There's a crazy underground community which focuses on the pulse jet, which history buffs may remember as the powerplant of the German Buzzbombs of World War II. As you could probably guess, the buzz name comes from the sound that the engine makes. As you can see in the video seen here, the buzzing bomb jet engine attached to a retro-style bicycle frame is capable of moving along quite nicely. We're not so sure that your neighbors would love you as you fired up your jet-powered bicycle for the morning commute, but with a seventy-five mile per hour top speed, at least you'll get to the office quickly. The builder of this contraption, Robert Maddox, sells engines ranging from just fourteen pounds of thrust all the way to one-thousand pounds of thrust. The one attached to the bicycle seen here is worth between fifty and sixty pounds. Seriously, there's no end to the fun you could have with your very own jet engine...

[Source: Youtube, eBay via The Kneeslider]

A long time ago, there were people experimenting with using pulse jets mounted on the tips of large rotors to make simple helicopters. By the looks of things, the idea just refuses to die, except now, the blades are mounted just inches above the operator's head. Sounds safe, no? Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) is behind the project. That company actually does offer some rocket packs which get strapped onto the adventurous rider's back, so perhaps the company will go all the way with this newfangled design as well.

Blade-mounted rockets apparently allow for the deletion of the normally necessary tail-rotor. According to TAM, the lack of the tail-rotor makes this backpack-mounted helicopter-of-death safer than the more common types you see flying in the sky. Call us crazy, but regardless of how safe the manufacturer is suggesting that his proposed one-man flying-machine may be, we can't see too many people jumping at the idea of strapping rocket fuel to their backs and flying to work. Sure does look fun, though!

[Source: Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana via Engadget]