WDEF News 12

Brian Duncan calls himself a hobbyist.  "I started out just building chopper bicycles for fun. I work in a hot rod shop with a lot of vintage and antique motorcycles around," he explains.

Now his hobby is a profitable venture.  "One day I got the notion to take one of my bikes that people have loved and put a motor on it," he adds.  "It happened at the same time the gas prices spiked so it worked out good for me."

He discovered the Hoyt's Hellcat. Hoyt was Duncan's great uncle- a fighter pilot during World War II. The Hellcat is a chopper style bicycle that's motorized with a gas tank.  "It gets about 150 miles to the gallon," says Duncan.

That means Duncan only pays about a dollar seventy-two a week for the eight mile trip to and from work.

Rita Miller is fed up with high gas prices.  "I think I'm going to have to get myself a bicycle because these gas prices are really, really out of control," she says.

But with a two horsepower motor, peddling is only needed to get the bike going.  "Once you get it up to about walking speed you can let the clutch out and take off like a motorcycle," he adds.

Up to 30 miles per hour. That means he can keep up with traffic on local roads... Where he turns a lot of heads.  "I'm sort of a hero saving gas and going green. Most people wave. At a stop-light somebody will come up and take pictures."

The Hoyt's Hellcat isn't available to everyone just yet. But as early as this fall you may be able to get one for yourself.

"I'm talking with a local machinist and what we'd like to do is to build the frame for it," Duncan explains.  "A kit specifically designed for a motor bicyclist to buy that kit and build their own motor bike out of."

Duncan says he can make it to work even faster on the Hellcat than in his truck.