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modelmanjohn
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« on: March 29, 2007, 06:55:06 pm » |
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Greetings, After reading an online Newsweek "My Turn" about an IBM engineer who lost his job, but made a killing selling unicycles (of all things) online, I checked out unicycle.com as a curiousity. Lo and behold, they also carry Penny-Farthing bicycles: http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=4&subcat=54&cat=Penny%2DFarthingsThe smaller one is quite affordable as well, at $150. They are "modern versions" of the classic, but it still looks extraordinary. Plus the website has plenty of interesting unicycles as well. Additionally, parts are sold there, and some of are a steampunkish nature. |
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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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phineas sheridan
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« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2007, 11:48:08 pm » |
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very flash
i wanted a penny-farthing for a long time
those are cool but have you seen the penny fakething?
sry about no link, can't remember where i found it
d
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"It's all about the top-hats and goggles"~Jake Von Slatt
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2007, 03:28:40 pm » |
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Ah, yes, this is an area of my expertise. I am the inventor of the pennyfakething, for one. My Employer has over 40 pre-1918 bicycles. His specialty is restoration while my own is reinvention. It is important to remember that before the invention of the "dwarf safety" (modern bike), nobody knew what a bike was supposed to look like. So a great many designs were built for a hundred years resulting in incredible variety worldwide.  The pennyfarthing or Ordinary or highwheel offered a large wheel for high speeds and bumpy roads. They are prone to taking a header and usually had no pneumatics or suspension. Since you can't put your feet down, you must dismount to stop. They are awful and wonderful. In many cities they were outlawed once dwarf safety bikes became common. What lover of things old-timey hasn't thought they'd like a pennyfarthing? Vintage ones can run into the tens of thousands. Recreations are often hundreds of dollars, hard to swing for a novelty bicycle. There are also new models with two brakes and five speeds and such- pish posh! I will write a short illustrated piece on how to make a pennyfakething using only one bicycle and a little welding.  |
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phineas sheridan
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« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2007, 09:44:27 pm » |
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Thanks, i forgot who made this.
really cool
d
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Edisonade
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« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2007, 03:42:21 pm » |
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Never having ridden a Penny-Farthing (for shame, I know!), I must ask: Are they as unwieldy as they look? I have, naturally, fantasized about having one, but I imagine it being difficult to balance and difficult to turn. A bit off topic, but has anyone ever made or ridden a four-wheeled velocipede? How do they handle?
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WisconsinPlatt
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« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2007, 04:20:47 pm » |
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I will write a short illustrated piece on how to make a pennyfakething using only one bicycle and a little welding.
Oh, please do. |
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La Bricoleuse
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« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2007, 05:01:57 pm » |
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I will write a short illustrated piece on how to make a pennyfakething using only one bicycle and a little welding.
Oh, please do. I second that request. I reckon i might work it out for myself just looking at the picture, but it'd be great to read a first-hand post on how to do it from someone who's already done it! |
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2007, 08:07:09 pm » |
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When considering the Ordinary, remember that the height of the seat is the natural height for human transportation- on horseback and carriage for centuries. A short history of its evolution starts with the hobby-horse:  1820s...largely a toy for the rich. Look at that jaunty chap! Then somebody added pedals:  This is called a velocipede although that term is also used to describe any number of contraptions that let you "fast walk". Naturally people wanted to go faster. With metallurgy as it was the gear-and-chain was a bit out of reach. The only natural solution was to increase the size of the front wheel. So they look like that cuz they're fast, and they're that tall because it was how high one was supposed to be. Remember your feet are really only 3 ft. off the ground. You step on the mounting pedal, push off, step into the seat and pedal away. They are really easy to mount, but remember it's a fixed wheel (like a tricycle)! So if you try to stop pedaling, the wheel will keep turning and YOU will fly forward. You'll also fly forward from bumps and hills. The wheelbase is very short and you are very high. These