The Penny Farthing was the sketchiest bicycle ever made
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 16. 05. 2024
- The Penny Farthing was the bicycle that immediately preceded the "safety bicycle", which is in most ways exactly what we have today. Today we'll talk about the Penny Farthing, why we rarely see them anymore, and why they were so sketchy.
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Imagine being on a peaceful mountain bike ride and you see Seth on a high wheel bombing down the trails
You'd see Sam Pilgrim first
@@realDonaldTrump420 he would send it no problem
I know someone whoâs good on a unicycle, like really good
â@@WeekendPirate that's the story of how he lost his tooth XD
â@@WeekendPirate it would be soo good. and he would put fox 40s on it.
The absolute dedication to the bit of riding obscene bikes down trails they weren't made for is always educational.
Obscene?
I'm so mad he didn't show what he looked like while doing it đ
â@@Mongolold "offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency."
I want a gif of riding the penny farthing down the stairs!
3:29 đ he didnât have to sacrifice himself to demonstrate what would happen but as a visual learner⊠I appreciate that he did.
He could've just showed (3:53) hahaha
For science of course! hahahahaha
I'm going to go a little "Seth" here. The idea of being a "visual learner" etc. is a myth. I was doing some research earlier this year and came across this. If you're interested, I can dig up a video that explains how this educational approach came about.
@@rrolleman4879 Sorry, I'll rephrase. I was having a hard time imagining what it would look like if someone were to do as Seth described so I appreciate his demonstration.
I'm your 300th liker here & bye.
As a kid I always thought "those things like sketchy AF". Iâm so satisfied that they really are every bit of sketch as I thought they were. đ
True, I always assumed people just accepted whatever they could get back then without complaining about it. And I didn't think about the lack of air in tires back then and how it would make a larger front wheel an improvement over what actually looked more normal to us.
That's kinda funny I actually had kinda the opposite reaction when I saw the title and the thumbnail. I was like "I don't understand, what's wrong with it?".
The "Big Wheel ïżŒ" tricycle, is basically the same basic design.... But rotated, and with two instead of one wheel behind the ride...
Creating the most stable rideable toy in history, from the most unstable platform in history.... Talk about irony???
@@nc3826 I hated my big wheel growing up because I could never get it to move in our super tall unkempt yard
@@screamingcactus1753 My comment, actually alludes to why that is the case.... And good luck, keeping it kept....
Makes you fully realise what a game changing innovation the Safety Bicycle was. Surely one of the best inventions since the wheel.
The invention of the safety bicycle was dependent on the invention of several "new" technologies and practical manufacturing techniques. Whilst today they're taken for granted, they simply didn't exist at the time the Penny emerged. The Penny was a fast machine, reliable and the pinnacle of human transport. But things were changing very quickly in manufacturing technology, which meant the Penny only had a decade or so before it was superceded. By contrast, the first "Safety" bikes were complicated beasts, less reliable and only marginally safer.
Obviously; it does have two of them.
The chain drive was the key. Without that, you could only ride faster by scaling up the diameter of the driven wheel. A chain with different sized sprockets decouples the wheel size from rotational speed for a given pedal cadence.
"don't reinvent the wheel" yeah reinvent the hardware around the wheel
Double the wheels, double the fun
I thought he was gonna stop at the top of the stairs, but when he went down them, I clenched up just watching.
truly a stairset of doom on that bike, better crack a monny first!
Yeah, that looked MAD sketchy.
@@Ferrari255GTO it's Seth. Mad sketch is his bread and butter
@@alexisrodriguez6526 i'd say that he's less sketchy than this most often
@@Ferrari255GTO nah dude... this is seriously the least sketch, he tried to ride a trail with 3d printed parts
In the 1880's, a man named Thomas Stevens rode a penny farthing around the world, then wrote a book about it. The book is available online, and is very much worth reading.
I have a book here called An American Cycling Odyssey 1887 by Kevin J. Hayes to read next. Is that the same one?
â@@bildo99ify Not the same. Hayes rode from New York to San Francisco several years later than Stevens...in 72 days, which is quite remarkable. Stevens rode from San Francisco east to Boston, which took 104 days, then took ship to London and began the European leg of his journey. The story can be read for free at Project Gutenberg.
Please post its ISBN number?!? đ€ đ
@@worldtraveler930 Sorry, YT won't let me post it. I've tried twice now and my replies disappear instantly. More censorship run amuck.
