On May 19 of this year, Francois Gissy claimed a new land speed world record by reaching 263 km/h (163 mph) on a rocket-powered bicycle. Now the flying Frenchman has gone even faster, hitting a peak speed of 285 km/h (177 mph) in just 6.7 seconds, making it the fastest anyone has ever ridden a bicycle.
The 285 km/h run took place at Interlaken, Switzerland, on October 7 on just 790 m (2,590 ft) worth of usable track. The acceleration phase of the Hublot-sponsored run took 350 m (1,148 ft), with the remainder of the track required for braking.
Gissy was straddling a canister of concentrated liquid hydrogen peroxide that provided the fuel for the rocket on the record attempt, which also saw him do the quarter mile (402 m) in 7.3 seconds. His rocket-powered ride outdoes the 268.8 km/h (167 mph) achieved by Fred Rompelberg slipstreaming behind a dragster in 1995, which if certified, will make it the fastest anyone has ever traveled on a bicycle.
The video below shows the run wasn't always smooth riding, with the vibrations from the rough track causing the rear axle to loosen significantly.
Source: Hublot
