Snowmobile Chopper

Weather is no obstacle or excuse for the committed motorcyclist--even the extremes of Antarctic weather. That's why Bob Sawicki and Toby Weisser, two mechanics at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, built this chopper-style snowmobile from scraps four years ago:

“This is what McMurdo is throwing away,” Sawicki proudly pointed out to a visitor gawking at the heavy-framed snowmobile. The brake is a bent crowbar, the accelerator handle an old tent pin. Pre-bent pipes found in a waste metal recycle bin worked perfectly in shaping the frame.

“This was all stuff we found in the garbage — or headed to the garbage,” Weisser said.

The two mechanics, who work in the station’s Mechanical Equipment Center (MEC), spent their weeknights and Sundays off constructing the snow machine. They estimate it took about six weeks to build from start to finish, including a week salvaging parts out of recycle bins.

A discarded pickaxe, latched onto the long front forks, serves as an emergency break. So far, they haven’t had to test that feature. The tired motor, Sawicki said, really can’t pull the heavy frame too quickly.

Link and News Story -via Paul Overton | Photo: Peter Rejcek


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