@@r.awilliams9815 Try writing it out Alphabetically instead of using numbers?!? đ€ đ
Worked at a little bike shop for awhile and we had this full sized reproduction, not the scaled down version Seth is riding. This big old dude saw it propped up outside and really wanted to ride it. He was fascinated but being kind of a dick about it because I initially told him no. (I knew how sketchy they were). But he wouldnât relent so I was like, alright, good luck man. These bike have a step and you have to do a firm little scooter push to get up on the seat and have enough momentum to get your feet on the pedals and keep it upright. And then youâre up there surprisingly high. Dude foisted it himself up fine but had just enough speed to turn the cranks once, twice then absolutely toppled over like a shit ton of bricks, feet on the pedals all the way down and when his hip impacted the cement I could feel the slab shake. He limped away not saying another word and I think that was probably the last time he asked anyone for permission to ride a Penny Farthing.
Seth you should collab with Sam Pilgrim in berm peak or somewhere else. It would be sick to see the two biggest and best mtb channels in the same video
Pretty sure they already made a video At whistler
@@EverythingMTB1 Still be really cool if Sam Pilgrim went to Berm Peak one day
Didn't Seth just recently rehab from the last injury?
â@@EverythingMTB1 I remember Seth meeting up with Blake from GMBN. Don't remember Pilgs being in it.
It would be cool to see Sam take on the sketchiness that is Berm Peak though.
â@@dvs620 THE DREAM!
I had an uncle that used to dress up in old time attire or as Uncle Sam and ride a high wheeler in parades back in the 1970s. Thank you for this history lesson. I still remember him moaning about how hard it was to get a replacement solid tube tire for a high wheeler.
Great review and demo. I was vacationing in Martha's vineyard with my family and we rented "safety" bicycles. Suddenly a guy on Penny Farthing caught up with us and went ahead. Despite having a gear shift I barely was able to keep up with him. I was dwarfed by the size of the bike. Later we learn that there was a meeting of an ancient bike enthusiasts. They wore old style attire and shoes too. I saw these bikes only on old pictures before, I couldn't believe my own eyes seeing them next to me. đ€©
That clip of the race is from the High Wheel Bike Race held every July in Frederick, MD. It is the only high wheel bike race held in the USA. It is awesome. There are not always crashes, but occasionally happen.
Clustered Spires is an absolute riot! I went a few years back and it's such a great time
Just saw this, Greg LeMond was there one year.
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The list of things done, said, written, and researched well in this video seems almost endless. It's an extremely engaging bit of bike-related "content," enjoyable to anyone who's ridden a bike (so most people) but also and especially for enthusiasts. Love the MTB-specific stuff, but this was a truly excellent video.
So true! I've seen a lot of videos about the Penny Farthing, but Seth's take was as usual the best mix of entertaining and educational.
It took me a while to figure out you said engaging rather than enraging
It wasnt researched at All
@@Mike-tv9rk making claims with zero backing. đ
I remember reading that guys used to basically do the old bmx bar-hop (swing their feet forward over the bars) when going downhill so when they inevitably crashed, they could just jump forward instead of tangling their knees in the bars. Of course, this meant their feet were off the pedals so there was no real speed control aside from a rear brake or maybe the spoon-style friction brake on the front wheel. Insane.
There's a chap who's done around the world rides on a penny and he goes that while dropping into death valley. Joff Somerfield.
I wonder if you could design it where instead of handlebars going out to the sides, there a single steering lever going straight forward. That way, your legs could naturally swing past.
@@CalmoOmlac Some recumbent bikes use a tiller style steering , which is a bit like a reversed stem .
@@CalmoOmlac Thanks for the correction. I too have many bikes but my recumbents are trikes.
@@kudosbudoEd Pratt - his unicycle round the world video series on CZcams is one of the best sets of videos you can find
It reassures me that even back then they considered it dangerous. Looking at pictures of those giant wheels when I was a kid, I couldn't imagine how someone would comfortably ride them like it's nothing : D
Most pictures are deceiving.
I once rode a tandem bike where the rider in back was actually facing backward while pedaling. I"d like to see a video of that.
Tandems in general would be cool to see Seth cover.
Having ridden one of the massive ones I can confirm they are a blast.
I rode one of these as a kid, the most difficult part by far was getting up on it without falling over!
I wish penny farthings and recumbents were both more common.
