A Canadian man is looking to be the first human to bike from the South Pole to the Antarctic coast.
Hank Van Weelden, 50, has build a custom quad-cycle fat bike dubbed an “Antarctic assault vehicle.” The Edmonton native has spent $17,000 to build the monster bike to crush the 750 miles of ice and snow between the South Pole and the Antarctic coast.
Other expeditions have biked from the coast to the pole but Van Weelden’s will be a first.
Van Weelden told gearjunkie.com that he began sketching some concepts and worked with custom bike-builder Davis Carver, owner of Carver Bikes in Woolwich, Maine to build the one of a kind bicycle.
“Van Weelden and Carver devised a monster. A titanium frame holds down four—count ’em, four—5.5″-wide wheels, two in front and two in rear. That mammoth paw print provides massive float along the polar terrain.
The real engineering genius lies in the drivetrain, though. An 18-speed internal hub with Pinion transfer case gives Van Weelden “more range than mountain bikers with a triple chainring.” – gearjunkie.com
Hank will also be bringing with him a Southern Hemisphere compass, a rigid tow bar, and a Norwegian-built carbon fiber sled to tow everything else he will need to stay alive on the White Continent.
Van Weelden is set to begin his Antarctic bike trip on December 18th. Track his progress on Facebook and MapShare.