It was an honour to meet the amazing Graham Sykes at the Staffordshire Bike Show, as he proudly presented his latest project bike “Force of Nature” AKA the Steam Rocket Bike.
His hobby, which could be called an unwavering passion, has derived from his extensive engineer background. Although self-taught, he has shared his expertise with some serious players motor racing arena. Being involved with land speed record attempts for himself and others only drives his enthusiasm, to excel even further.
He works with many racing teams on their various projects, one of which is the latest world record attempt streamliner, 52 Express run by Alex MacFadzean, to be ridden by James Tozland, and Roger Gorings Firestorm Jet Funny Car, as well as designing and manufacturing component parts for many of the Jet Cars in the UK. He has been involved with many prestigious projects i.e. the Greek Shipping Authority to develop a Rotor to aid a ships passage and helps conserve fuel, and multi million pound project for Caterpillar Perkins to redesign five test cells for testing their various engines.
Graham said that he, “Wanted to flex his engineering muscles” with his latest project. His ambition is to top 200mph on his steam-powered motorbike. Graham has been building and riding bikes since he was 16, including a V8 engine Drag Bike called ‘The Syko’ on which he holds British Land Speed record.
His inspired vision to develop green energy has been a driving force behind his thinking, saying, “What could be better than water. Using the basic principle of steam power, combined with the latest technology to build a bike that looked like it came out of Nasa.” He’s seen many of the attempts to use steam to go fast, yet he feels the potential of Steam Power had not yet been fully exploited.
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, Graham would like to introduce his Force of Nature, Steam Powered Rocket Bike. Although it’s still in its development and testing stage, it looks like full steam ahead for a record attempt in 2019. He is funding the project himself, but I’m sure he would welcome any investment to speed the project along.
I’ll be follow his progress with interest and will bring you up to date news as it unfolds, but for now check out his facebook video