The penny-farthing used a larger wheel than the velocipede, thus giving higher speeds on all but the steepest hills. Man standing next to a penny farthing in Fife, Scotland, 1880 Įven so, bicycling remained the province of the urban well-to-do, and mainly men, until the 1890s, and was a salient example of conspicuous consumption. Other attempts included moving the seat rearward and driving the wheel by levers or treadles, as in the "Xtraordinary" and "Facile", or gears, by chain as in the "Kangaroo" or at the hub, as in the "Crypto" another option was to move the seat well back, as in the "Rational". This prevented headers but left the danger of being thrown backwards when riding uphill. Makers developed "moustache" handlebars, allowing the rider's knees to clear them, "Whatton" handlebars that wrapped around behind the legs, and ultimately (though too late, after development of the safety bicycle), the American "Eagle" and "Star" bicycles, whose large and small wheels were reversed. Penny-farthing bicycles are dangerous because of the risk of headers (taking a fall over the handlebars head-first).
Ball bearings, solid rubber tires and hollow-section steel frames became standard, reducing weight and making the ride much smoother. He is regarded as the father of the British cycling industry. James Starley in Coventry added the tangent spokes and the mounting step to his famous bicycle named "Ariel". Meyer produced a classic high bicycle design during the 1880s. They were called "spider" wheels in Britain when introduced there. Meyer patented a wire-spoke tension wheel with individually adjustable spokes in 1869. īook cover of The Modern Bicycle, published in London in 1877Įugène Meyer of Paris is now regarded as the father of the high bicycle by the International Cycling History Conference in place of James Starley. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport. Īlthough the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. In 1878, Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America. Around 1870 English inventor James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others, began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size, because larger front wheels, up to 5 feet (152 cm) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. įollowing the popularity of the boneshaker, Eugène Meyer, a Frenchman, invented the high-wheeler bicycle design in 1869 and fashioned the wire-spoke tension wheel. In the late 1890s, the name "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles this term and "hi-wheel" (and variants) are preferred by many modern enthusiasts. For most of their reign, they were simply known as "bicycles". Although the name "penny-farthing" is now the most common, it was probably not used until the machines were nearly outdated the first recorded print reference is from 1891 in Bicycling News. The name came from the British penny and farthing coins, the former being much larger than the latter, so that the side view resembles a larger penny leading a smaller farthing. It became obsolete in the late 1880s with the development of modern bicycles, which provided similar speed amplification via chain-driven gear trains and comfort through pneumatic tires, and were marketed in comparison to penny-farthings as " safety bicycles" because of the reduced danger of falling and the reduced height to fall from. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds (owing to it travelling a large distance for every rotation of the legs) and comfort (the large wheel provides greater shock absorption). The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, was the first machine to be called a " bicycle".
A penny-farthing in the Škoda Auto Museum, Czech Republic