. I don’t want to arrive in office with muddy back and bottom.
(2) I have noticed that there gears. But the ad movie doesn’t tell anything about how many speeds the bike has. Speeds are important, I believe, for people have to cycle up hills a lot like me.
(3) Tyres and inner tubes. Are they easy to be found in the market? Are they easy to be replaced?
Cheers,
Jianliang
alan
What mudguard?
Find the bike first!!
Garett Backman
The Helix titanium folding bikeseems to be an awesome bike; but is it real or a scam? I have gone back over emails and published info concerning the bike and the company. Helix purportedly raised a lot of money over two years ago and now, after two years, it is unclear if they have produced one bike. I do not know if they have actually produced a bike. I would like to hear if any of the kickstarter investors have received a bike, or a least talked to a manufacturer who can verify that there are bikes in production. Were has all the money gone?
I have emailed them because I would like to buy a bike; but no one signs their actual name on their email and there is no address and no phone number to call. I have asked them to send me a phone number so I could talk to someone at the company; but to date I have been sent emails that indicate the bike is in production; but no telephone number for someone i could talk to at the company to verify that actual bikes are in production and will be ready in May 2017 for delivery.
Penny
According to the website prices will be “Starting at $1900 USD” ie around twice £800! Shipping is extra and presumably various other things are extra
It also says “orders will resume winter 2017”, so don’t get too excited about it yet….
Cj
I think this is a fantastic design and potentialy the best folding bike FOR SIZE OF WHEEL that I have seen, and I’ve had many (currently using a 26″ folding Dahon mtb, but doesn’t actually fold that well- just in half basically. So I just really wish this comes into fruition and will be gutted if it doesn’t. I thought £800 was actually pretty cheap considering the frame material, and I see close up good quality Shram parts, so not suprised about the price increase. I really want one but also worried about the possibility of another scam! Has anyone heard anything new? Fingers crossed!!! x
Kanon
8Thank All very much for yr comments……I originally planned to place an order to buy, but I still have to wait until is a available for sale.