I recently had the opportunity to test fly Fresh-Breeze’s latest entry to the PPG trike market, the Flyke.  Chris and Tammy Bowles of Southern Skies, the US Fresh-Breeze importer were kind enough to allow be to test fly a demo unit.  Chris was also very helpful in providing flying tips and instruction on flying this unique PPG trike.

 What is a “Flyke” anyway?  Well according to Fresh-Breeze, it’s a flying bicycle and that’s just what they delivered with the Flyke.  Not only does it function as a single seat PPG trike, but it is also a fully functional recumbent bicycle.  The Flyke can be pedaled in bike mode with and without the motor attached, and can be propelled by the motor alone.  The factory has tested the Flyke at speeds of up to 40mph!

 Like most recumbent bikes, it has front wheel drive and has 7 different gear settings.  Steering is accomplished via a control arm on the right for the seat.  Push down to go left and pull up to go right.  The braking system consists of both front and rear brakes, with the rear brake lever mounted on the steering control arm and the front lever on the left side of the seat.  The front brakes are a standard caliper activated bicycle system from Shimano, while the rear brakes consist of dual hydraulic brakes, one for each rear wheel, which are very effective.  

The three-wheeled Flyke uses large bicycle type tires, which have a very low drag profile, and the rear wheels are set far apart, minimizing the change of overturning the trike with too sharp a turn at high speeds.  The Flyke is also much longer than a standard PPG trike, with the pilots weight and center of gravity forward of the rear wheels.  Turtling this trike is a near impossible feat.

The Flyke also sports a custom rear suspension that includes a custom carbon-fiber feather board that serves as the rear axle attachment point as well as a shock absorber.  This gives it a solid feel, but plenty of spring for those less than elegant landings.

 Unlike other PPG trikes, there is not a harness to strap into.  The Flyke seat consists of a seat board and reclining seatback.  The seat is heavily padded and very comfortable.  A four-point seatbelt ensures the pilot stays in the seat while flying. Since the pedals for the bicycle are obviously offset (one high, one low), Fresh Breeze has also provided folding foot-pegs to rest your feet on when flying.

The Flyke has a self-articulating system in there is a single pivot point between the front of the trike (front wheel and pilot) and the rear of the trike (rear wheels and motor).  This pivot point is attached to the steering arm, as well as the riser attachment bars.  A system of pivoting bars runs from the riser attachment points to the pivot point, allowing the Flyke to ‘self-steer’ during launch.   The main steering arm can also be set loose (for bicycling) or tight (for flying).  Adjusting a bungee cord attached to the steering arm changes the steering sensitivity.

On take off, if the wing is moving off center to the right, there will be more tension on the left riser and this tension will be transferred to the articulating steering and steer the Flyke to the right.  This is a slick piece of engineering the greatly simplifies trike launching.  

Another nice feature that assists in simplifying launch are launch assist lines.  These are small elastic lines with small clips that are hooked into the quick links of the A risers.  These lines tension the A’s during launch and since they are attached to the riser attachment bars they are also integrated into the self-steering system.  They uniformly tension the A risers at launch and react to inputs from the steering system during launch.  This makes the takeoff more like that of a PPC instead of a PPG.

The Flyke weights around 45 lbs, and a tandem capable motor is recommend.  Either Fresh-Breeze Siminoni or the Fresh-Breeze Monster can be used, and the conversion from Flyke back to a traditional backpack style PPG can be made in minutes.  The Flyke that I test flew was configured with a Fresh-Breeze Monster.

Given that the all-up weight of the Flyke, motor, and fuel will likely be 100lbs more than the pilot weight, a larger wing may be required.  As with most PPG’s, a higher wing loading is recommended.  I test flew the Flyke with a large Silex, although Chris tells me that the factory pilots in Germany are flying them with medium and even small Silexes!

Since you have wheels, the higher landing speed created by flying a heavily loaded wing isn’t a problem and since you have a faster airspeed and a comfortable seat, it makes long cross-country adventures more practical.

For my first flight, Chris Bowles and I took the Flyke over to his PPG field.  We filled the tank with fuel, laid the wing out behind the Flyke and clipped the risers to the attachment points.  Chris had me set the steering mechanism to its tightest setting, and we clipped the launch assist lines into the quick links of the glider’s A risers.  After making sure the Flyke was centered in front of the wing, and the wing centered in the wind, I was ready to fly.

A quick pull of the started and the Monster roared to life.  Strapped in, put the brakes and throttle in my hands and got a thumbs up sign from Chris.  I was ready to go flying.  With the power of the Monster, the wing inflates quickly, so quickly that you need to let up on the power slightly as it moves overhead.  With the Flyke steering itself, my only concern was flying the wing.  Once the wing was overhead, it was back to full throttle and in 10 feet I was off the ground.

I cannot begin to describe how much fun the Flyke is to fly.  I quickly climbed to 500 feet and started some gentle turns that soon turned into a crank-n-bank session.  The Monster provided more than enough power to hold altitude, even during the sharpest turn.  With Silex above and a Monster behind, the Flyke has the perfect combination of speed, agility, and power that motorheads crave for precision flying.

Seated in the comfortable, reclined seat, you get a completely different sensation from flying a foot-launched PPG.  The usual contributing factors to pilot fatigue are reduced through the added comfort of the reclined seat, and having your legs stretched comfortably out in front of you.  Since the engine is mounted so far behind the pilot, engine vibrations are not felt and the noise is reduced.  You immediately get the feel that you could fly this machine for hours at a time. 

Touch and goes are a snap, and since you are using mechanical landing gear instead of biological, flying low downwind isn’t much of a concern.  Fast, downwind touch and goes are blast, and power-on landings are actually recommended.  A bit of power right at touch down helps to smooth your flare, although you can land power-off if you want.

While the incorporation of the bicycle is a novel idea, and well suited to pilots in Europe, I doubt that pilots in the United States will make much use of this feature.  Pilots in Germany are now using the Flyke for bivouacking PPG trips, by carrying camping gear along on cross-country outings.  Having built in ground transportation at your destination is appealing, but can you imagine the looks you would get pedaling into the nearest gas station?

The Flyke is a well made, elegantly engineered trike that is a real joy to fly.  Although its unique looks may cause it to be the brunt of a few jokes at the field, all it takes is one flight to convince any pilot that this is truly a beautiful machine.

To find out more about the Flyke, contact your local Fresh-Breeze dealer, or you can contact Southern Skies for more information.