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Designed in Waikato, New Zealand. The SL3 promises an exciting new era in water sports.

Manta5 Hydrofoil Bikes are sold exclusively via authorised resellers. Contact your nearest reseller for model prices and demo opportunities.

Our Story

Hydrofoil Bike, from a dream to reality.

Manta5 exists because of cycling enthusiast and water lover Guy Howard-Willis. A tinkerer and entrepreneur at heart, Guy’s passion for the outdoors led him to co-found New Zealand’s largest multi-sport retailer Torpedo7. After a successful sale of Torpedo7 Guy leapt right into his next venture – to create new world sport.

The hydrofoiling bike concept literally came to Guy’s mind in a dream – a dream where he pushed off from his holiday home jetty and rode a bicycle-type product that brought him the same feeling and freedom as his road bike. He cruised out into the bay before being greeted by a pod of dolphins which swam alongside him as he rode.

He woke up but the dream stuck with him and he started the Manta5 journey. The original design brief presented no easy feat. Just as a high-performance bicycle, Guy envisioned a concept that was lightweight, fast, agile, easy to transport and assemble. On top of this, there was no settling for any bulky buoyancy or hulls.

How it has changed the world

It took the best part of 5 years to test various concepts and designs, and in the end it was only hydrofoil technology that offered the intuitive experience of cycling on the water.

Manta5’s profile exploded internationally when the then concept ‘Proto6’ won Gold in the Concept Category at the local New Zealand Design Awards. The video submission was picked up from media companies the world over, including Redbull, DesignBoom, New Atlas and Tech Insider. With and 400 million views on social media overwhelming interest in the concept it was time to commercialise.

A destination employer with an exciting product roadmap

At the bottom of the world, surrounded by epic coastlines, world renown boat builders, and the home of the America’s Cup, Manta5 is lucky to have passionate individuals join us from across the country and beyond.

What started as a tinkerer building bizarre looking creations in a garage has become a specialist product development lab with industry leading fluid dynamic design tools, in house mechanical and electrical development teams, capable of extracting more and more performance from our products.

70% of the worlds surface is now open for cycling

Today, Manta5 owes its success to Guy’s obsessive vision to replicate the genuine cycling experience on water. Consider the diversification and unique experiences of bicycles on land. The tipping point towards a worldwide sport in the human power foil bikes, and a worldwide motorsport via the electric foil bikes are just around the corner.

As often happens over a long journey, the vision to replicate and the team’s pursuit has taken us somewhere unexpected. Manta5 has surpassed the goal of replicating the authentic cycling experience on water and now, foil biking should be considered the finest cycling experience – elevated by water.