BMW S1000RR engine takes to the sky
With a carbon monocoque and top speed of 300kph – this is one flying bike we can get behind
FLYING bikes seem to be a bit of a thing at the minute don’t they – every other week some coffee drunk scientist or crazy (and probably coffee drunk) bike builder is claiming by the year 2056(ish) they’ll have built the first and fastest flying bike.
But it’s not often we see a bike engine going into a plane! Well not a proper plane anyway – we’ve seen the people putting two-stroke units in micro lights and paramotors but, check this thing out. It’s a jet, and jets are cool!
The Carbon fibre plane is based around the design of Soviet built L-39 and uses BMW’s high revving and potent 193hp four-pot from the S1000RR. Running at the redline for most of the time, the motor spins what’s called a ducted fan motor – a bit like a multi blade hairdryer – that can propel the little plane at more than 180mph and for 340-miles.
The featherweight jet weighs in at just 322kg which is astonishing when you think about; that’s almost exactly the same as two of the last gen’ BMW S1000RR motorcycles. And this can fly. And carry two people!
And it’s not just some hairbrained mad scientist hammering away in a shed, this plane has been built by Skyleader Aircraft who’ve been designing and building light aircraft since the 1990’s!
We want one – no two, we want two!
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
