Gear Patrol
Dude?
Malloy claims that the Hoverbike’s thrust to weight ratio should enable it to elevate to 10,000 feet and reach a speed of 173 mph (this begs the need for a good parachute and industrial strength body armor). Yowza. The rest of the Hoverbike is a Kevlar reinforced carbon fiber and foam core frame and exotic Tasmanian oak propellers. All controls are handlebar mounted, including speed, pitch, turning, vertical and horizontal travel. Using most of his hard earned funds to build this atomic salad shooter, Mr. Malloy is looking for investors and fluid dynamics engineers to bring his dream to production. In the meantime, we’ll be holding out hope for a test drive flight.
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I want it I want it I want it!
You know what’s really insane? I don’t like motorcycles because I think they’re too dangerous, but I want one of these. Badly.
Living4Him5534 on June 11, 2011 at 6:07 PM
Yo quiero uno!
Pcoop on June 11, 2011 at 6:08 PM
Price $40K, 170+ mph…
What’s the mpg?
What kind of warranty comes with it?
What’s the maintenance schedule?
This just might be worth buying.
itsnotaboutme on June 11, 2011 at 6:10 PM
Every Star Wars geek is going to want one.
Warner Todd Huston on June 11, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Must. have.
rbj on June 11, 2011 at 6:18 PM
10,000 ft ceiling? On that? That’s a death wish.
ElectricPhase on June 11, 2011 at 6:41 PM
What a way to go!
OldEnglish on June 11, 2011 at 6:59 PM
They should call it “The Mow and Go”.
csdeven on June 11, 2011 at 6:59 PM
Power-line Inspection? Yeah, I don’t think I’d want to be anywhere near a powerline on that thing.
clement on June 11, 2011 at 7:13 PM
My thoughts exactly!
Kafir on June 11, 2011 at 7:13 PM
Let’s be completely honest here. On a craft such as this (Assuming it’s even remotely stable and flyable), anything over about 100 feet in the air is pretty much a death wish. Maybe 150 if you are wearing body armor. Maybe.
However, assuming you are wearing a parachute, it’s actually safer to go higher. Mostly because you then have time to disconnect from the craft and allow it to drop away as you activate your parachute and float safely down.
Innovation in flying is always fraught with risk. Honestly I see the biggest barrier to craft such as these being our bureaucracy. The FAA will NEVER allow a craft like this into US airspace. As it is they are giving the balsa and foam model airplane guys a hard time right now. Something like this? Never happen until we rid ourselves of the Nanny State ninnies.
wearyman on June 11, 2011 at 7:18 PM
You DO know that they currently use full sized helicopters for power line inspection, right? Yeah. Helicopters. The ones with the big “get tangled in high voltage lines and then go kablooey” exposed lift and tail rotors. At least this thing has covered and protected blades. Actually sounds safer to me.
wearyman on June 11, 2011 at 7:22 PM
Looks to me like it would have a center of gravity issue. Other than that, I want one.
boomer on June 11, 2011 at 7:25 PM
When I hit the powerball I’m getting one of those bad boys.
mizflame98 on June 11, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Cheaper than a Chevy Volt and looks to be a whole lot more fun! In the immortal words of Will Smith “I have got to get me one of these!”
Oldnuke on June 11, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Yep, they certainly do.
Oldnuke on June 11, 2011 at 8:00 PM
That’s almost as cool as what I used to pimp.
Dork B. on June 11, 2011 at 8:11 PM
For a really religious guy, you seem to have forgotten about not coveting thy neighbor’s ass. This is the your neighbor’s ass.
On a technical note, it is highly questionable that something with that small a blade can lift beyond ground effect. I suspect it will only hover on a cushion of air provided by being within three feet of the ground.
keep the change on June 11, 2011 at 8:41 PM
A helicopter with a full time pilot, plus the line inspector.
Slowburn on June 11, 2011 at 8:48 PM
I can has Hoverbike?
Kenosha Kid on June 11, 2011 at 9:05 PM
This is a video of a test. This thing will not fly. For good reasons. All this is is a helicopter. And a ridiculous helicopter at that. And regardless of how poor this concept is, one would still need a helicopter license to fly it. Of course, it will never fly so no need to worry.
In order to have a compact blade diameter, the blades need to spin very fast, requiring that little motorcycle engine to work very hard. In order just to produce enough thrust to hover, the engine has to be pretty much maxed out. It won’t last long. Probably a few minutes. You will notice the vehicle is tethered. Just as Moller did with his flying car which has never flown. It needs to be tethered because any such design is inherently unstable.
keep the change on June 11, 2011 at 9:05 PM
I don’t see where he comes up with the 170mph unless he’s gonna turn it sideways. I’d like to know how it achieves yaw control as well. And I’m not sure I’d trust the electronic ignition and fuel injection on that Beemer engine at 10,000 feet.
JimK on June 11, 2011 at 9:07 PM