Meet Kleine Johanna, the World’s Heaviest Rideable Bicycle



Kleine Johanna — a 4,800-pound behemoth built almost entirely out of scrap metal — was recently acknowledged as the heaviest rideable bicycle in the world by the Record Institute for Germany, a national version of the Guinness Book of Records. This unique contraption measures over 16 feet in length and is almost 7 feet tall. That’s more than most sedans, so how on earth is anybody supposed to get in motion with pedal power alone? According to its owner, Sebastian Beutler, it’s all thanks to the truck gearbox adapted to enhance the classic bicycle gear system. Kleine Johnanna has 35 forward gears and 7 reverse gears and not only can it be pedaled into motion by a single person, but it can also tow up to 15 tons, without any problem. Sebastian has been creating scrap metal vehicles for a long time, beginning with a bicycle he built out of scrap when he was just a kid. The hobby became more of a passion over the past decade. Sebastian estimates that he has put in around 2,500 hours over 3 years on Kleine Johanna. The bonus is that the monster bicycle even has a built-in engine for powering the alternator that charges his cellphone. In terms of speed, the machine isn’t going to impress anyone. Though he didn’t divulge its top speed, he did say that he plans to ride to the Baltic Sea for vacation this summer, a 241-mile ride that he estimates will take him about a month to complete.