Building Wheels and developing solutions has absorbed us so much that this update took a while. It’s still a challenge to balance the complex interplay of Wheel’s magnetic bearings, mechanics and electronics. Finetuning each Wheel remains very demanding and still slows down production way too much.
Just before Christmas, we had to reject a large series of Wheels last minute.
We kicked off the new year with an incomplete team because of corona, but luckily we’re back at full strength again. We’re as fresh as can be and ready to beat 2022!
State of Wheel
As I write this, there are roughly 60 Wheels out there. Most of them with backers. Response from Wheel owners is very positive, and generating new preorders. Last week we increased the price of Wheel to reflect the higher component and building costs. This doesn’t affect backers and pre-order customers. Here we are today: We have 1500 original Wheels worth of high quality inventory and parts in our shelves. Turned, milled, printed, purchased, and ready to be assembled. The past year we’ve been working on solutions to remove the roadblocks, and although I have resolved not to make any more promises again, we’re confident our next update will delight you.
This is the very first digital sketch of Wheel, from December 2016. The Wheel we build today is still true to its concept.
Support
Most of the pressure we feel is caused by the fact that we asked you to support us with your pledge, and that a number of backers feel let down because it takes so long. However, your support is also a great motivation. That, and the inspiration that Wheel is still as amazing as it was 5 years ago, keeps us going.
Experts keep telling us that a multi-year development cycle for a complex product like Wheel is normal. But I never could have imagined that overcoming adversity would be our modus operandi for such a long time. To the supporters and believers, and the growing group of Wheel owners, you don’t know how much your support means to us.
Thank you and hang on!
Peter and the Wheel team.