The penny-farthing was the first machine to ever be called a bicycle. With a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel, these old-school bikes require excellent balance.
The term “penny-farthing” comes from the British penny and farthing coins. Being that one coin is fairly larger than the other, it corresponds well with the side view of a penny leading a farthing. Clever, huh?
U.K. penny-farthing champion Richard Thoday is an avid penny-farthing racer who describes the experience as a delight. He believes it to be a great icebreaker and conversation starter. He claims to have met so many great people through riding and talking about it, that it seems to be a truly exciting part of his life.
Thoday also claims that you can get a view of the crowd like no other when atop a penny-farthing, which completely makes sense from the look of that front wheel!
It’s truly amazing that so many different machines and contraptions exist. Luckily, the penny-farthing still hasn’t lost its wow factor when people see someone riding it.
He claims that if anything goes wrong while riding, you’d tend to flip and go over the front of the bike. Seeing as it can take a bit of time to slow down, would you ever try riding a penny-farthing?
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