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G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E
MARCH 2017 63
of the Liberty-Trillion line of bikes at the London Bike Show
in February also marked the 25th anniversary of the parent
company, which pursues what Mr Gupta calls an “end-to-end
strategy.”
He sees the new bicycle initiative as an example of that
strategy in action: competitive British manufacturing supported
by an integrated supply chain. “We are producing the steel
from which components can be manufactured,” he told the
Telegraph. “And then taking them all the way to the finished
product.” (“Gupta Puts New Steel in UK Bike Production,” 31
December)
One of the first bicycles to be introduced will be a single-speed
“commuter model” with a frame of steel tubing produced
by Liberty Steel Group – to be followed by aluminium and
composite bicycles and, in time, a high-end carbon-fibre bike
priced at around $12,250. Liberty Engineering Group will
likely be heavily involved in the development of these and
all other models in the range. “This is not a vanity project,”
Mr Gupta told the Telegraph, while also acknowledging a
long-time attachment to the two-wheeler. His first job, in his
pre-Cambridge “gap year” of 1990, was selling Victor bikes,
made by his father’s company.
› Writing in BikeBiz (1 January), Carlton Reid took note of
another Liberty House strategy: Green Steel, produced
by Green Power. The agenda here calls for steel produced in
the UK from UK-sourced materials, promoting a competitive,
low-carbon steel sector based on renewable energy and re-
melted domestic scrap. The effort is in chime with a national
policy of increasing the use of low-carbon energy sources
toward the total phase-out of coal-fired power plants by 2025.
A combination of renewable energy sources in fact enabled
the United Kingdom to hit a significant milestone in the third
quarter of last year. According to the late December release of
figures from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial
Strategy, between July and September 2016 half of the UK’s
electricity was generated by wind and solar farms and nuclear
and wood-fired power plants.
Technology
A ‘crazy DIY project in an Australian
backyard’ has serious military potential as a
joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle
The Trillion Cycles initiative reported above (“In a steel
magnate’s vision”) may have a retro tone, but in fact the
humble bicycle is the inspiration for what New Atlas has called
“a cutting-edge aircraft for the US Army.”
The Australia-based technology blog reported that the US
Department of Defense has tested a military version of the
Malloy Hoverbike – the creation of mechanical engineer Chris
Malloy, of Melbourne – and that Pentagon officials envision
using the “Amazon on the battlefield” for resupply missions.
Having tracked the various iterations of the oversized, electric-
powered, rectangular-shaped quadcopter since Mr Malloy
demonstrated the prototype in 2011, New Atlas (formerly
Gizmag) noted that the latest version is identified in military
jargon as the JTARV (joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle).
But, even to the preparers of the US Army press release, it is
better known as the hoverbike. It hovers; but that is not the
full story of its military potential. (“US Army’s Hoverbike Takes
Flight,” 18 January)
According to Melbourne-based New Atlas reporter Nick
Lavars, the hoverbike in its current form can carry up to 300
pounds. But the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has
expectations of an eventual payload of 800 pounds and a
reach of up to 125 miles. “We’re also looking to integrate
advanced intelligent navigation and mission planning,” said
Tim Vong, the associate chief of ARL (Adelphi, Maryland).
“We’re looking to end up with a modular, stable platform
that can be used for even more dynamic and challenging
missions.”
There are indications that ambitions for the hoverbike are even
more vaulting than that. Mr Lavars noted that, on 10 January,
Department of Defense officials paid the ARL researchers a
visit “to see the JTARV in flight and up close.”
He reported that the researchers are hoping to amplify the
skills set of the hoverbike – “what started as a crazy DIY
project in an Australian backyard six years ago” – by way of a
hybrid propulsion system. That objective could one day see a
modified bicycle flying along at altitudes of thousands of feet
and speeds of 60 miles per hour.
Elsewhere in technology . . .
› For some time, difficulties in imparting its two-dimensional
strength to three-dimensional applications have
prevented graphene from fulfilling its promise as the material
of the future. But now Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) researchers have announced their discovery of how
graphene can be shaped into a sponge-like form that resists
forces ten times greater than steel. As noted by Patrick Lynch
on the architecture website ArchDaily (19 January), the new
accessibility of its lightweight, high-strength properties could
commend graphene for building projects from long-span
bridges to ultra-efficient water filtration systems.
The advance grew out of 3D printing in a polymer of two
similar forms – one thinner and one with thicker walls and