bikes invented the "header" and lots of people dashed their brains out on the cobblestones, prevented from flying free by the handlebars trapping their legs. It was kind of a macho thing to do, but remember in those days people were thrown from horses or died in boiler explosions all the time. After a year or so of face-plants, I put my handlebars underneath and discovered that I didn't need my hands at all to ride! My hands are free to tip my hat at the horse-and-carriage drivers that trot around Chicago's nicer neighborhoods. The wheel has its own gyroscopic effect, this keeps you going straight. So balancing is easy left-and-right but hard front-to-back. If you have to stop you either jump off or turn right. If you get one with a 2-ft wheel, one of the little guys, it will be short and safe and fun. You'll never wreck it or take a header. My first one was a nightmare of twisted metal called "Pickup Styx":  Meanwhile my buddy just used a clothing rack from a store:  Another friend on the fake pennyfarthing scene made his wheel from wood:  Why not just use three wheels?  These models offer all the inconvenience and deadliness of the original with none of the authenticity! Needless to say, when the dwarf safety was invented these things fell out of favor. In some places they were outlawed. P.S. Pennyfarthing crash:
--- As for four-wheelers, they drive like a car. Advantages: Relaxing and fun, don't have to balance, lots of cargo room, cooler equippable. Disadvantages: Can't slip through traffic, where do you keep it, four wheels mean more drag, heavy and slow.  1886Before the dwarf safety became standard there was unimaginable variation in velocipede design, with vehicles anywhere between 1 and 7 wheels. You can surf various vintage bike sites and find lots of pictures. For ladies with long skirts the tricycle offered a more modest ride. Many tandems were designed to allow men and women to court, or for women to be escorted by men. Remember that the bicycle had a vital role in the emancipation of women! It gave them a mobility that was scandalous. It also led to the development of 'rational dress', bloomers, then trousers. Pants on women! Next thing they'll be wanting to vote and drive!  And so gender roles manifested themselves in steel. The tandem presented a peculiar problem: If the man sat in front, he would sweat on the woman, unthinkable! But a woman certainly couldn't drive! The thought! The solution: A tandem where the man drives from the back, raised higher above her hat, and she has fixed handlebars to hold tight to.  One of the projects bouncing around in my head is the "hen and chickens". This can be fitted with large side racks for cargo, even carrying lumber.  |
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{~}
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« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2007, 12:05:26 am » |
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most informative. You sir have contributed to the betterment of my knowledge and perhaps to others also. There are few things in life more worthy than sharing knowledge.
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Spectre
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« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2007, 02:00:24 am » |
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Oh how fortuitous this is! I saw a gentleman riding one around the beach the otehr day and decided I must have one! Problem was try finding a big wheeled bicycle while not knowing the proper name of a big wheeled bicycle!
THANKS FOR POSTING THIS TOPIC!!!!!!!! (Yes... I am yelling.... and dancing around the living room!)
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2007, 03:13:40 am » |
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A short video of the mount:
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Vincent Théière
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« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2007, 01:51:00 pm » |
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Thank you so much Mr Payphone! I had been considering asking you if I was allowed to rip off your pennyfakething design (with full credit of course). Also, I should include in this a belated and misplaced thank you for the photos in the Dressing Up thread.
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Doctor Trakov
Officer
 United Kingdom
Admiral of the 14th Belogravian Airship Navy
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« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2007, 09:25:42 pm » |
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I have always thought that penny farthings were so very amusing, and now there's a thread about them! How happy I am...
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Captain of the IBN Czar
"Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with in and when to let it alone."
Long live the Czar!
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2007, 11:44:24 pm » |
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Steampunk asked me to write the article for their next issue, so I better get to work!
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Honky-Tonk Dragon
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« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2007, 03:09:35 pm » |
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Steampunk asked me to write the article for their next issue, so I better get to work!
Master Payphone, As exciting as this prospect is, I seriously doubt that anyone who has seen your new avatar will be pressuring you about a deadline...  |
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"I replied that only <i>lost</i> causes were of any interest to a gentleman..."
