First of all, SpeedForce was expected to be delivered on time, until we got a last-minute message from the FCC to supply more information about the battery. We'll ship out end of this month, as mentioned in the new update. It is delayed by 1 month and is not "quite delayed".
Secondly, after IGG campaign we created an US entity and we're currently opening up an office in San Jose. The one used on IGG was of our marketing partner, Lemore labs since we did not had an US entity at that time.
Yes, we changed the name from Beast Bikes to SpeedX, because we could not use "Beast Bikes" as our company name, thus we decided to change to SpeedX.
About the assembly/color options: Before this project we locked down several factories and a few of them was from Taiwan, all we did was just revisit them and renegotiate the previous offer we had from them. About the color options; our frame manufacturer said it was OK, I also see this happen with other Kickstarter projects. I do not really see a problem here though.
In a few days we'll post an update regarding VAT, product reviews, processing times, colors etc.
@Albert, you might be right about the IndieGoGo scam. But overall I am concerned by a pattern of facts.
For starters SpeedX has an IndieGoGo campaign for the Speedforce stem and that campaign is quite delayed with production not even started (i.e. They were supposed to deliver in March but latest update shows they just applied for FCC certification to improve quality prior to starting production).
Also this very Leopard campaign raises questions. Example the latest update informs now assembly is moved from mainland China to Taiwan, and almost any color can be chosen just like that (for an already cheap product with all the incurred additional costs Taiwan has over mainland China and all the expenses to set-up new painting colours).
Lastly if you look at the different websites of the company you see that first they apparently started as "Beast Sports" changing to "SpeedX Inc.". The IndieGoGo campaign is based in Sunnyvale, CA and this one in San Diego, CA.
All of this is confusing and raises legitimate questions. If I were SpeedX I would come forward with reassuring statements.
@ Christine 30 Backers in Australia... Look on your government website for Import Duty... VAT in Australia is a "Goods and Services Tax" which is at 10%
@Damon R I think the $800 for a Pro version is a mistake... ! (Indiegogo)
"Crowd Funding" is a great way to sell 'bike' without all the hassle of marketing and finding retailers in all the various countries you want to sell into...
Delivery... as manufacturing in only starting in July... I wouldn't expect delivery much before the end of the year... more like early 2017
Colours... the more colours... the longer the delivery...
Import Duty / VAT... a fact of life... unless they are going to be supplied FOB (Free On Board) we all have to pay...!
I think everyone should remember this is a gamble... you are pledging an amount of money on the basis that this company (SpeedX) will deliver a bike... there is NO guarantee that they will do so...!
Your funding isn't protected... you will not get your money back, if they don't deliver...! If you can't afford to lose your pledge... don't do it...!
@SpeedX, any update regarding any plan to have the bike reviewed? So far I only read general opinion about the bike and sponsored article on the web without real testing of the product. Would love to get an idea of what I'm putting myself into.
A bit too late if waiting until the campaign ends before getting the bike reviewed no?
@Damon, and the weird part is that they even start a campaign on IndieGoGo when having so much going on via Kickstarter. Also delivery would be October 2016, why the delay versus July for Kickstarter? I have doubts now about the whole thing...
@tony thats what i mean, grasshopper (a dry herb vaporizer) finished their campaign in late '13 promised to deliver in early '14 and just recently finished all the indiegogo supporters this recent february. i'm just interested in seeing how they will get all of these bikes made within 4 month time. I mean granted they do have a big team of 50 people(grasshopper had maybe like 5?) so who knows. interesting times.
Most backers are going to use their preferred set of pedals. I think speedx should swap the 2 million dollar goal with the 3 million dollar goal. I would rather get matching bottle cage holders than a set of pedals I won't use. I prefer speed play pedals myself.
@Phil Damn, ok so seems like they got a chinese kickstarter going and have 19 days left. They have to make 1489 mustang mountain bikes and 681 leopard road bikes, which adds up to a grand total of 2170 bikes!!! DAMN SPEEDX!!! They also got t-shirts, hope we do too! :)
I just hope speedx can deliver as promised. Stary electric skateboard is made in china and they were supposed to deliver to the US by November 2015 and still haven't showed up. I pray speedx has a better logistics plan in place.
i know these guys are also doing a chinese kickstarter aswell. anyone know what the added numbers of bikes they have to make over the course of these 4 months? as these numbers are going up im very skeptical as to july being the date i receive my product.
