Penny-farthings

David Damerell <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent manufacturers -
Google suggests some people still make them, but are they any good?

i saw a modern one the other day, it was quite interesting.

the front wheel was only about 48" high.

had a front caliper brake.

nice fat pneumatic tires.

freewheeling pedals.

possibly even a planetary transmission though i cannot be sure of that.

unfortunately i didn;t find out who made it.

wle.

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if
any r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent
manufacturers - Google suggests some people still make them, but are
they any good?

No.

Consider that most bicycling on the level is done in a gear above 85
inches (the way gears were measured in respect to these bicycles)
which means a wheel diameter of 85 inches. A 52-13 for instance is a
108 inch gear for comparison. Your inseam minus about 2 inches times
two is the largest wheel radius you can ride. That's about a 62 inch
high wheeled bicycle. You'll need to do a lot of spinning.

On top of that, you can't stop worth a damn because rider CG is close
to vertically above the ground contact point of the wheel, so forward
dismounts are a skill to master. Even if you never stop fast, a
broken spoke will take care of that for you. This is why John Starley
invented cross laced spoking, so he could "tie and solder" spoke
crossings to prevent endo's when one broke. Of course bike shops
didn't like that the chain driven bicycle made their spoke tying
useless, so they convinced more than two generations of riders that
tying and soldering spoke crossings made stronger wheels, just as
steel frames get soft and tires needed to be bought in winter to be
aged for the summer.

They are nice to view in museums but don't ride them. They have solid
tires and the rider sits directly in line with road shock on no
cushioning. The riders crotch must be as close to the wheel as
possible to get a reasonably large gear. You can imagine who won
races in those days. They were pretty tall.

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent manufacturers -
Google suggests some people still make them, but are they any good?

Dear David,

If you haven't already tried a penny-farthing, you might try to find
one for rent and take it for a spin first.

A Seattle friend saw a penny-farthing for hourly rental on a
California visit and tried it on a long level path for a mile or two.
He said that it was interesting, but he felt no urge to buy one or
rent it again.

I sometimes see a pink-frame penny-farthing wobbling briskly around my
neighborhood, pedalled a determined-looking young woman, but she
sticks exclusively to a quiet, level, gently curving street that runs
over a mile without crossing any dip in the road or stop sign

As Jobst points out in his post (and you probably know) braking,
handling, and gearing are the most obvious drawbacks. Like a Model T,
the penny-farthing is limited, but can be fun for a few minutes.

If you do get a penny-farthing, the tale of an attempt to commute to
work would put the fixed-gear stories on rec.bicycles.tech in the
shade.

This site is for antique enthusiasts, but the links page suggests some
modern penny-farthing sites that might tell you more about how good
the modern versions are:

http://www.thewheelmen.org/sections/links/links.asp

Good luck,

Carl Fogel

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent manufacturers -
Google suggests some people still make them, but are they any good?

Easy:
victory bicycles
diane blake

[email hidden]

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/ORDNARI.JPG

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

In article <[email hidden]>,

A Muzi said:

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent manufacturers -
Google suggests some people still make them, but are they any good?

Easy:
victory bicycles
diane blake

[email hidden]

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/ORDNARI.JPG

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Also Check out Robert Howe's home page:

http://home.inreach.com/rhowehmd/index.html

Howe is a member of "The Wheelmen", which is an organization of 'Ordinary'
and early safety bicycles owners. He has a lot of information and might be
a source of who is making machines.

I know that there is in fact a reproduction project going on right now, but
don't know exactly how far along they are.

Your's
Pureheart

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent
manufacturers - Google suggests some people still make them,
but are they any good?
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Kill the tomato!

Here’s a website of a guy that has tried and failed twice recently to
circle the world on a Penny Farthing. He has some for sale a and he is
in UK where you are. One of his earlier versions used a 3 speed Sturmey-
Archer hub. His site used to mention that the British HPV folks were
letting the Penny Farthings race at about ten of their events each year.
He also has the only jet powered Penny Farthing that he was attempting
to set the Penny Farthing speed record with, but he seems to have
removed those pics from his site. He uses a pulse jet engine and has
tested it on the Penny for 3 second bursts.

www.pennyfarthingworldtour.com/

These guys also make and sell them: http://www.hiwheel.com/

Someone has recently been selling plans on ebay to build your own
Penny Farthing.

The legendary Tomato has been Killed (actually retired) from competition
from competition a few years:

http://snorlax.lampi.org/mike/killertomato.jpg

http://fst.orst.edu/bob_durst/story3.html

Killer Tomato's wheels do a good job dwarfing those Penny wheels.

--

David Damerell <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if any
r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent manufacturers -
Google suggests some people still make them, but are they any good?

Rideable Bicycle Replicas: http://www.hiwheel.com/
still builds them. One of my friends has an "adult tricycle":
http://www.hiwheel.com/antique_replicas/adult_tricycle.htm , which he
uses occasionally for parades and fun meets. He's also got a repro'd
cruiser and a couple recumbents... I can't recall if there's a
"normal" bike in his stable.

You might get in touch with Jim Langley, the former editor of
Bicycling magazine. He's got a penchant for odd bikes:
http://www.jimlangley.net/aboutjim/stanfordhighwheelraces.html .

Jeff

Quoted message said:

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if
any r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent
manufacturers - Google suggests some people still make them, but are
they any good?

No.

Consider that most bicycling on the level is done in a gear above 85
inches (the way gears were measured in respect to these bicycles)
which means a wheel diameter of 85 inches. A 52-13 for instance is a
108 inch gear for comparison. Your inseam minus about 2 inches times
two is the largest wheel radius you can ride. That's about a 62 inch
high wheeled bicycle. You'll need to do a lot of spinning.