Jorge Luis Borges "The Shape of the Sword"
Official Engraver of the Imperial Stamps of the Duchy of McIntyre
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The Infernal Mr Adams
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« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2007, 07:43:13 pm » |
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In the early 90s I found this baby in a bike shop in San Diego  I was moving to Portland for a few months and looking for a means of personal transportation. However when I rode it, I couldnt stay on....I expected it to be just a like regular bicycle but it isnt, It takes a little more to skill to ride it. I never wound up buy this btw....Portland is a hilly city, not the best bike for terrain like that I should have gotten THIS instead:   |
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Signed,
Mr. M___ E_____ Adams
Tinkerer, Adventurer, Man of Leisure, Weird Westerner, and Cad
18--
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Doctor Trakov
Officer
United Kingdom
Admiral of the 14th Belogravian Airship Navy
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« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2007, 08:24:12 pm » |
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Motorbikes are suicidal enough already...
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Prof. Brockworth
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« Reply #18 on: August 16, 2007, 06:41:07 pm » |
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Fine moustache, sir! I've just read your pennyfakething plans in Steampunk #2 and shall be making a horrible dangerous mess bash at fabricating such a beastie shortly. When you hear of a Brit receiving facial restoration surgery... it's your fault |
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Recovering from pennyfarthing bruises...
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Duncan Hawthorne
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« Reply #19 on: August 16, 2007, 07:02:07 pm » |
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I wonder if anyone has been foolish enough to make a Pennyfarthing moped.
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"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." - Oscar Wilde
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #20 on: October 10, 2007, 05:24:08 am » |
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I was enjoying one of Budweiser's new clam beers in the park and I came across a fellow who let me ride his most marvelous mad-max homemade pennyfarthing:  |
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Silly Sully Sullivan
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« Reply #21 on: October 10, 2007, 06:23:34 am » |
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oh joy! I finally understand how to get on one of those things now (thanks to that lovely video clip)! ...I would love to ride to class on one... |
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Hikaro Takayama
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« Reply #22 on: October 11, 2007, 05:09:26 am » |
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Ah, Mr. Payphone,
Nice bikes, and I've also been inspired by your pennyfakething as well.... I'm planning on eventually doing a somewhat modified version (with front AND rear calliper brakes and preferably at least 10 speeds). I have a neighbor with a full-scale welding shop in his barn, and an uncle who owns a machine shop, so I can outsource some of the production that I don't have the skills or equipment for.
BTW, what would you reccomend for the rear wheel? I was thinking a child's BMX bike wheel, due to the fact that such bikes are used for all kinds of crazy stunts and the wheels are made stronger to handle such shenanagins.....
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"It is by steam alone that I set my contraptions in motion.
It is by combustion of coal and boiling water that the engines acquire speed.
For protection, the eyes acquire goggles,
The goggles become a warning.
It is by steam alone that I set my contraptions in motion."
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Johnny Payphone
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« Reply #23 on: October 11, 2007, 04:40:55 pm » |
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That wheel definitely takes a beating. I used a 12" wheel from a vintage Schwinn Pixie, the best kid's bike ever made. I reckon a kid's bmx wheel would be nice and strong. The smaller it is, the more tuck you can get, but beware of 8-spoke or latex-bearing wheels. It's hard to find well-built kid's stuff, you'd think they designed those bikes for horrible accidents.
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Hikaro Takayama
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« Reply #24 on: October 11, 2007, 05:32:16 pm » |
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Thanks for the tip... I think the reason they make most kid's bikes (aside from the trick kind) so flimsy is (a) it's cheaper, and (b) most parents nowadays are so dreadfully frightened of their kids getting even so much as a bruise that they put training wheels on their kid's bikes until the kids are about 10 or so..... HA! I wish i had training wheels when I was learning.... I even had to use my mom's bike (which for a 9-year old kid, a 26-inch bike is pretty much like riding one of those tall bikes).
BTW, I saw some of your "Rat Patrol" vids... Those are some seriously cool bikes that you guys have.
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