I love the blue pro picture. I'd opt for that. I worry on you guys offering too many options as that increases cost unless the colors are special for kickstarters only.
Since you have an office in the USA, why not offer to build bikes Made in the USA for orders coming from the USA? In this way, we don't need to deal with VAT either it is from China or Taiwan.
@Paul, at least in
Denmark for cycling commodity codes (i.e. frames, parts, full bikes) there is anti-dumping tax of 48,5% if from China which does not appear very clearly in many of the 'duties calculators'. So with frame manufacturing and bike assembly in Taiwan at least the anti-dumping tax would be dropped.
@Chris L, @Thomas B... Import Tax for bikes from Taiwan = 14% (China 15%) Vat is still 20%... so no real difference in the total cost to import to the UK.
Just checked on dutycalculator.com and looks virtually the same so they'll still need help somehow from logistics company. I'm guessing the move was only for QC reasons, plus hopefully lower production costs for them with assembly now being closer to the frame manufacturer.
@paul. I believe speedx are working with the logistics company to reduce this import cost. Who knows what they can do except declare a different value...
I agree the speedx team needs to have someone who can test ride speedx leopard and write trusted reviews and evaluate it will resulted bring more buyers with confidence.
@Marcus - depending on the price you have pledged - Import Duty and VAT will be between £500 and £600 for the UK
Import Duty is 15% of the Cost + Delivery + Insurance and then 20% VAT is added to the total. This will all have to be paid to HMRC before they will allow the bike to be delivered to you.
Creator SpeedX on April 6
Please do post any false information.....
First of all, SpeedForce was expected to be delivered on time, until we got a last-minute message from the FCC to supply more information about the battery. We'll ship out end of this month, as mentioned in the new update. It is delayed by 1 month and is not "quite delayed".
Secondly, after IGG campaign we created an US entity and we're currently opening up an office in San Jose. The one used on IGG was of our marketing partner, Lemore labs since we did not had an US entity at that time.
Yes, we changed the name from Beast Bikes to SpeedX, because we could not use "Beast Bikes" as our company name, thus we decided to change to SpeedX.
About the assembly/color options: Before this project we locked down several factories and a few of them was from Taiwan, all we did was just revisit them and renegotiate the previous offer we had from them. About the color options; our frame manufacturer said it was OK, I also see this happen with other Kickstarter projects. I do not really see a problem here though.
In a few days we'll post an update regarding VAT, product reviews, processing times, colors etc.
Aurélien Grosso on April 6
@Albert, you might be right about the IndieGoGo scam. But overall I am concerned by a pattern of facts.
For starters SpeedX has an IndieGoGo campaign for the Speedforce stem and that campaign is quite delayed with production not even started (i.e. They were supposed to deliver in March but latest update shows they just applied for FCC certification to improve quality prior to starting production).
Also this very Leopard campaign raises questions. Example the latest update informs now assembly is moved from mainland China to Taiwan, and almost any color can be chosen just like that (for an already cheap product with all the incurred additional costs Taiwan has over mainland China and all the expenses to set-up new painting colours).
Lastly if you look at the different websites of the company you see that first they apparently started as "Beast Sports" changing to "SpeedX Inc.". The IndieGoGo campaign is based in Sunnyvale, CA and this one in San Diego, CA.
All of this is confusing and raises legitimate questions. If I were SpeedX I would come forward with reassuring statements.
Regards
Paul Ashbury on April 6
@ Christine 30 Backers in Australia... Look on your government website for Import Duty... VAT in Australia is a "Goods and Services Tax" which is at 10%
A lot better that the VAT in the UK at 20%.
Paul Ashbury on April 6
@Damon R I think the $800 for a Pro version is a mistake... ! (Indiegogo)
"Crowd Funding" is a great way to sell 'bike' without all the hassle of marketing and finding retailers in all the various countries you want to sell into...
Delivery... as manufacturing in only starting in July... I wouldn't expect delivery much before the end of the year... more like early 2017
Colours... the more colours... the longer the delivery...
Import Duty / VAT... a fact of life... unless they are going to be supplied FOB (Free On Board) we all have to pay...!
