About
Colin Furze is an English YouTube vlogger who creates engineering videos in which he builds and improves upon machines. He is best known for a viral video featuring a jet powered bike he created and dubbed the “most dangerous unsafe bike.”
Online History
Colin Furze, a plumber and inventor from Stamford, England, created his self titled YouTube channel[2] on November, 15th, 2006. He uploaded his first video on February 5th, 2007, which features Furze dressed as Mr. Blobby, a character from the British television show Noel’s House Party, jumping onto a row of shopping carts a worker was leading through a parking lot. As of June 2014, the video has gained over 72,000 views.
As of June 2014, the channel’s most viewed video is titled “The JET Bicycle – The most dangerous unsafe bike EVER,” which was uploaded on June 6th, 2013. The video features Furze riding a bicycle which he outfitted with two flame throwing jets, which allowed it to gain speeds of 50 mph. The video was covered by many websites including The Telegraph[4], The Daily Mail[5] and The Huffington Post UK.[6] As of June 2014, the video has gained over 6.2 million views.
On April 15th, 2014, Furze announced (below, left) that he would be uploading a series of videos in May in which he created inventions to mimic some of the powers of the X-Men characters from the Marvel universe. On May 15th, he uploaded his first video in the series titled “DIY X-MEN Making WOLVERINESCLAWS,” (below, right) which shows how he created retractable metal claws. As of June 2014, the video has gained over 470,000 views.
Over the course of the month Furze uploaded seven videos, including three X-Men projects (Wolverine claws, Pyro flame throwers, and Magnito ceiling shoes) and four behind the scenes prep-videos. As of June 2014, the most watched video in the series is titled “DIY X-MENWOLVERINE fully automatic claws,” (below, left) which was uploaded on May 15th, and has gained over 4.6 million views. The second highest viewed video is titled “DIY X-MENMAGNETO walking upside down with magnetic shoes,” which was uploaded on May 22nd, 2014, and has gained over 1.4 million views.
The series was covered by several websites including Metro[7], The Huffington Post[8] and TechCrunch.[9]
Reputations
As of June 2014, Furze’s YouTube Channel[2] has over 440,000 subscribers. His official Twitter account[1] has over 2,000 followers and his Facebook page[3] has gained over 10,000 likes.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Twitter – colin_furze
[2]Youtube- colinfurze
[3]Facebook- Colin Furze
[4]Telegraph- British man creates jet-powered bicycle
[5]Daily Mail- Is this the world’s most dangerous bicycle? Inventor powers bike with JETENGINE to reach speeds of 50mph
[6]The Huffington Post- Brit Colin Furze Builds Jet-Powered Bicycle
[7]Metro- Mad genius creates fully functioning Wolverine claws
[8]The Huffington Post- ‘Magneto Shoes’ Let Colin Furze Walk On The Ceiling Just Like The ‘X-Men’ Villain
[9]Tech Crunch- Our New Favorite Mad Scientist Builds A Terrifying Wrist-Mounted Flame Thrower In His Garage