The Honda Metropolitan is the bread and butter of the scootering world. With its 49cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke engine and weighing in at 170lb it can zip around town at 40mph. This might be enough for the run of the mill art student, but a real man needs a Metropolitan with a little kick. Not that kind of kick! I’m talking about a little speed upgrade.

Ron Patrick designed this little beauty for his wife. Those are JFS 100 jet engines, yes thats correct jet engines. Each weighs in at about 50lb (without fuel), put out 80lb of thrust and cost between $4,500 – $6,500 or about 2 – 3 times the cost of the scooter. That means the whole contraption weighs over half as much as the scooter, costs 4x more than the scooter, and puts out a hell of a lot of forward thrust.

So just how much do these babies add to the speed of the spunky Metropolitan? Well according to Ron Patrick each one should increase the speed by about 20mph (adjusted for the weight of the engines) putting the top speed of this lovely home-brew scooter at 80mph. That might not seem fast, but consider that unlike motorcycles, scooters are not built to go 80mph. Flying down the street at 80mph on a scooter is like riding a skateboard behind a car, you feel every bump, wind batters your eyes shut, and it is the damnedest you can do to even stay in control.

I want one of these rocket scooters!