Video: Frenchman rides rocket bike to 263km/h

Video: Frenchman rides rocket bike to 263km/h

Speed still shy of Fred Rompelberg's world record speed on a bike

Published: May 21, 2013 at 12:30 pm

François Gissy piloted a home-made rocket-powered bike to 263km/h on a disused air force runway on Sunday.

Gissy developed the bike with help from Swiss company Exotic Thermo Engineering who made the hydrogen peroxide powered propulsion unit. Speed was measured with a GPS unit on the hydrogen peroxide powered mountain bike, reported French news agency AFP.

In the understandably short video, Gissy holds on for dear life as the rocket powered bike – blasts past a car on the runway.

François gissy goes ballistic

The unverified 263km/h (163mph) – other sources suggest lower speeds of 180km/h and 163km/h – would still shy of the 268km/h achieved by Fred Rompelberg, who was motor-paced to the absolute bike speed world record in 1995 on salt flats in Utah, America.