Bike Friday’s Air Show

Gail gave a couple of Bike Fridays a test spin around the Tarmac at the Independence Fly-In and Van’s Homecoming. She loved the Silk so much she didn’t want to let it go.

By RAZ

Denny Fuhrman looked out across the tarmac at the Independence Airport, splattered with a decent number of airplanes and declared that was only a nibble of what’s to come.

“This will be packed with planes,” Fuhrman said in the wee hours of the morning as cooks began preparing flapjacks for the pancake breakfast at the Independence Fly-In and Van’s Homecoming. “Just wait.”

Sure enough. One by one,  small planes descended upon Independence, Oregon, under clear skies and a bright morning sun.

Most of them were Van’s kit planes. Usually hand-built by the pilot at the controls.

This is an RV4, a typical example of the Van’s kit planes.

“They take about 2000 hours to build,” Fuhrman said, “and usually cost around $70,000 — or more — by the time they are finished.”

Van’s has been a great promoter of Bike Fridays over the years, and has one on display at their facility.

Eventually a pilot came to the booth and wanted physical proof that the 2014 Pocket Companion could fit into the storage area of his RV4.

 

The challenge is to fit the Bike Friday in the compartment behind the rear seat of the RV4.

I’ll be honest. The owner of the plane pulled the seat back, looked at the folded Companion and shook his head.

The pressure was on. But …

Viola. It fits! Still room for a helmet and some other extras.

 

 

 

 

 

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5 thoughts on “Bike Friday’s Air Show

  1. Jochen Gollnick

    Dear BIKEFRIDAY owner, when I worked as a Lufthansa Captain until 1999, my BIKE FRIDAY
    (#819) travelled with me on the flightdeck many times. Now I see that there is some space for those lovely bikes on all kinds of airplanes, congratulations!

    Reply
  2. Bruce Swayze

    I was there, and I saw this demo! It prompted me to take a spin on a couple of these bikes, too. An amazing experience, I must say. I didn’t want to get off of it. I’m definitely planning on one or two of these for my RV-7A when I get it finished. 🙂

    Reply

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