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Hoverbikes are finally here, but don't expect to fly cheap

JacksinPA

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https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/hoverbikes-are-finally-here-don-t-expect-fly-cheap-ncna935191

California firm's long-anticipated flying motorcycle will set you back $150,000.

The era of the hoverbike is finally at hand, but you’ll have to be well-heeled to join in. A California company recently announced that it would begin deliveries of its long-anticipated flying motorcycle in the first half of 2019 for an estimated price of $150,000.

The Hoversurf S3 looks a bit like what you’d get if you crossed a motorcycle with a quadcopter. It has a seat for one rider and four horizontally mounted electric propellers controlled by a pair of joysticks.

The sub-250-pound craft is designed to skim over the landscape at the company-specified “safe altitude" of about 16 feet and at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Its lithium-manganese-nickel batteries allow airborne jaunts of up to 25 minutes, according to the manufacturer, San Jose-based Hoversurf.
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I think i'll wait for them to come out with a Hover Board (1989 clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyLnWm1iCs
 
Seems a likely way to get dead.
 
Seems a likely way to get dead.

Something that big will need regulation by the FAA. One of those things can kill more than the rider.
 
I can see things like this being useful for first responders in high traffic areas.
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/hoverbikes-are-finally-here-don-t-expect-fly-cheap-ncna935191

California firm's long-anticipated flying motorcycle will set you back $150,000.

The era of the hoverbike is finally at hand, but you’ll have to be well-heeled to join in. A California company recently announced that it would begin deliveries of its long-anticipated flying motorcycle in the first half of 2019 for an estimated price of $150,000.

The Hoversurf S3 looks a bit like what you’d get if you crossed a motorcycle with a quadcopter. It has a seat for one rider and four horizontally mounted electric propellers controlled by a pair of joysticks.

The sub-250-pound craft is designed to skim over the landscape at the company-specified “safe altitude" of about 16 feet and at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Its lithium-manganese-nickel batteries allow airborne jaunts of up to 25 minutes, according to the manufacturer, San Jose-based Hoversurf.
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I think i'll wait for them to come out with a Hover Board (1989 clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyLnWm1iCs

$150K isn't that bad a price at all. I mean, really. It's essentially a personal helicopter that can land in far more places than can a "standard" 'copter. (Until this gizmo came about, an inexpensive personal 'copter would set one back about $300K+) The problem, as with anything that flies and is battery operated, is the range, 25 minutes. (Competing products I've come by have the same drawback -- they're designed as entertainment vehicles rather than as transportation vehicles.) So, as a "toy," sure, $150K is pricey. When someone comes up with one for $150K and that can match (or best) the performance of an R-22 and also fly down city streets, well, that'll be a bargain.

It's noisier than I thought it'd be.

 
I can see things like this being useful for first responders in high traffic areas.

As a photographer, I can see all sorts of applications for this for getting to remote locations where it's roadless and minimal impact is required, ala the Mojave Desert.
 
Something that big will need regulation by the FAA. One of those things can kill more than the rider.
Red:
And with that will end all that's cool about having and using the thing as a transportation device.


Other:
Frankly, I think if/when we become a society traveling via personal flying machines, fewer folks than today drive cars will actually own them and be licensed to fly them. After all, consider how many folks struggle to responsibly, safely and without calamity operate vehicles that can move in only two direction -- forward and back. Far fewer must be the quantity of folks who can master operating vehicles that move in four directions.
 
Red:
And with that will end all that's cool about having and using the thing as a transportation device.


Other:
Frankly, I think if/when we become a society traveling via personal flying machines, fewer folks than today drive cars will actually own them and be licensed to fly them. After all, consider how many folks struggle to responsibly, safely and without calamity operate vehicles that can move in only two direction -- forward and back. Far fewer must be the quantity of folks who can master operating vehicles that move in four directions.

My guess is in the future such technology, if used for regular transportation, will be self-flying. That might actually be easier than self-driving.
 
My guess is in the future such technology, if used for regular transportation, will be self-flying. That might actually be easier than self-driving.

Yes, that day will come, but I suspect it'll come some time after the time when flying machines are "right sized" for personal transportation purposes.
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/hoverbikes-are-finally-here-don-t-expect-fly-cheap-ncna935191

California firm's long-anticipated flying motorcycle will set you back $150,000.

The era of the hoverbike is finally at hand, but you’ll have to be well-heeled to join in. A California company recently announced that it would begin deliveries of its long-anticipated flying motorcycle in the first half of 2019 for an estimated price of $150,000.

The Hoversurf S3 looks a bit like what you’d get if you crossed a motorcycle with a quadcopter. It has a seat for one rider and four horizontally mounted electric propellers controlled by a pair of joysticks.

The sub-250-pound craft is designed to skim over the landscape at the company-specified “safe altitude" of about 16 feet and at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Its lithium-manganese-nickel batteries allow airborne jaunts of up to 25 minutes, according to the manufacturer, San Jose-based Hoversurf.
===============================================
I think i'll wait for them to come out with a Hover Board (1989 clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyLnWm1iCs

$150,000 is a lot to spend on a toy.
 
With the blades spinning under you I can see it as a big meat slicer if you somehow were tossed or slipped off into one of them. Blade guards would be a good idea. On top of that, 25 minute run time does not allow for much, you have a 12 minute radius if you want to get back to a charger. It may be a start but it has a long way to go be practical, then there are the regulations everyone will try to heap on them.
 
This weight distribution model seems....dangerous...God help you if you have to get off quickly.

Why are the blades under you again? The whole thing seems unstable.
 
Hoverbikes - when laying down a wheeled bike at 60mph on pavement just isn't dangerous enough for you.

I don't have that "want to die soon" gene I guess. It's like a flyng cuisinart, one slip and you fall into blades that chop you up, on your way to impact the ground at 60mph, 10+ feet in the air!

I'm waiting for anti-grav :p

(which is never)
 
As a photographer, I can see all sorts of applications for this for getting to remote locations where it's roadless and minimal impact is required, ala the Mojave Desert.

Trouble is its limited range.
 
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