Thanks Richard, I enjoyed watching that

When I was working out gearing for my ss recently I realised that 34/19 with a 2.35 tyre on a 29er is just over 52 gear inches. I think 52 inch dia is the size of a typical PF wheel? A quick measure of my inside leg suggests that's about the biggest wheel I could ride anyway. Plugging those numbers into bikecalc gives a cadence for 23mph of just about 150

The limiting factor for the record may be the ability of the human body with regard to cadence as much as power/endurance. I'm not sure I can pedal at 150 even on my 'safety' bicycle let alone on an 'ordinary' - to use the period correct definitions

Ian wrote:Love the contrast between those two bikes, Gian

The evolution of the bicycle as shown there is quite remarkable.

Just had cleaned the Bold a bit before and thought it’d be a nice contrast.
Bold only being one part of the huge spectrum of evolved bikes it’s also a reminder for how multi facetted biking has become.

sean_iow wrote:I think 52 inch dia is the size of a typical PF wheel?

I don't think there's a typical wheel size.
52" likely fit's many as it likely to suit inside leg length of the average (idiot, stupid enough to ride such a thing) male (data not shown ).

Was the same with me. 34/18 is about as close as it gets. Happy my everyday bike has just about the same gearing.
150 rpm is massive!
I think Marc Beaumont’s cranks are at 114 mm (got that from somewhere… the vid maybe?), so that makes spinning a bit easier as compared to spinning our bikes with (in my case for the ssp) 175 mm cranks.

Rode the penny to the station today.
First controlled crash or uncontrolled getting off; I left home with too little scooting, not getting much momentum. Slid onto the saddle, pedaled up the tiny, tiny incline, 120 ° turn and off goes my balance. I felt it coming for quite a while and could easily jump off to one side. Happy it has happened. Now I know how easy it is to jump off when loosing the balance. And thankfully, there was nothing (fence, car, animal, river) in my way.
Then onwards to the first time in “traffic” (we don’t really have traffic here - but it's kind of a main road). The two overtaking cars where completely over on the left side (remember, this is Switzerland). Later, I didn’t even manage to indicate my turn off. Had a look over the shoulder and no car to be seen, so bugger taking that risk (one handed riding) for no other reason. I still need to learn to pedal smoothly to be able to ride with one hand. Will give it a try this evening/night.

Then the “climb” up over the bridge… gosh… It’s barely a climb. A measured 4 % incline and 5 m (!) of vert gain. 4 %... I was considering jumping off. I barely got up it. Odd to even use the word “up”.
Then down towards the cobbles of the station square, I must have been going about 18-22 km/h, I decided to play it safe again and went onto the pegs on the back, shook across the little square and smoothly applied the rim brake. I’m not giving those away.
Tonight I’ll be riding down some 6 % decline on 1.1 km. Will be fun on the pegs with the brake.
Just like the bloke on the photo Ian posted.

It needs time to get comfy on, but I'm slowly getting there and then I'll probably stop grasping the bars so violently and be in comfort all over.

The first few 100 m of gravel and ride in the dark.
Bike felt at home on the gravel and the ride was quite comfy too. After another 8 km I've stopped holding the bars like a berserk.

Fun to get an idea of how the riding, just the pure sensation of it, must have been some 130 years ago.



Yesterday also saw me coast downhill standing on the pegs and controlling speed with the rear brake. Went well, but that big wheel is all over the place.


Getting off has gotten dead easy now and I figured why riding feels so slow.
The ground is further away. I think that's it.
On the penny I rode a similar pace on the last km home to when I ride ssp bike on the same stretch and on the penny some 23-24 km/h feel more like 16-18 on the regular bike (the not ordinary... )

Of course this leads to ideas as to where to go and ride, so I'm thinking of a classic: ride around the Lake of Thun. There's quite some traffic and loads of motorbikes. Would have to do it very early in the morning. Obviously it has been done long ago on a penny and there's a record.

Fun to get an idea of how the riding, just the pure sensation of it, must have been some 130 years ago.

Not only that, but for those early pioneers, learning to ride a bike for the first time as well.

I recall riding rollers for the first time, and it was a weird feeling of having to learn to ride a bike all over again. The penny must be like that?

Ian wrote:Not only that, but for those early pioneers, learning to ride a bike for the first time as well.

no wonder what followed was called a "safety".

Ian wrote:I recall riding rollers for the first time, and it was a weird feeling of having to learn to ride a bike all over again. The penny must be like that?