The only single-speed bikes geared as high as 85 inches are those for
the velodrome, which has no hills, corners, or bad surfaces. A BMX
bike typically uses a 55 inch gear, a single-speed MTB about 52
inches, and a balloon-tire criser anything from the mid-50s to the
mid-60s.

When I was exceptionally fit and I lived in the gently rolling terrain
of Austin, Texas, I used an 81 inch gear on my fast cruiser. Here in
hilly Seattle, all my one-speed bikes sport something around 64 gear
inches-- even the fixie.

By using shorter cranks, one can use a larger wheel and a higher "gain
ratio" at the same time. High speed is thus available to a high-wheel
rider who opts to sacrifice hill-climbing and acceleration.

High-wheeling is by nature a more leisurely activity than your own
riding, if you use an 85 inch gear to cruise around. If you could
only choose one, though, I bet you would not ride a gear quite that
high.

Quoted message said:

On top of that, you can't stop worth a damn because rider CG is close
to vertically above the ground contact point of the wheel, so forward
dismounts are a skill to master.

Another reason to keep speeds modest when riding the wheel.

Quoted message said:

They are nice to view in museums but don't ride them. They have solid
tires and the rider sits directly in line with road shock on no
cushioning.

The gentle vertical accelerations imparted by a four to six-foot wheel
rolling over irregularities require none of the cushioning a squishy
tire imparts. You will remember that it was Dr. Dunlop's invention of
the air bladder tire that allowed safety bikes to come into general
use. Those were the bikes whose ride qualities suffered for lack of
cushioning.

Quoted message said:

The riders crotch must be as close to the wheel as
possible to get a reasonably large gear. You can imagine who won
races in those days. They were pretty tall.

I can find no virtue in a technology on the basis that it confers a
competitive advantage to short people, Jobst. I wonder why you would!
;D

Chalo Colina

(Chalo) said:

Quoted message said:

David Damerell said:

Lately I have had the urge to get a penny-farthing. I'm wondering if
any r.b.t. types already own such bikes, or know of competent
manufacturers - Google suggests some people still make them, but are
they any good?

No.

Consider that most bicycling on the level is done in a gear above 85
inches (the way gears were measured in respect to these bicycles)
which means a wheel diameter of 85 inches. A 52-13 for instance is a
108 inch gear for comparison. Your inseam minus about 2 inches times
two is the largest wheel radius you can ride. That's about a 62 inch
high wheeled bicycle. You'll need to do a lot of spinning.

The only single-speed bikes geared as high as 85 inches are those for
the velodrome, which has no hills, corners, or bad surfaces. A BMX
bike typically uses a 55 inch gear, a single-speed MTB about 52
inches, and a balloon-tire criser anything from the mid-50s to the
mid-60s.

When I was exceptionally fit and I lived in the gently rolling terrain
of Austin, Texas, I used an 81 inch gear on my fast cruiser. Here in
hilly Seattle, all my one-speed bikes sport something around 64 gear
inches-- even the fixie.

By using shorter cranks, one can use a larger wheel and a higher "gain
ratio" at the same time. High speed is thus available to a high-wheel
rider who opts to sacrifice hill-climbing and acceleration.

High-wheeling is by nature a more leisurely activity than your own
riding, if you use an 85 inch gear to cruise around. If you could
only choose one, though, I bet you would not ride a gear quite that
high.

Quoted message said:

On top of that, you can't stop worth a damn because rider CG is close
to vertically above the ground contact point of the wheel, so forward
dismounts are a skill to master.

Another reason to keep speeds modest when riding the wheel.

Quoted message said:

They are nice to view in museums but don't ride them. They have solid
tires and the rider sits directly in line with road shock on no
cushioning.

The gentle vertical accelerations imparted by a four to six-foot wheel
rolling over irregularities require none of the cushioning a squishy
tire imparts. You will remember that it was Dr. Dunlop's invention of
the air bladder tire that allowed safety bikes to come into general
use. Those were the bikes whose ride qualities suffered for lack of
cushioning.

Quoted message said:

The riders crotch must be as close to the wheel as
possible to get a reasonably large gear. You can imagine who won
races in those days. They were pretty tall.

I can find no virtue in a technology on the basis that it confers a
competitive advantage to short people, Jobst. I wonder why you would!
;D

Chalo Colina

Dear Chalo,

Nice point about huge wheels rolling more smoothly.

Tiny but inquiring minds now want to know your preference.

Penny-farthing or tall-bike?

One of Leona's Little People

[email hidden] wrote;

Quoted message said:

Tiny but inquiring minds now want to know your preference.

Penny-farthing or tall-bike?

Ah, I must confess...

It's the tall bike over the high wheel, on a purely circumstantial
basis.

The most usual "penny" in a penny-farthing is 54" in diameter, and
such bikes are notably scant of seat height adjustment (for obvious
enough reasons). This allows me an insufficient leg extension for
comfort or efficiency. Add to this the sub-five-foot saddle altitude,
and the experience as a whole gives away much to my own tallbike, six
feet at the saddle and equipped with four well-spaced gears and
effective brakes. To say nothing of the many footholds my tallbike
offers for scaling its heights!

I suppose my collection will be incomplete without a generous 68 to 72
inch wheel, perhaps luxuriously equipped with a sprag clutch for
freewheeling. A Greg Harper two-speed epicyclic hub would be the
cat's pajamas, but a 2:3 underdrive would be more useful than a 3:2
overdrive for a wheel that size.

http://staff.washington.edu/gharper/EpicyclicHub.htm

I believe I'll have to be a little deeper into my home improvements
before an expensive and esoteric novelty like that seems feasible.

It looks like a good justification for building a 96 spoke wheel,
though. Cross-nine, of course.

Chalo Colina