“Capture the imagination of young people“, that was always the intention of Mike Pringlewhen creating this “The Flying Pigeon” (the flying pigeon), a flying motorcycle loaded with details that leaves no one indifferent, but that undoubtedly houses a wealth of passion and fantasy in its design.
We have met her thanks to the colleagues at MCN who also publish an extensive interview with Pringle. At 62 years of age, he has spent his entire life linked to the world of two wheels. Furthermore, he always dreamed of building his own motorcycle, but not just any one. Rather an artifact loaded with imagination and truly bizarre ideas.
If we add to all this the fact that Mike had written a book where he already stated what for him should be the strangest motorcycle we had ever seen, we can deduce why he finally decided to carry out this incredible project that he recently presented. Devitt MCN London Motorcycle Show.
The Flying Pigeon in detail
The curious thing about the matter is that the Flying Pigeon It had been built for almost two decades and occupied a corner of Mike's garage, where it shared space with other motorcycles by the versatile British illustrator.
But like everything in life, everything has its moment and now is when “The Flying Pigeon” has received recognition and affection from the public. And not precisely because of its efficiency, since this is not usable at the moment. Although the engine of the Royal Enfield Bullet that he used as the basis of the project does start, it is evident that it does not fly and cannot be piloted normally.
Mike comments about this project: “I had the idea of this character called Norton Rucksack. He wants to take part in a race across India and decides to build a machine that can tackle all the different terrain he can encounter, including flying across the Himalayas at the end.”
After creating this fictional character and finishing the book in which he was the protagonist, Mike began to shape the Flying Pigeon. For this he used a damaged Bullet, from which he took advantage of the chassis, engine and front part. However, the first element that he installed on his long-awaited flying motorcycle was the control panel that is fitted into the upper part of the tank.
Mike comments: “The strange thing was, when I started building it, I went into a completely different mode, as I was building something that didn't exist. Actually, having something that didn't exist right in front of you that you could physically do things with became more and more fascinating. I ended up building the whole damn thing!”
The rear wheels, coming from a moped, are driven by a track system taken from some agricultural equipment. But if this seems strange to you, take a look at the tail made up of the wing of an airplane, or the rest of the gadgets that were added to this movie motorcycle worthy of being in some production like the Wizard of Oz or similar.
An old telephone, a teapot or a plastic pigeon installed on its propellers are also part of this crazy mechanical monstrosity. Allen Millyard, the British engineer who single-handedly manufactured a motorcycle with a V10 Dodge Viper engine and 500 HP, spoke about this beautiful story and the Flying Pigeon.
“It's a fantastic looking machine. Wouldn't it be great if you could make it fly? It reminded me of that TV show a couple of years ago with David Walliams when he built a flying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and it ended up being a bit like a drone.”
Concludes: “I don't know what you would have to do to make the pigeon fly, as I didn't have time to see it in person at the London Show, but I think it would be wonderful to be able to see it. See it powering its own caterpillar as the rotor spins. He would definitely capture the imagination of young people, which is exactly what he was designed to do.”
