How to mount a penny farthing (old bike)
tags:
Stumble ThisI have always wondered how they used to get on and off those bikes without falling.
Found on Shorpy.com
Found on Shorpy.com
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*obscure
I always wondered why they made them like that in the first place.
According to Wikipedia, the large wheel served two purposes:
First, and most important, it allowed higher speeds with less pedaling. Later "safety bicycles", similar to what we know today, used chain drives with cogs of different sizes to achieve the result.
Second, the larger diameter afforded a smoother ridge over rough terrain like cobblestones, a problem later solved for smaller wheels with the advent of the pneumatic tire.
>> ^conan:
but how to stop without getting of?
I'm not an expert on the subject, but I think the design of the penny-farthing almost prevents you from stopping without getting off. If you don't slow down very gradually you're going to take a vicious header and the Gravity-Pavement Complex is going to do the "getting off" for you. Even if you did manage to stop without getting off, you'd have a devil of a time keeping yourself balanced.
Nice big yellow rapist van.
Nope, too many windows. Sure, you can put up harvest-gold curtains or airbrush a sweet unicorn\wolf\moon\stars'n'bars scene onto the windows, but it's easier and cheaper to just buy the windowless version.
Don't feel too bad - that's a classic newbie mistake.
'be seeing you'
I thought the same thing..."You are #6!"