Behold: The Kite Bike

Behold: The Kite Bike

How many times have you been riding your dirtbike to work and you’ve been waylaid by the need to cross a small river? Man, if that river weren’t there, you’d get to your destination in half the time! There’s got to be a better way! Introducing Kale Makeham’s Kite Bike, the first of its kind, a revolutionary way to combine riding with flying. All you need to do is gather up a good head of steam and rip all of your weight to the back wheel and crank the throttle. Once the front of the bike is tipping upward the kite does the rest of the work for you!

Catching air has never been easier.

 

THE FLYING MOTORBIKE EP 1 – Featuring Kale Makeham

Apparently Australian and Indonesian SX champion and debatably edible leafy green namesake Kale has been dreaming about building the Kite Bike since the start of the year. After scrounging up a used Yamaha YZ and a hang glider and bolting the two together with scaffolding, the dream came true for “under $US6,000.” Imagine changing the world for just six grand. And that’s presumably Aussie dollarydoos, so it’s even more unbelievable!

This new motorcycling stroke of genius isn’t particularly useful anywhere that you’d find power lines or, you know, traffic of any kind, as the bike is now significantly wider than your average motorcycle. The top-heaviness also makes it a bit unwieldy to ride at low speeds. But goodness, once you get up to speed and you can bunny hop to sail it a dozen feet into the air, all of that goes out the window. There’s nothing more in the world that I want right now than to run out and find a shitty old bike on Craigslist and bolt a hang glider to the damn thing. I do wonder if I’d have to register for an ultralight pilot’s license.

See you in the skies!


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