FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Let's Go Fly Bikes

Researchers in the Czech Republic have revealed a 210-pound remote-controlled bicycle capable of hovering a few meters above the ground. You’ll only be flying for five minutes, but still.

Every child's choice superpower seems to be flight. That probably goes for a great many "adults" out there, too. Now, thanks to researchers in the Czech Republic, all you flight-deprived dreamers out there can rejoice: Personalized flight isn't only possible--it rides a bike.

The researchers showcased a 210-pound remote-controlled bicycle capable of hovering a few meters above the ground. You’ll only be flying for five minutes, but still.

Advertisement

A crash-test dummy took a ride on the prototype inside an exhibition hall in Prague. The bike’s a bit clunky, yeah, but it nervertheless successfully lifts above the ground using two battery-operated propellers in front, two in back and one on each side.

Right now the bike's hangtime maxes out after only a few minutes before it has to be re-charged, but in the near future riders could be stunting in thin air for much longer when the battery capacity increases, according to Milan Duchek, technical director of Duratec Bicycles.

"Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every 10 years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to used for sports, tourism or similar things," Duchek told Sky News.

This isn’t the first time bicycling has gotten the aboveground treatment. One teacher tried to construct a flying bicycle back in 2009. John Carver from Oxfordshire created the Flyke, an airborne tricycle, and flew across part of Europe for charity. And though it wasn't technically a flying bike, Bulgarian architect Martin Angelov came up with an interesting and slightly terrifying concept for urban biking that uses the skyway. In 2010, Angelov designed a bike lane in the sky called “Kolellnia” that involves a steel wire resembling a tightrope.

We're still a long way from fleets of bikes buzzing above our head, but this most recently hack goes to show how bikes still have a leg up on most any other modern means of transportation. Where's E.T. when we need him most?

Image via Flickr / CC