I am an author and speaker. I teach seminars based on my books. My "brand" is the image of early industrialists and inventors of the industrial revolution. I even wear Victorian Era clothing and carry a wind-up pocket watch. I'd love to ride into venues on a Pennyfarthing.

I don't know how widely known it is, but the first paved road in America was build to accommodate bicycles (when the Pennyfarthing was state of the art).

Here is a picture of me in my stage persona:

I've always wanted one, just out of my bicycle budget. They do make really nice reproduction high wheelers that would suite better if you plan on riding it. The wheelmen have a great website and also the cabe, that deal more with turn of the century bikes. Don't forget to post a picture when you get it.

Do it

I just referenced the Tallbike site, it is gone unfortunately. The owner was in Vietnam and had some interesting prototypes completed. A long list of prospective clients but things were just not getting to the production stage from my observance. He was working on variations of main wheel diameter and some variations of pedal action. I would have just got one into the delivery mode.

Anyone know what happened?

As to getting one, I would attempt to test ride one, the biomechanics of starting and stopping are very different. The threat of going over the top is quite real, braking is more like a controlled deceleration.
It can be done, and of course was done, I have watched riders of them and it would be helmet time for me… maybe even with an attached face guard.

I would go for a bit later in time and one of the early "safety" bikes. Still direct drive, no brakes essentially, solid tires.

I really don't think that is true. That sounds more like that League of American Wheelmen made-up and rewritten history. I think if you research road building... you may find a completely different history.

Although good story telling has rarely depended on accurate information. Since (as I am sure you know) your "Victorian Era clothing".... doesn't fit into what most historians would consider the Industrial Revolution (1760-1850). And barely slips into the broader use of the term (1700-1900).

Maybe "steampunk" would be a better term -- more of an explicit reinterpretation of Victorian era styles and technologies.

Regardless, I'd be interested to hear how you fare on a penny-farthing (or "Ordinary" as you should be calling it ) -- keep us posted!

I've been casually looking for one for quite a while. Everything I've seen so far has either been beat or really expensive.

Don't know your budget, but there's a company that makes fantastic replicas in a few different models and sizes.
Seem to remember you could get a basic model for $1000 or so.


Antique Replicas - Rideable Bicycle Replicas


Steve

LAW did a lot of lobbying for road improvement; however they overstate their role. The US postal service, in their effort to improve rural roads to add mail customers were probably more effective.

Actually in small towns across America.... paved and brick [main] roads were a requirement imposed by the railroads before they would build a depot. As mud streets would not allow for shipments to be picked-up or delivered. The depot would become over-whelmed if some streets weren't paved.

As far as LAW lobbying for road improvement.... not so much. That is a rewrite of actual history.

A good reproduction was called the Boneshaker. I don't know when they were made: 1950-60 i'd guess. If anyone wants one of those, I know where one is parked as lawn art, on Long Island. I haven't bought it from its current owner but could tell you where he lives of you want to know.

Here's a guy I saw a while back - said he got his bike from here: Rideable Bicycle Replicas

Those rideable replicas (previously known as Boneshaker which was a misnomer as a Boneshaker is a different model bike) are absolutely atrocious. If you use it more than a few times a year, they will fall apart. They use mainly wheeled toy parts. They likewise have geometry that does not correspond to the real thing. I owned one that I rode quite a bit and in the end I had to rebuild or replace virtually everything on it. In the end, I finally purchased an old one and what a difference. From tent point onwards, there was no way that I would ever accept to ride the rideable replica/boneshaker.

If you do find an original, please be advised that Repechage's warning of the dangers of riding such a bike are very real. After riding many thousands of miles on my replica and then original, I took a header and broke both elbows, a vertebra, my front teeth... I believe the best place to buy one in North America is at the Copake auction:April 12, 2014 Antique & Classic Bicycle Auction

That was my reaction, as well. Jake von Slatt could use one. The Steampunk Workshop | At the intersection of Romance and Technology.

I don't know anything about them, but Worksman Cycles makes a reproduction high wheeler too.

Antique High Wheel Bikes from Worksman Cycles

I rode a high wheeler once. It was crazy. I found getting on and getting moving was surprisingly easy. Staying upright was easy because of the big, heavy gyroscope. Then I came to the end of the street, a T intersection with a highway. Uh oh. I didn't know how to stop, and I was not prepared to step off the bike backwards. I ditched it to the side and jumped off. I didn't get hurt, but I never tried it again. Read Mark Twain's accounting of him trying to learn. There are many good reasons we don't ride them any more and why the replacement was called a safety bicycle.

i know you're after the interesting and stylish rather than the practical, but you should know that this is a serious undertaking. Try before you buy.

Good feedback here. Thanks. As for the Industrial Revolution, yeah, it is the broader sense to which I refer, because, the greatest period of economic growth in America was between the Civil War and the 1890s (or maybe the end was the depression of 1910). I am aimed precisely at the period when US Steel was founded and P.T. Barnum was building his millions. The rise of Standard Oil, the railroad, and corporations that are still around today. That is the time period reflected in the clothing of choice. It is the late Victorian Era and it carried into the early twentieth century.

In that respect, yes, a "safety bike" might be a better option and more road-worthy in today's world.

I feel you should more accurately portray a man of the era by working twelve hours a day and putting your third dead child in a mass grave because you can't afford proper burials. Or shoes.

Look at the pictures. Same models as here, Probably made by them: Rideable Bicycle Replicas
(by models I mean the people AND the bikes)

Well, my family was quite affluent during that same time period. My father's family came over from Ireland with a lot of money. His mother came from Sweden, also with a lot of money. My father's family lived in Enniskillin Castle for 450 years. His mother's family were famous architects and builders. They built apartments in Chicago and New York.

My family on my mother's side was here from the very beginning (Jamestown on one side, Plymouth on the other). Her family included frontiersmen and farmers, and four US presidents. But, none of my ancestors were shoeless. Many worked long hours, but, that was by choice.

I'll clarify that I understand fully that many people suffered greatly during the great depression. The robber barons of the railroad dynasties and mining companies were often ruthless. Poor people were literally bought and sold. Ben Franklin began his career as an indentured servant to a brother. There was good opportunity in America, too. During Franklin's day, he described the poverty in England and Ireland and wrote that America afforded people a much more comfortable and profitable way of life. A lot depended on when someone arrived in this country and what education and skills they brought with them.

My ancestors were lucky, educated, fairly well-off from the start, and hard workers. I am sure that for many people things were not so rosie. Political considerations aside, the fashions of the day were, indeed, classy.

I would look into what is available overseas. They actually race those things in the UK and Australia and racing does wonders for weeding out the junk. I'm pretty sure they've got shops making modern replicas.

There's a ton of reasons why they're obsolete and none of them involve vanity.

Be careful.

See also: taking a header.

Do you have a pick up truck?

They have the National Championships in northern Tasmania. I took this photo last year.

these appear to be quite safe (....compared to this)


more details and photos

I am familiar with the term. Mountain-bikers refer to the same basic move as a face-plant. Not good, especially on pavement.