I think everyone should remember this is a gamble... you are pledging an amount of money on the basis that this company (SpeedX) will deliver a bike... there is NO guarantee that they will do so...!
Your funding isn't protected... you will not get your money back, if they don't deliver...! If you can't afford to lose your pledge... don't do it...!
Albert Suh on April 6
@Grosso @Damon, the indiegogo campaign is quite clearly a scam. Don't be so gullible guys.
Aizal on April 6
@SpeedX, any update regarding any plan to have the bike reviewed? So far I only read general opinion about the bike and sponsored article on the web without real testing of the product. Would love to get an idea of what I'm putting myself into.
A bit too late if waiting until the campaign ends before getting the bike reviewed no?
Aurélien Grosso on April 6
@Damon, and the weird part is that they even start a campaign on IndieGoGo when having so much going on via Kickstarter. Also delivery would be October 2016, why the delay versus July for Kickstarter? I have doubts now about the whole thing...
Damon R. on April 6
Why is the Leopard Pro only $800 for an early bird through the Indiegogo campaign?
Check out SpeedX Leopard the first ever smart aero road bike on #indiegogo!
http://igg.me/at/leopard/x/4429070
Christine Aniano on April 6
Any backer from Australia? Just want to know roughly how much more do we need to shell out on top of the base price and shipping cost..thanks
Lee Gilchrist on April 6
I am in the same place as @TonyRichards. Swapping the 3m and 2m stretch targets as I will be using Ultegra or DuraAce pedals.
Chris Leary on April 6
They say they anticipated 1500-2000 bikes, what i don't know is if that included any other campaign.
Tony Richards on April 6
@Phil, man I think I'll cry real tears if we have to wait that long lol. �
Phil Akhmadi on April 5
@tony thats what i mean, grasshopper (a dry herb vaporizer) finished their campaign in late '13 promised to deliver in early '14 and just recently finished all the indiegogo supporters this recent february. i'm just interested in seeing how they will get all of these bikes made within 4 month time. I mean granted they do have a big team of 50 people(grasshopper had maybe like 5?) so who knows. interesting times.
P3t3 on April 5
Is Frog involve with the color scheme design?
Colton Redding on April 5
Red or matte black.
Tony Richards on April 5
Most backers are going to use their preferred set of pedals. I think speedx should swap the 2 million dollar goal with the 3 million dollar goal. I would rather get matching bottle cage holders than a set of pedals I won't use. I prefer speed play pedals myself.
Josh Lin on April 5
@Phil Damn, ok so seems like they got a chinese kickstarter going and have 19 days left. They have to make 1489 mustang mountain bikes and 681 leopard road bikes, which adds up to a grand total of 2170 bikes!!! DAMN SPEEDX!!! They also got t-shirts, hope we do too! :)
Tony Richards on April 5
I just hope speedx can deliver as promised. Stary electric skateboard is made in china and they were supposed to deliver to the US by November 2015 and still haven't showed up. I pray speedx has a better logistics plan in place.
Norman on April 5
Can you add this feature like http://www.biketag.com?
Phil Akhmadi on April 5
i know these guys are also doing a chinese kickstarter aswell. anyone know what the added numbers of bikes they have to make over the course of these 4 months? as these numbers are going up im very skeptical as to july being the date i receive my product.
Giampiero Bonifazi on April 5
How is the weight of the SpeedX Pro Wheelset? Thanks
John Sadler on April 5
Green & Purple for me... Thanks @Jake for the images! I've added the colours to another image for a slightly different angle.
Aqua: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Aqua.jpg
Black: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Black.jpg
Blue: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Blue.jpg
Gold/Yellow: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Gold.jpg
Green: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Green.jpg
Grey/Silver: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Grey.jpg
Orange: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Orange.jpg
Pink: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Pink.jpg
Purple: http://pixeledgedesigns.com/LeopardPro/Leopard_Pro_Purple.jpg
Hyunsuk Chung on April 5
So far, I'm leaning towards matte black!
Don Atwell on April 5
I'm torn between red, green and black, but I'm leaning toward black.
Lee Gilchrist on April 5
Green or Black please..
Ali Jorgensen on April 5
Love Purple & Aqua!!! It's going to be a hard decision.
Steven Lewis on April 5
I love the blue pro picture. I'd opt for that. I worry on you guys offering too many options as that increases cost unless the colors are special for kickstarters only.
