{"id":163617,"date":"2018-02-21T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=163617"},"modified":"2018-02-21T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T14:02:09","slug":"bizarre-vintage-cycling-experiment-meet-richters-rocket-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/21\/bizarre-vintage-cycling-experiment-meet-richters-rocket-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarre Vintage Cycling Experiment: Meet Richter\u2019s Rocket Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>While motor-propelled bicycles are nothing unusual these days, our predecessors had a bit more radical approach to the idea than just adding a small battery. Hence, meet the Raketenrad. An old-school steel frame, virtually non-existent brakes and twelve black powder solid fuel rockets. Herr Richter\u2019s idea of a properly powered bicycle.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-163617 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-5.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"547\" height=\"379\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-5.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-5.webp 547w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-5-300x208.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-1.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-1.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-1.webp 640w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-1-300x225.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Of course it wasn\u2019t designed for the German engineer\u2019s daily commute, it was supposed to reach the highest speed possible. And on 24th March 1931, it reportedly did 55 miles per hour on the Avus race track in Berlin. For a very brief moment, we should say, as Richter lost control of the bike and was thrown down to the ground as a result. Luckily, he escaped unscathed and ended up in a track-side ditch. He then mustered up the courage to come back to the potentially explosive bike to check what was wrong, as you can see below.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-163618\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/rocket-bicycles-ca-1930s-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"547\" height=\"189\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there are no records of what happened to the Raketenrad afterwards or if Herr Richter tried another ride. However, he definitely wasn\u2019t the last one who tried to fit rockets to a bicycle. Just watch the insane ride from November 2014 done by Francois Gissy who set a world record of 207 miles per hour on a hydrogen peroxide fuelled rocket bike. He even raced against a Ferrari and won! And yes, we know, the Ferrari weighs a lot more than his bike. But as one of the YouTube commenters mentioned, if you consider the weight of Francois\u2019 testicles, we reckon it\u2019s almost even.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Fran\u00e7ois Gissy  Bicycle World Record 207 mph   333 km\/h\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WREyAicJXkM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While motor-propelled bicycles are nothing unusual these days, our predecessors had a bit more radical approach to the idea than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":163621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[1745,1744,1743],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-163617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-francois-gissy","tag-herr-richter","tag-raketenrad"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - 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