TheDoh007 So if you were a kid it was a small one like the one in this video?
I have a 48â replica penny farthing from the 80s. I also have a modern, 24â replica.
Itâs actually really comfortable to ride. You probably need at least a 40â front wheel to get the full effect and benefits of the penny farthing. With modern paved roads, itâs arguably more practical today than it was in the 1880s. Iâve taken my 48â on 10 mile trips. Very fun.
I rode a big one once, I'm 6'1. The seat was right up against the neck and it was absolutely insane. I came from a fixed gear background (Messenger turned national level track rider) so that was ok. What was REALLY insane is that because the BB is also the axle, when you pedal forward it turns into the lead foot slightly so it's weaving back and forth. Ok, that's a thing to get used to BUT when you're breaking it reverses that effect! All of a sudden you're into this groove of counter steering into your pedal strokes and feeling ok, then you go to slow down and the bike violently swerves in the direction of your trailing foot! On the one I rode, the seat height was probably 5'6 or more so bailing off wasn't really an option! Cool experience but 10/10 never again.
You should get a lay-down bike, super arodynamic and if they have a wind cover you can reach high speeds for a long time! Would love to see you pov on it!
Guess where he would ride it.
Recumbent?
Recumbent mountain bikes do exist.
I really find it fascinating that they ever thought that thing was a good idea. How was it even designed without anyone saying "what if it was balanced a bit better?"
It solves a problem that no longer exists thanks to better infrastructure and more advanced technology. It's like looking at an old car that's basically a death trap compared to modern vehicles, "how could anyone ride in these?"
â@@AirLancer well yeah but thats because they didnt understand electricity back then and how to make airbags
wagons and carriages had evenly sized wheels for centuries before the first bike, yet they thought "what if we made like a tiny wagon for one person to power with their feet... and what if the wheels were DRASTICALLY different sizes for NO reason"
â@@shybandit521many of the first cars were electric. On the high wheeler you don't require a chain and it has very few moving parts so it's no wonder it predates bikes with chains and gears.
@@timlewis5527 that's true, i should have specified "they don't have as sophisticated of an understanding how to make and use it efficiently like we do now"
Also yeah you're right I guess the chains and gears system is pretty innovative and I can see why it took them time to develop it
@@shybandit521 Lots of carriages had rear wheels 50% larger than the front.
Waiting for the Seth vs. Sam Pilgrim penny-farthing free ride competition đ„
That'd be lit ngl
How do you just keep getting better? Thanks for another really well written and presented video!
I love it Seth. A little bit of history, little bit of weerdness, historical dead ends. Really cool. Would love to see more of these...
Please make a follow up video about taking this to the local trails wearing normal attire from the 1860s. Bonus points if you can keep the Monocle in your eye all the way to the bottom.
at first i was like no way he just wanted to do a farthing bc sams did so good. but i love the fact you name dropped him specifically. youre a good dude
farthing video*
One of the best channels on CZcams. No politics and no đ. Just interesting and informative content.
I like the posture it gives the rider: upright, handlebars above waist-height and in easy reach, no pressure on the shoulders. Really comfortable. You can get the same with a regular bike - I put a longer stem on a racer and added sweep back handlebars - but almost no bikes are made like that.
Check out Dutch bikes. Same posture, only with a lower center of gravity and plenty of cargo capacity!
@@garretteverett2613
Also the Pedersen bikes. Virtue Bike has about the cheapest, but there are others that reproduce the original hammock seat if you have the money.
Choppers in general are pretty much this design.
@@KindredBrujahYou're right! I've actually got some sort of Dutch cruiser/chopper hybrid bike and it's definitely comfy. Gonna see how it rides with ape hangers soon. đŠ§
Beach Cruisers are like that.
If you ever find yourself in western Ohio I would highly recommend the Bicycle museum of America in New Bremen. It's a tiny town but the museum was very interesting.
I really enjoy this kind of video. If you do end up doing a deep dive on unicycles I would absolutely watch it and enjoy
That trail footage was terrifying.
Seth, I think we all commend you för your great script writing. Every video you make is interesting, even for non-enthusiasts. Great video as always!
The extreme mulletđ
So, this year on the Downhill world championship i'll be running the new -3" rims on the rear with the new tyres from my sponsor Schwalbe, the Magic Mini DH Tubeless tyres on the ultrasoft compound....
