Kids, Don't Try This at Home

Yes, that is a bike with a rocket on its rear. No, you shouldn't try to build one of these yourself, unless of course you actually happen to be a rocket scientist. Tim Pickens, who not only is a rocket scientist, but is president of his own rocket design firm, built a 200-pound-thrust rocket engine that attaches to a bicycle for a mere $750 and lots and lots of work. The rocket blasted his bike from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5 seconds - as fast as a Porsche. According to Popular Science, "the rocket bike employs the same hybrid rocket technology as the suborbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, whose propulsion system Pickens helped design. In place of synthetic rubber fuel, however, the bike uses ordinary roofing tar. To ignite it, Pickens placed a model-rocket motor inside the engine. A button on the handlebar fires the model-rocket motor, which in turn sets off Pickens's larger motor by lighting the roofing-tar fuel. His next project is to build a company car: a pickup truck with a removable 2,000-pound-thrust rocket strapped into the bed." We all can see where this is headed, and let's just say it isn't pretty; no, not when your helmet has melted around your head.