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Homemade Hoverbike

Video: Colin Furze is back - with a HoverBike that flies

Madcap plumber knocks up another invention in his garden shed
by Simon_MacMichael
Tue, May 03, 2016 14:23
5

Colin Furze is back with another one of his madcap inventions knocked up in his shed –a ‘HoverBike’ that actually flies.

“It has no steering, it has no brakes, it’s got two accelerators and not even a seat,” says Furze with his typical enthusiasm bordering on craziness.

We’ll overlook the lack of some of those items, though – his rough and ready prototype, which he describes as “a unhinged flying bike/human blender,” was knocked up in just a couple of weeks.

Though it does have (non-turning) handlebars and (non-functioning) brake levers for him to hold onto.

Furze’s creation could bring us a step closer to seeing Star Wars-style speeder bikes in real life – though given the current furore over disc brakes we can’t see the UCI approving the use of those rotors in a race anytime soon mind.

Here's the 'making of' video.

We first featured Furze – a plumber by trade – three years ago when he strapped a jet engine onto the back of an old Raleigh Shopper and fired it up, describing it as “The most dangerous unsafe bike ever.”

That video has now had nearly 19 million views on YouTube.

> Video: Jet-powered Raleigh shopper

Colin Furze
hoverbike
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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Eric D | 8 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

... jet engine onto the back of an old Raleigh Shopper

"Furze was arrested by Lincolnshire Police, for possessing an object converted into a firearm."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Furze

Legend!

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Silver Rider | 8 years ago
0 likes

Would it be more efficient with skirts around the fans, like a hovercraft?

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Paul_C replied to Silver Rider | 8 years ago
1 like
Silver Rider wrote:

Would it be more efficient with skirts around the fans, like a hovercraft?

the early versions did have cowls but it has been shaved right down on mass

Avatar
Mungecrundle | 8 years ago
3 likes

I suspect that it would have to have a hidden motor in order to generate enough lift. However, by cunningly avoiding the use of disc brakes (or indeed any brakes) it should get past all but the most eagle eyed of UCI technical doping scrutineers.

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Colin Peyresourde replied to Mungecrundle | 8 years ago
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Mungecrundle wrote:

I suspect that it would have to have a hidden motor in order to generate enough lift. However, by cunningly avoiding the use of disc brakes (or indeed any brakes) it should get past all but the most eagle eyed of UCI technical doping scrutineers.

I think if we see this in the peloton they will ban bladed spokes, n'est pas?

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