Mike Rockoff on April 5
@Norman, pretty sure they said a long time ago USA doesn't have any added fees
Mike Rockoff on April 5
I'm fine with all the confirmed color options. However, how about all white with black, red or blue lettering?
Norman on April 5
@Stocker Antoine, since you mentioned about backers, please check how many from USA https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/speedx/speedx-leopard-the-first-ever-smart-aero-road-bike/community Nothing come close even adding all EU or Asia countries. I never mentioned about USA being the center of the world, it is about feasibility since one of their offices is located in the USA!
Michael Correa on April 5
I love the green!
Hyunsuk Chung on April 5
@Jake, Thank you very much for your hard work. Black Panther for me!
Stocker Antoine on April 5
@Norman: Cause USA is not the centre of the World... Perhaps they have more bakers in Europe and/or Asia...
Jake Lee on April 5
I'm glad to make some contributions here. Since a lot of you guys were asking for the Pro version,,, here they are:
Blue: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yfmrgv45e74kbnh/pro-blue.jpg…
Green: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ounsy6eucibp8x/pro-green.jpg…
Yellow: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sbagb9h50x8ftx4/pro-yellow.jpg…
Purple: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4uiwion8kpovr4j/pro-purple.jpg…
Silver: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hak1lmewvf33a8d/pro-silver.jpg…
Orange: https://www.dropbox.com/s/suxtr5pmun5oyli/pro-orange.jpg…
Black: https://www.dropbox.com/s/48i5i22fzkuug3n/pro-black.jpg…
and here's a bonus one lol
Black Panther: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7maa49byzwfpf6/pro-blackpanther.jpg…
Søren Petersen on April 5
If kickstarter isn't a shop? Wouldn't the Pledge be consider as a investment? Would the value of the bike not be 0$ when shipped?
Hyunsuk Chung on April 5
@SpeedX +1 with @Norman Bercasio.
If bikes is built and made in USA, all the Canadian backers don't need to worry about Duty. They only pay taxes (GST, PST, HST)
Norman on April 5
Since you have an office in the USA, why not offer to build bikes Made in the USA for orders coming from the USA? In this way, we don't need to deal with VAT either it is from China or Taiwan.
Paul Ashbury on April 5
@Aurelien G - I'm glad we are not paying that sort of Import Duty / Tax...!
Aurélien Grosso on April 5
@Paul, at least in
Denmark for cycling commodity codes (i.e. frames, parts, full bikes) there is anti-dumping tax of 48,5% if from China which does not appear very clearly in many of the 'duties calculators'. So with frame manufacturing and bike assembly in Taiwan at least the anti-dumping tax would be dropped.
Michael Cheng on April 5
what is the number of characters we can engrave?
Paul Ashbury on April 5
@Chris L, @Thomas B... Import Tax for bikes from Taiwan = 14% (China 15%) Vat is still 20%... so no real difference in the total cost to import to the UK.
Aizal on April 5
@creator, just wondering is there plan to offer different depth of the rim? 38mm or 42mm as alternative to the 50mm?
Stocker Antoine on April 5
@Chris: Thank you for the link...
Chris Leary on April 5
Just checked on dutycalculator.com and looks virtually the same so they'll still need help somehow from logistics company. I'm guessing the move was only for QC reasons, plus hopefully lower production costs for them with assembly now being closer to the frame manufacturer.
Thomas Barlow on April 5
Or import tax?
CHEN,KUAN-CHIEH on April 5
According to ur new update about assembly in Taiwan , is it possible to sent in Taiwan without any shipping cost or less cost?
Thomas Barlow on April 5
Is the new factory going to mean that the VAT on bikes coming to the EU going to decreased or will it still stay the same?
Chris Leary on April 4
@paul. I believe speedx are working with the logistics company to reduce this import cost. Who knows what they can do except declare a different value...
Dan on April 4
I agree the speedx team needs to have someone who can test ride speedx leopard and write trusted reviews and evaluate it will resulted bring more buyers with confidence.
Paul Ashbury on April 4
@Marcus - depending on the price you have pledged - Import Duty and VAT will be between £500 and £600 for the UK
Import Duty is 15% of the Cost + Delivery + Insurance and then 20% VAT is added to the total. This will all have to be paid to HMRC before they will allow the bike to be delivered to you.