Fly Hard Trikes SkyCycle
The Fly Hard Trikes SkyCycle was an American ultralight trike, designed by Mike Theeke and produced by Fly Hard Trikes of Wildwood, Georgia. The aircraft was supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft and several hundred were completed and flown. Production ended with the owner's death in 2020.
Design and development
The SkyCycle was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of. The aircraft has a standard empty weight of in its "S" model. It features a cable-braced or optionally a strut-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit with a small cockpit fairing, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its single surface wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its span wing uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar. The powerplant is a twin cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke, single-ignition Rotax 447 engine or the twin-cylinder, in-line, two-stroke Kawasaki 340. With the Kawasaki 340 engine the aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of, giving a useful load of. With full fuel of the payload is.
A number of different wings can be fitted to the basic carriage, including the strut-braced North Wing Maverick III and the Airborne Sting 175.
An electric-powered version was reportedly under development in 2011.
Operational history
The aircraft has won many awards including, 2007 Sun 'n Fun Best Type Trike Ultralight, 2008 Sun 'n Fun Outstanding Weight Shift Ultralight, 2009 Sun 'n Fun Grand Champion and Best Commercial Ultralight, 2010 Sun 'n Fun Best Type Trike Ultralight and Best Commercial Ultralight, 2011 Sun 'n Fun Best Type Trike Ultralight and 2012 Sun 'n Fun Grand Champion.Variants
;SkyCycle S;SkyCycle Firefly