Robert Maddox is a builder and seller of real pulse jet engines with powers up to 1000 pounds... and if that's not a cool enough hobby, he's also bolted one to a bicycle. The 50-ish pounds of thrust developed by the engine could push the bike up to 75 MPH, which would be a real bone-shaker of a ride. And a deafening one too: the pulse jet engine makes a frightening racket, and its humming sound earned the Second World War cruise-missile V1s that used similar engines the nicknames buzzbomb and doodlebug. You can hear and see the results of this DIY craziness in the video.

Robert's engines run on kerosene, and he apparently builds the largest pulse jets in the world. Strapping even a small one of these roaring monsters to a bicycle sounds like madness, or at least an early start on an application for a Darwin award. At least he gets to be one of the few people in the world who could sing "Bicycle, Bicycle... I want to ride my (jet-engined) bicycle" and mean it. [Autoblog Green via Gizmo Watch]

Contact information for this author is not available.