The Lazareth company is renowned for building the crazy into their motorbikes, but their latest build has taken things next level – it’s a motorbike with wings. The LMV 496 La Moto Volante, known as ‘the flying motorcycle’ in French, is their ballsy attempt to stick it to the critics and hit the skies – literally.
It is primarily modeled after their LM847 bike – which was virtually a Maserati V8 engine on four wheels – with some key differences. The road-going engine was swapped for an all-electric version, and JetCat jet turbines were inserted into each wheel. Once the jets are hydraulically tilted this motorbike becomes a hoverbike – complete with a 10 minute flight time and 1,300 horsepower (969 kW).
Anyone living in any major metro cities in Australia would kill for one of these. When traffic is doing your head in, you could pull over to a suitable launch area, press a button, and wait 60 seconds for the jets to pre-heat. From there, once the bike converts from ride to fly mode, you can lift off and leave the traffic and tolls behind.
All the main wheel hubs are built around jet turbines thick enough to lift this beast skyward, with a ballistic parachute mounted in each wheel as well in case things go south.
The entire bike weighs just 140 kg, and makes some 240 kg of thrust in flight mode. It also boasts kevlar carbon composite body panels, a digital dash, and more. Best of all, the Lazareth team will be actually building five of them at a price of $560,000 each. Now it’s just a matter of making it actually usable, affordable, and legal. Good luck with that.
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