Rocket Powered Cyclist Sets Speed Record At 263kmh

Speed records come in various guises. This includes speed records set on a bicycle. But when you need to achieve speeds that are faster than what most motorcycles can reach then you need to rely on something with a little more horsepower than our humble legs.

Frenchman François Gissy went on such an endeavour earlier this week and set a new world speed record on his rocket powered bicycle. The rocket was made by Swiss company Exotic Thermo Engineering and was powered by compressed hydrogen peroxide.

Gissy broke the previous speed record of 242.6 km/h by reaching 263km/h. The successful attempt was made in an old aerodrome in eastern France. You get a true sense of the speed when you see him shoot past a speeding car. Three videos of the rocket powered cycle are in the gallery below.