@@Ferrari255GTO bet it roles faster than those 27.5 that they ride
@@leepik6027 no shit, there'd be no contact patch. You'd also trip on a pebble and die XD
The original mullet bike! Great content! Keep it coming!
love your videos man - they're informative and fun to watch
Love it! "Taking a header" was coined from the Penny Farthing (pun intended!) era.
I've ridden a "Rideable Replica" and was blown away at how much flex & turning happens while pedaling. It's all over the place! Definitely take getting used to. And the "don't slow down too fast" worry is always hanging over your head (literally!!!).
This video is so fun. I literally lol'ed over the "fish hook as a children's toy' bit.
About the alignment thing you mention. Much less of a problem on a large size Penny Farthing. But the most common construction i've seen it's actually the frame that is hinged from the fork/handlabar which is a solid unit, so it's not gonna move out of alignment.
Hey Seth, love everything you do. I know you have plenty of ideas coming down the pipeline. But id love to see you revisiting some of those products that were sent in over the year past that you actually still use and love? Thanks for everything, and continuing to motivate us.
Video was absolutely informative-I learned I need to get myselve one of these immediately.
Can you please make more bicycle historian type of videos? Maybe try and add in a bit of stock footage of people actually riding the things way back when. You do an excellent job of making this interesting and telling these stories.
I'd love to hear about the sketchy rides people in the early 1900s went on. Talk about some sketchy downhill races or something that people participated in. Would be a nice new, unique spin on your channel. I think a lot of us here are bike nerds.
There was a journalist named Stevens who rode a high wheeler around the world in the 18th century, the book is a great read... I was amazed by how well he could ride over bad roads and even open terrain and fields....
That bicycle museum looks pretty cool.
Awesome history lesson, Seth!! Thanks for the fun video.
Super interesting! I've always been fascinated by penny farthings. I can only imagine how different they would feel to ride, I picked up a 70s Phillips Roadster last summer and it rides so different than my normal mountain bike. Haha.
A video on the history of mountain biking would be rad. I'd love to hear it from your perspective.
That would be interesting, although it would likely end up being the story of "Clunkers", "Repack" and the famous Marin County mountain bikers. But that wasn't where "all terrain" bicyles started, it's just where one group caught the imagination of several frame builders, and eventually a bicycle manufacturer. Not to diminish their huge global impact on cycling, but their focus was mainly on racing and downhill thrills. Riding specialist and bespoke bikes UP and DOWN mountains and on cross country expeditions etc was already a thing... just on a small scale.
âAs for its performance on Mtb trailsâŠâ
Wow how did I know that was coming đ
People with a deep passion combined with extensive knowledge and experience can make almost any topic fascinating.
Fantastic video, Seth! Now I know everything I didnât know I knew about these non-safety bicycles!
I saw a penny farthing bicycle in a museum once which had a rudimentary brake; it consisted of a spoon-shaped, hand lever activated device which could be presssd against the front tire.
The safety bicycles were mostly fixed gear too, although the freewheel was invented in 1869 it didn't get popular until much later.
One thing that is lost to time though are coasting pegs. These were pegs sticking out from the fork of your safety bicycle where you could rest your feet when going downhill so you didn't have to pedal super fast. I wouldn't mind a pair on my fixed gear bike. đ
1:46 THANK YOU for giving the adjusted for inflation price! So many other people would just be like "it cost $10" and give no further info despite the fact we are talking more than a century ago.
Awesome video, the history covered is great and fascinatingly presented.
Oh, I rode one of those 36" wheelers. It was fun. Maybe it's my bike messenger experience, but I had no problems riding one since the first revolution of the pedals. Other cyclists had issues even starting from a stand still. I'm poor but I hope some day I'll buy myself proper high-wheeler 54" or even 56" size to ride once a month just for fun of it. Penny farthings are dangerous, but very fun.
I ride my 52â hiwheel more than any of my other bikes. Descending is sketchy but climbing is not that bad. Iâve even got videos of my climbing the golden gate in them.
The moment you took that on a mountain bike trail, my anxiety shot through the ceiling. I felt like I just accidentally found snuff.
Awesome video, ;earned some cool things. Going to refer to modern bikes as safety bikes from time to time.
this video is just fantastic. educative, well researched, witty and also funny?! 14/10 Seth.
State of the art technology in the 1800s:
The penny farthing
Also:
A photocamera to take pictures of it.
