Rocket Bike Sets Land Speed Record -- and Uses a Fuel You Wouldn't Expect

Cyclist Francois Gissy recently set a new land speed world record, hitting 263 kilometres per hour (163 mph) on a rocket bike.

What exactly is a rocket bike? In short, it's a bike that uses a hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket engine.

Francois Gissy taks off on a rocket-powered bike to set a new land speed record. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

The bike was built by Gissy with the propulsion part being developed by Swiss engineer Arnold Neracher who owns Exotic Thermo Engineering, DNA.fr reported.

Gizmodo has more on how such an engine works:

Concentrated liquid hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)—about 90-percent concentrate, compared to the 3-percent stuff sold in drug stores—is fed from a storage tank into secondary chamber filled with a catalyst, typically silver. This causes the chemical bonds to break down and the hydrogen peroxide to decompose into heat, water (H2O) in the form of 650 degree F steam, and oxygen (O). The steam is then forced through a rocket nozzle to provide thrust.

Watch the new record for rocket-powered bikes being set in this video (Note: Skip to 0:55 to see the bike get going):

Here's the run at another angle:

Gizmodo also pointed out that Gissy was only 5 KPH off from beating a 1995 speed record for overall powered bike.

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