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A locally made bicycle measuring 41.9 metres and carrying 20 passengers will this Saturday (17 January 2015) attempt to ride its way into the Guinness Book of Records and become the world’s longest bicycle.

The attempt will take place on Rundle Road, Adelaide CBD (between East Terrace and Dequetteville Terrace) at 10 am.
The bike will have to travel 100 metres unaided to officially break the current world record which stands at 35.79 metres, set in the Netherlands in August 2011.

Santos Group Executive for Public Affairs Damon Hunt said the bike design and construction was a collaboration between Santos and the University of South Australia, and the culmination of nine months of development and planning.

“The Santos Tour Down Under is already an award winning event,” he said. “For 2015 we wanted to try something new that was not only fun but added another element of interest for race spectators.”

Constructing a fully working bicycle longer than three buses is an ambitious engineering project. The design of the bike became a class project for second year mechanical engineering students from the University of South Australia, whose faculty of Engineering and Technology is ranked in the World Top 100.

The students were broken into teams and were required to submit their projects for assessment in mid-September. A combination of their final designs is reflected in what has been built.

Santos engineers also visited the students during the design and construction process.
“The Santos – University of South Australia Big Bike Challenge has been a great success for us on so many levels,” said David Lloyd, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia.

“Aside from the project itself being great fun, the industry collaboration with Santos has been invaluable. It has allowed our engineering students to engage with both experienced and graduate engineers from Santos, gaining hands-on experience of their own on a client project, while working on a record-breaking challenge.”

Spectators are welcome to attend the world record challenge and to cheer on the riders.

The Big Bike will be on public display in Victoria Square as part of the Tour Village for the duration of the Santos Tour Down Under. It is then planned to be put on display at the University of South Australia at Mawson Lakes.