The 19th Century had a massive amount of technological innovations we usually don't even think of. Baking soda for example was only discovered in 1801 and not factory produced until 1846. Before then, you always had to use traditional leavening agents (almost always yeasts) for baking.
You could even have taken a color photo by the end of the century, assuming you were willing to DIY it.
I wonder if suspension would work on a penny farthing
I wanna see sam pilgrim modify his brand new fox 40 forks to fit this bike and shred it
it would, but your leg length would vary so it wouldn't be too practical. I want to see a penny farthing with a LEFTY fork
Yes seen it done. Custom downhill penny-farthing had front and rear squish. It was as bonkers as it sounds.
This is literally the first thing i thought of, a huge ass downhill fork modified to fit 40" rims on a highwheel
@@Ferrari255GTO I would think one of these things would have to be modified with a lot more slack on the front for any sort of downhill.
Thanks for the upload , I'd always been curious about these bikes đđ
Since when did Sethâs channel become a history channel⊠I like it!
What if you put an internal-gear hub on it?
Gotta admit at first I read the title as "Penny Farting"
Big Bang Theory fart porn?
I am so freaking happy that the freak bike videos are making a return! The swing bike and your unicycle videos are really what hooked me on your channel. In fact, i got into Muni because of your videos! I really hope this means more content similar to this in the future as well! Thanks for providing us with all your entertaining enthusiasm for bikes seth!!!
I was entertained and informed. Thank you!
I desperately wanna see a Penny Swing Bike!!!!!!
That's called a death wish đ
@@luke_said I meanâŠ. So are a lot of Sethâs ideas lol
I'm not big into biking but your videos are always entertaining.
A true bike enthusiast! Love your content!
0:19 The reason we say handle*bars*. Great vid, thanks Seth!
Thank you for taking that tumble over the bars for that braking example, true dedication đ.
Thank you for the honest opinion about this nice looking machine đ
always wondered about them. thanks.
Dude thatâs so crazy you rode that penny down a stair set and on the trail. Love it.
They also used penny farthings in track cycling races. Really!
Awesome video man
There's a reason you're one of the best Seth
Awesome, interesting video. Thanks, Seth.
Its always great when Seth talks about his childhood đ
Wonderful history-comes-alive video. đđđ»đđ»đđ»đđ»
Ah dude so cool to see you have a unicycle too! I've been itching to get mine out again.
I dont know why but watching someone ride a penny farthing is just delightful.
I really like this history style video, definitely make more please
I learned so much about the history of bicycles when I visited the Marin Museum in Fairfax, CA. Super fun and the staff were awesome and gave me a personal tour and history lesson, I highly recommend (FYI, Iâm from Halifax, NS.)
im so happy evry time you post
My favorite part of this video was you crediting Sam Pilgrim. Much respect for that. Today is gonna be epic BECAUSE Seth is riding a Penny Farthing!! Love it.
And mainly for having longer legs đ
Great video. Informative and very entertaining. I thought that collarbone break you spoke of was gonna happen on that bike trail!
i absolutely love how you can see sethâs eyes adjusting while riding in the helmet cam
I cannot fathom the severity and number of serious accidents caused by the Penny Farthing. Very dangerous bikes. Thanks for the backstory and the interesting video.
At first i was a little disappointed that he didn't ride the big wheel, but then my jaw dropped at showing the dangers with this bike đź Thumbs up for the dedication đ
That was very interesting. You did well on that trail!
Enjoyed the history . Thanks
I got to ride a replica penny-farthing a few times. When I went down a hill, I stood on the mounting step and scuffed one foot on the back wheel. It made sense to me, but I've never heard of it elsewhere.
Informative and entertaining!
If there is an award for sketcheness Seth would win it with little competition
Great video informative and interesting also funny. Keep them coming đ
Love Sethâs videos
I love the tiny wheel way at the end of that long curving pipe.
Itâs straight out amid a Dr. Seuss illustration!
This man putting his life on the line for bicycle education was an unexpected delight in an already great video.
I could look at these bikes all day. So cool, and after riding an e-mtb for the first time last week ($10k retail) it's fascinating to see the evolution!
Interesting video! I always learn stuff and Im always entertained!
You should add a Brompton to your freak bike/novelty bike fleet!!!! You'll love it!
Back a few years when New Belgium Brewing company still had the Tour de Fat, they had a weird bike corral that was open to the public. There was always a couple different versions of these. So much fun, especially after a couple brews. So many different bikes to ride. It was really fun and good.