No idea about riding on rollers

Many things are new, but lots of the riding of bikes can be translated to the penny. On my first go I took one go at scooting without getting in the saddle. On the second go I was on it and 200 m later already had made a tight turn. The riding is easy and hardly needs learing. Doing so and especially getting off with a degree of elegance takes a little practise.

As usual, speed is key. Once the big wheel has momentum it's quite a stable affair. In mountainbiking, when I follow slow riders through choppy terrain it never fails to impress me how harder it actually is to ride slow compared to blasting through rough stuff.

The penny amplifies this law of physics

Three accidental skids today. Two less accidental stop-jumps, some short spinning at 134 rpm and some traffic. Also single handed riding is starting to feel less intimidating.

I'm turning into a roadie with this penny...

Headset is a mess though. The lower cup is so loose, it spins in the head tube
I hope me fav mech can sort it out.

Now we're talking

I need that in my life!!!

Though despite the bling I'm not convinced that rear shock will do much good

Am I being a bit thick (usual answer is yes) in thinking that it could work too have a hub geared penny farthing with the cranks attached to the hub thus allowing gearing and free wheeling???

I'm not sure whether the rear shock would be a hindrance or a help either

Also not sure whether having a powerful disc brake on a front wheel that size is sensible or suicidal...

Amazing concept though, looks incredible!

gairym wrote:Am I being a bit thick (usual answer is yes) in thinking that it could work too have a hub geared penny farthing with the cranks attached to the hub thus allowing gearing and free wheeling???

I'm pretty sue the answer is yes The axle on a geared hub doesn't rotate and is fixed into the drop-outs. The hub rotates around it and the sprocket rotates at a different speed to the hub and is only on one side and would be inside the fork leg. I've been trying to imaging how it could be made to work but given how long hub gears have been around if it could work I'm sure someone would have already done it.

I can imaging how a free-wheel version could be made though, with the hub free to rotate around the crank axle and with a free-hub style pawls in the centre of the hub body.

Hub geared penny farthing must be possible using the same tech that geared unicycles have eg http://krisholm.com/en/gear/component/kh-schlumpf

NewRetroTom wrote:Hub geared penny farthing must be possible using the same tech that geared unicycles have eg http://krisholm.com/en/gear/component/kh-schlumpf

Wow It's making my brain hurt just trying to imagine how that works. That would indeed allow you to have a 2 speed penny farthing every day's a school day

A two speed penny farthing would indeed be vaguely exciting!

Shlumpf hubs are a bit pricey though.... CHF 1,421 + VAT + Shipping! So over £1,300!

This also caught my eye on their page

Geared hubs can be dangerous due to the high potential speed and the risk of unplanned dismounts during shifting. Ride within your limits!

Bad enough at unicycle heights above the ground but on a penny farthing

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Now we're talking

That superbly fun to look at. Quite funny to read the thoughts on designing it and see him use Magic Mary.
Happy to have Ian Fitz point it out on Twitter.

Truth is, the saddle wouldn't work and I'm very uncertain about that powerful front brake. Not for me then


What I would love on my Penny is some air in the tyres and more volume. It's skittish and harsh on gravel with the originals. I don't see Magic Mary on mine, but just a little more compliance and grip would be great.

Got the headset sorted yesterday and have gone beyond a total of 150 km on it. A few lessons learned during a steep learning curve and no header so far. Will post more soon. It's been an intersting journey I'd like to share.

I could be wrong as I've never ridden an ordinary, but this seems to have an incredibly relaxed head angle compared to any others I've seen. I'm wondering how that would affect the handling, and whether it'd even be rideable. A wheel that size with that angle would steer really slowly. Too slow for such a high CoG?

Unicyclepacking:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BphzXPzD-Qb ... bambdidcya

Oli.vert wrote:I could be wrong as I've never ridden an ordinary, but this seems to have an incredibly relaxed head angle compared to any others I've seen. I'm wondering how that would affect the handling, and whether it'd even be rideable. A wheel that size with that angle would steer really slowly. Too slow for such a high CoG?

The head angle on the UDC penny can be adjusted by lowering the frame with the collar above the rear wheel. In the beginning I rode it slightly steeper and had it soon all the way down, making it visibly slacker than before. Can't really remember a difference in steering, must have felt a little more sluggish, but it made riding much safer. When I repositioned myself in the saddle the rear wheel would get airborne for a brief moment in the steeper setting. Now I can move more freely without this happening. I can imagine going slacker to work.

techno mail wrote:Unicyclepacking:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BphzXPzD-Qb ... bambdidcya

nice one