It’s not a bicycle you are looking at. The Hoverbike is a motorcycle-like ultralight aircraft that’s powered by a flat twin 4-stroke of 1170 cc with a 12:1 compression ratio that you kind of ride like a motorcycle to go up (estimated 10,000 ft) then at a speed of (?) to do what? Inventor’s suggestion: Aerial Cattle mustering, Search and Rescue, Aerial Survey, Wildlife and Parks Observation, Powerine Inspection, Film Shooting, Impressing your friends, etc.
You lift off by increasing thrust via a throttle grip exactly the same as the throttle on a motorcycle. To fly forward you must both increase thrust and deflect air from the front control vanes by twisting the left handle grip to accelerate forward or twisting back to go backwards. Turning right & left requires to push down the handlebars down on the side you wish to turn. Limited ground testing done thus far confirms that the Hoverbike performs exactly as predicted. You can test ride it if you travel to Sidney, Australia. Price to be announced after a rich investor is found… Hoverbike.
Geez…this is like the jet pack back in the day that I used to watch testing when I was a small boy…think I will wait till proven for the ride…wink wink.
Boss Hawg
Get I get one with Ape Hangers?
That’s is cool as hell. 10,000 feet might get a little chilly, but it looks like it would be big fun to ride.
Another great story., Cyril. Only in your mag. Will a helmet really help in case of a crash?
Hardtail Hovercraft , I WANT TWO ! jg
If it works well and price is very reasonable, should fly…off the shelves.
WOW! now that is cool
Looks dangerous, unstable… and fun!
I think I might want one of these things.
Lets see it fly first.
Way cool. If it works that would be amazing. I used to fly Ultralights, I learned a lot of lessons from those experiences. If this has any potential they will need to devise a reasonable back up plan. For such things such as mechanical failure etc. Now, I would never fly without a parachute, to top it off they were ballistic, in other words they would deploy in seconds, necessary as Ultralights fly at low altitudes. OK, so if this vehicle has any problems it will fall like a rock, there is zero glide ratio. Once again IF this is real, be sure to devise a quickly deployable parachute. (perhaps ballistic) Do that, and WOW.
Just what the “Freebird” needs!!! Wiz
Who knows? Remember “The Fifth Element” where Bruce Willis drove an old Yellow Taxi much like the ones we use today with one BIG difference……you climbed in the back, he flipped the handle on the meter down, and FLEW you down the streets to your destination!
Maybe this IS the far distant future of motorcycling!
I’d sure like to try one myself! My website, http://www.harleytalking.com, listed above as required, (so I’m not plugging it, although it’s a great site) has a lot of members we’re asking opinions of right now regarding this question:
Will be LITERALLY “flying down the road” someday??
I look forward to hearing their opinions! I know if I had the cash I’d buy a prototype today!
Finally, I grew up with the Jetsons and figured we would all have flying cars by now. At least we all got Star Trek communicators.
How Cool is that….!!!!
Now you can choose to NOT participate in a traffic jam.
Talk about pissing off all those car-drivers….. Traffic stops you pull-her up and glide on over the mess…. 🙂
Not to mention a smooth ride for all us old arthritic ridden bastards.
When the Socialist idiots turn CA roads into a third world driving experience i won’t give a shit.
Man this is “thinking out of the box” on steroids.
Thanks for the heads-up Cyril.
Where do i get mine?
-nicker-
So a guy ridin’ this thing goes up 20 feet ‘an comes back down, no problem. Goes up a hunderd feet, comes back down, no problem again. He then goes up a thousand feet ‘an comes crashing down in a heap! Somebody asks “What Happened?” “Well, I got up that high, got cold, so I turned off the FAN!!” Yuk-Yuk!! Wiz
cool toy for someone that has everything except a fast way to die.
@Tim Hanlon – I think there are ballistic chutes designed into it already.
Looks to me like there is more than just a couple of Spacely Space Sprockets involved here!
Over & Out,
Jeff
I hope the pilot already has a family ’cause if a bearing on one of those props lets go, instant vasectomy (or worse).
looks cool and fun, but at the same time you better be on your A game at all times .
Where do I get a job like that?
Incredible new world, i belive the man that invent Supertrapp exaust already make it whid a car.
Every time a man thing the world moves.
Do they make a Porsche tribute model? Or, maybe a Jack Daniels theme!
well ya dang sure don’t want to go over the bars on this thing!!
wonder what the forward speed is?
The “Hoverbike” was Invented 65 years ago….. It was called The (Bensen B-10 “Prop-Copter” 1958) http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bensen_b-10.php
Cool design. The engine (which you harley guys won’t recognize) is a BMW boxer, so it should be fairly safe.
However I’m not sure how stable and steerable, or controlable it is. You’ll notice in all the operational pictures it is still tethered to the ground. Turning the handlebars won’t make it turn. And shifting your weight will make it flip.
The rotor blades probably provide some gyroscopic stablizing effect, but the weight is so centralized it could easily flip over in flight.
Hillicopters hang the aircraft body and engine under the rotor blades to stablized it and keep the machine upright.
And even if he figure out all the operational problems, still wear a parachute if you go over 500 feet.
@Jim – You’re right about the flip effect. Maybe vectoring some of that thrust would help, but I’d like to see the seat and engine cradled a bit below the rotors. There’s also the noise factor.