Using giant tires from an old fertilizer spreader and lots of scrap steel, a German cycling enthusiast recently built the world’s heaviest bicycle.

49-year-old Frank Dose, from Schleswig-Holstein, has been working on his two-wheeled behemoth since March, and reckons he has spent around $4,700 putting it together. Was it worth it? Well, he seems to think so, and his wife, Astrid, definitely agrees. “I think his bike is sensational,”she said during an unveiling event, last month. “I am proud and pleased that he has done it.” As of September 3rd, Astrid has an extra reason to be proud of her husband, after his creation set a new world record for the world’s heaviest rideable bicycle.

Photo: RTL video screengrab

Dose’s metal contraption weighs a whopping 1.08 tonnes, making it over 200 kilograms heavier than the previous holder of the world record, an 860-kilogram bicycle built by Jeff Peeters, of Belgium. The tires alone weigh hundreds of kilograms and have a diameter of 1.53 meters. But despite the extreme size and weight of this monster bike, Frank says it is surprisingly easy to ride.

And he actually proved it on September 3rd, when he rode his creation in front of a crowd of 5,000 people, for over 100 meters, to prove that it was actually rideable. The speed was an unimpressive 5km/h, but considering the size of the bike, it’s not too shabby.

And in case you’re wondering why anyone would go through the trouble of building the world’s heaviest bicycle, Dose says he did it because of a dare. He had originally drawn up some plans for a scrap metal bicycle to ride at the Wacken Open Air festival, but after a friend doubted the feasibility of his design, he got working on it just to prove it would work.

Guinness World Records usually take a few months to verify a record attempt, so Dose will have to wait a bit before being acknowledged as a record holder, but he’s happy that it’s now just a matter of time.

Sources: Abend Blatt, RTL Nord