Video: Cyclist straps jet engine to his bike – and hits 133kph

A cyclist in Taiwan has hit 133kph on his bike – after strapping a jet engine to the back of his bike.

It took the rider, a 37-year-old man named Wang, less than 30 seconds to reach his top speed, reports Taiwan News. Afterwards he said he was “shocked,” and had not expected the bike to go so fast.

With the fuel propelling him contained in a 700ml water bottle and a burn rate of 1.1 litres a minute, perhaps fortunately for the cyclist it ran out before he could go even faster.

The jet engine was one originally intended to be used in a radio-controlled aircraft – something Wang dreamed of owning when he was younger – and he had a custom rack made to secure it to his bike.

It’s quite a sight as he zooms up the road – startling a nearby dog on the way as he gets up to speed.

After the video went viral, police in Tainan warned Wang over potential traffic violations, although apparently the law is unclear on permitted modifications to bicycles.

However, reportedly mindful that he might inspire others to stick a jet engine on the back of a bike, he’s been given seven days to satisfy police that is bike is fully street-legal.

He is said to have researched how to go about building his jet-powered bike by studying videos online – and we imagine as part of that, he’ll have come across madcap British inventor Colin Furze and his converted Raleigh Shopper, which is now getting on for 40 million views on YouTube.

> Video: Jet-powered Raleigh shopper

While 133kph is certainly fast, it was less than two weeks ago that Adam Blythe claimed to have beat that on a bike without a jetpack strapped to it by hitting 136kph according to his SRM head unit... wonder what Wang's contraption could get up to on a descent?