The Ultimate in Personal Transport Devices

Tweet

These days getting from A to B is not only about transportation, it is also a question of personal taste that ultimately serves to make a statement about not only where you are going, but who you are and where you are placed in society.

With numerous modes of getting from one place to another at your disposal – from bikes to cars, trains to planes – it is no longer a case of how you are going to get there, but by what means and, in all of this, you cannot help but be making a statement about yourself.

Featuring what must surely be ultimate in “have technology, will travel” personal transportation devices, this post looks at personal modes of transport that will not only get you to where you need to be, but will also get you there in inimitable style.

The A-Bike

Invented by none other than Sir Clive Sinclair – who was behind the ZX series of computers in the 80’s and the fabled and much C5 electric trike – the A-Bike is the world’s lightest folding bike, weighing in at just 5.6kgs thanks to its heat treated aluminium and high strength glass fibre reinforced polymer fame.

With the folded frame measuring just 67cm x 30cm x 16cm this really is the ultimate in collapsible bikes.

You can visit the site here.

The Carver One

Technically classed as a car, though actually a cross between a car and a motorbike, the Carver One is powered by a 660cc turbocharged engine that will not only accelerate you to 60mph is just eight seconds but will maintain a top speed of 115mph. Featuring is innovative Dynamic Vehicle Control technology, the Carver One will also tilt its entire body to a maximum of 45 degrees as you take corners just to provide that extra thrill factor.

With its removable hard top, the Carver One is available with a wealth of possible add on accessories, from spoilers to a fully implemented GPS system and is sure to get you noticed as you weave between the rush hour traffic.

You can link to the official site to see a video of the Carver One in action via this link or you can navigate to the front page of the official site here.

Neoteric Hovertrek Personal Hovercraft

Perhaps the ultimate of all terrain vehicles, the hovercraft is as happy on land as it is in water and can transition between to two with ease. I tried to make one at school, but it was nothing like this, and it could barely manage to transport an Action Man (who had nominated himself as the test pilot) from one end of the playground to the other before the school mini but reversed over it.

The Neoteric Hovercraft offers the advantage of being highly manoeuvrable whilst also facilitating transportation to places where both cars and boats would both struggle. Capable of travelling at over 25mph, the Neoteric also features a revolutionary braking system that adds further to its supreme agility.

Available in kit form for you to assemble at your own leisure, the Hovertrek can be purchased with a host of extras including a computerised fly-by-wire system and is available from a very reasonable $15,793.80 for the partly assembled, four seat version.

You can visit the official site here.

The Gen-H4 Personal Helicopter

This personal helicopter from Japan features counter-rotating rotors which resolves the problem of torque resulting from single rotor designs and hence no tail rotor is required. Weighing in at just 75kg, you simply strap yourself into the seat and away you go at speeds of up to 90km/h.

[etv]

Skywalker Personal Jet Pack

Weighing in at only 90 pounds, the prototype of this jet pack can only fly for five minutes but the production version will boast double this flight duration and will have an impressive range of around four miles.

Comprising of eight engines, the final product will also feature an integrated global positioning system that will see you get the beers in with the minimum of fuss.

You can visit the official website here – its rather poor though in my opinion.

The BD-10 Personal Jet Aircraft

Based on the prop powered BD-5, this is perhaps the ultimate in personal transport, the BD-10 Personal Jet boasts an impressive climb rate of over 12,000 feet per minute and can even take off from a standstill start and climb to 10,000 feet is just under sixty seconds courtesy of its jet engine that delivers healthy 19,000lbs of thrust.

An updated version of the model featured in the James Bond movie Octopussy, the BD-10 became the first ever kit aircraft to travel at supersonic speeds though it never managed to break the sound barrier. Only one is known to be flying today as a number of the limited production run suffered from catastrophic failure of the vertical stabiliser and the aircraft is now long since discontinued. It was a trail-blazer for its time, however.

You can visit the site here (again, a little poor).