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Friday, June 17, 2011

This Prototype Hoverbike Could Land In A Year!

It was bound to happen sooner or later and we’re so happy it finally has. An Australian man by the name of Chris Malloy has built a functioning prototype of what can only be called a Hoverbike. It may not be the Speeder or Swoop bike Star Wars had us fantasizing about all these years, but there’s no denying the cool factor.

According to a recent article over at Gizmag, the Hoverbike sports an 1170cc 4-stroke engine. Its 10-feet long, weighs 231 lbs and will supposedly travel 92 miles on a single tank of gas. The frame is made of kevlar-reinforced carbon fiber and while it hasn’t taken to the sky yet, its creator plans on running the first true test flight in a couple of months. Just like a certain "jetpack" we’ve seen recently, lift comes from two ducted fans. The rotor blades spin in opposite directions, eliminating the need for a tail-rotor while providing some slick visual appeal.

Malloy still has a lot of work ahead of him and he is currently looking for investors to help get his Hoverbike off the ground. He wants it to go into limited production within a year and full scale production about 2 years after that. If all goes well, the first batch could cost about $40,000. However, Malloy claims full-scale production could lower the cost into the high-end sport bike range.

Another interesting thing the Hoverbike has going for it is the ultralight rating. With that, anyone (at least in the U.S.) interested in picking up one of these futuristic toys wouldn’t be required to have a full-fledged pilot’s license -- making it much more accessible.

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