Touring on a Penny Farthing?
 

I know this guy went around the world on one.. maybe the second and only person ever to do it besides a guy in the 1800's..?

https://www.instagram.com/joff_summerfield/?hl=en

Anyone ever toured short or long distances on one?

I recently quoted to a Railroad cycling disaster thread on the Advocacy & Safety Forum:My only personal experience with one of those contraptions was: :mad:

I don't think any regular poster on here has. There is a famous journal on CGOAB of a guy who was touring on one in Mexico. He got robbed in the middle of nowhere and thought he was going to get murdered. The dudes stole his gear but not the bike, presumably because they had no idea how to ride it. Terrifying story. Didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of Mexico though.

I think touring on a penny farthing is cool in that kind of live outside the box way, but it doesn't appeal to me. I've heard that the tires are a big drawback as there are no pneumatic tires available in that size, so you're just riding on solid rubber. No bueno over long distances and/or bad roads.

People today may tour on a penny-farthing but Thomas Stevens back in the 1880s didn't, he toured on a bicycle. The clue is in the title of his book 'Around the World on a Bicycle'.

Was that a joke, or are you unaware that what we now call a "penny-farthing" was just... a "bicycle" back then? ;)

A former poster to C&V liked to tour and do RAGBRAIs on one. Can't remember his handle now. :thumb:

"Just a bicycle" ?

It was the bicycle of that era. Call it a 'high-wheeler' if you will but to Thomas Stevens it was a 'bicycle'.

This is no joking matter :notamused:

Heh, I get your drift now. :thumb:

looks like painful touring, similar to pogo stick

so Mr FF, where you live, have you ever seen a Penny Farthing?
Have you ever seen one being ridden?

Dont know about you, but I figure Ive seen more shooting stars or lightning strikes than a Penny Farthing.

It's often said that you can go touring on any bike. I reckon that includes penny farthings.

Not that I'd recommend a penny farthing. That's mostly a stunt, IMHO, and unless you really enjoy riding one, I'd suggest riding something more modern.

Oh, and somebody hit the news in the last couple years for doing a cross-country ride on a unicycle. Obviously it can be done, since somebody did it. I wouldn't recommend that, either.

Heres a pic of one used for touring I spotted mention of in a local Australian forum.

https://www.pbase.com/canyonlands/image/59771333

That's Joff who's back touring again on his penny currently doing the NC500 in Scotland.
There's a few guys in our club who have their own penny farthing but they mainly use them for racing.
They don't climb hills well and as I've never ridden one with brakes, they are terrifying on downhills.
If you were hoping to attract lots of attention for a fundraising and you're a masochist then go for it.
A good Penny Farthing isn't cheap though and prices are between $3000 - $6000 AUD.
https://www.pennyfarthingdan.com.au/...penny-farthing
https://www.facebook.com/johnkitchenbicycles/

If you are looking for a dangerous uncomfortable challenge, the coolness factor is high and I actually considered it at one time. There is a reason they were phased out though. There is a reason they and other designs of the time were called bone shakers. There is also a reason their replacement was called the "safety bicycle". Going over the bars on one would be really ugly. The ride with a solid tire would be brutal even mitigated a bit with the large diameter wheel.

I bet they are a huge attention getter. I'd imagine everyone wants to talk to you when you are touring on one.

I've seen the pith helmet guy on the net for a while now, but let's face it, the bicycles themselves are rarer than hen's teeth, and having ridden one, I can attest to it being terrifying on downhills.
I'm up to challenges and some risks, but touring on one, let alone just riding one on varying terrain, is pretty damn mad.

GCN makes fun of one of their contributors after he rode Penny Farthing at some indoor event and then squealed like an injured puppy because his 'ball area' hurt like hell. They show the clip once in a while. After I saw this I took a note and committed it to my memory bank :-)

I think this is the video:

A few years ago there were two penny farthings in the Bristol 4th of July Parade. They certainly are attention getters and were highly popular with the crowd.

first , he was riding "balls out" for an hour (thats a real expression, it means really going for it), but most importantly, the seat apparently broke part way and so was not ideal for the poor guys undercarriage....

This seldom comes up on various cycling boards without argumentative posts opining 'they're just bicycles', 'they're called high wheelers', 'most folks know them as penny-farthings' or 'the proper term is ordinary'. Whatever.

Interestingly, there seems to be some snobbery on the part of some cyclers who ride original machines towards those who ride modern built high wheelers/penny-farthings/ordinaries. Nothing like taking a tiny demographic and splintering it.

Modern reproductions come out of Bolwell's in Australia, Mesicek in the Czech Republic, RBR in California, Richards in England and Standard in Sweden. UDC offers a relatively modest priced modern interpretation in their MK4:

I dunno. Kinda looks fun:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a32266904b.jpg

There's a cat in Europe who's ridden L'Eroica events on one.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9c55bbea8f.png

When there wasn't a two-wheel alternative (1870s to mid-1880s) they were known as bicycles then at the end of the 1880s with the introduction of the 'safety' they were known as 'ordinaries' to distinguish them from their more diminutive cousins. The term 'penny-farthing' didn't come into vogue until the 1890s.

"If genuine comfort is desired nothing can beat the tricycle. If the roads are stony, rutty and hilly. perhaps the Safety, though more liable to get out of order, it is the best, and for short tours by daylight, on fairly level roads, many prefer the Ordinary"
From the 'The Art & Pastime of Cycling'

.https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c219bf5306.jpg

There's someone in the local area who rides one down along the local beach bikepaths, especially on summer weekends. Looks like it has a 4 ft diameter wheel, not one of those bigger ones. I know they make 'em with 36" wheels (a shop in Berkeley or Oakland, California), but never had a chance to ride on myself. They look like a fun novelty, but not too practical for touring

I suppose I'm lucky enough to have seen many Penny Farthings. thewheelmen.org held their annual meet here in eastern Pennsylvania (Westchester,PA) a couple of years ago. I was on the Schuylkill River Trail on their tour day. I saw some awesome bikes. All of them made prior to 1933. Down into Philly, around Fairmont Park and back to Valley Forge I easily saw 15 to 20 Ordinaries. Lost count due to seeing some more than once. When talking to a few of them I learned that "80% of them were original" and most of them were riding 50 mile routes or a full 100. Pretty impressive. Even kids on small ones. They have national club meets somewhere in the country each year.

I rode a bit with one older gentleman on a "safety bicycle" and asked how old his bike was. "My father bought this bike in 1907." He was on the 50 mile route with his daughter.

Yeah, it really does. I confess to still harboring an interest that I continue to resist. It is kind of tempting to think about buying a replica like the UDC.

As far as touring on one goes. Shipping one to and from a tour location seems like it would present some extra challenges given the large box size. Wheel size is determined by rider inseam so I'd probably be on a 48" wheel. That would mean that the box would likely be 105-110" (l+h+w). My ultralight backpacking gear would on one hand seem incongruent with it and on the other be perfect for ease of carrying.

Fun fact: All two- and three-wheel pedal cycles were referred to as 'velocipedes' at the US patent office from the 1860s until well into the 1920s.