Remember those pedal-pushed toy cars you used to ride as a kid? The Big Dog is similar to that. Except for the fact that it’s so big you need four people’s worth of leg power to comfortably turn the gears.
Designed and built by Tom Wilson of Thirsty Beach Landscaping, it’s technically a quadracycle, although we can understand people referring to it as a monster truck. At its size, it’s more suited to running down an entire rack full of parked bicycles, after all, than cruising down the park every morning.
The Big Dog measures 11.3 feet long, 6.3 inches wide and 8.5 feet tall, making it a gargantuan piece of vehicle. Despite the imposing dimensions, the 490-lb weight and the menacing name, it’s actually rather friendly-looking. With that photo of Wilson’s family cheerily pedaling on it, in fact, the four-wheeled behemoth won’t look out of place side by side with unicorns and double rainbows. Okay, maybe, just a little.
Body is built out of 4130 chrome-moly steel tubes, chrome-moly steel plate and various recycled bike parts. It uses brakes, axles and rear hubs fleshed out of go-karts, with spindles and rims out of golf karts. For the large outer rims of the wheels, they used a drainage pipe, connected with spokes. Oh yeah, all four seats on top are made from repurposed lawn chairs.
You can read more about how Tom built the Big Dog from their website, complete with pictures and detailed renders every step of the way. Check out the video below to see it in action.
[Thirsty Beach Landscaping via Make]