Why the wheels on old timey bicycles were so big
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- Опубліковано 18 гру 2023
- Penny farthing for a reason.
More info and sources at bottom.
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Fun fact: another reason why the penny farthing wheels were so big is because a bigger wheel helped to dampen road vibrations. Bikes in the 1800s didn't have pneumatic tires (tires filled with air). The wheels typically just had hard rubber attached to them, making for a very bumpy and not-so-comfortable ride on these not-so-great roads. So, what was the solution? Make the wheel bigger to allow for more vibration dampening!
So it's the exact same thing as a regular skateboards wheels vs a cruiser set up
It is a geometry thing. Wider circumference arc bridges bumps and cracks.
And a way to have a faster gearing while maintaining light weight. Safety bikes were clunky heavy, bumpy and went slow until pneumatic tires and gearing.
We are so used to hollow aluminum tube frames. These big wheel old penny farthings mostly had solid tube frames but went faster than horse carriages.
Anyone familiar with using or pushing wheelchairs understands bigger wheels give smoother rides.
Wow now this is the real reason
Nice
Gary Oldman’s commissioner Gordner is just a wealth of knowledge
I was going to comment little finger but I like yours better
Lol
Perfect 👌
Goddammit i came here to say this!
The lack people cycling in full dinner dress in the modern age is a sign of our degradation
Reject modernity, embrace tradition.
We have returned to monke
😂😂😂
The black people? The lack of people? Fix your English!
You know like dress for dinner am I right?
They were compensating. Penny-farthings were the flashy sports cars of their day.
not wrong!
No, they were the lifted pick up truck
@@PhilEdwardsInchow did people hop on to them??
@@martinverner7390sometimes people say they propped them against a fence, but really there was a little peg 99% of the time about halfway up - serves as a ladder. you can see it in the model in this short if you squint.
@@PhilEdwardsInc whoa. Thanks for the info!
I couldn't see myself comfortably riding one of those.. I like the thin tire road bikes. Tried the fat tire ones for the winter and wasn't a big fan of those.
They didn’t jump up. There was a peg about halfway up. They put 1 foot on and then step up into the seat. Kind of like horseback saddle. 😊
Put a foot on the peg, then get it rolling like a velocipede, then sit and pedal.
@@aaronfreeman5264 yes, what i said. Lol
I’m a bicycle technician and we have an original 1887 Penny Farthing made in Boston.
@zachmoore4550 Have you ridden it?
You better have ridden it
That's crazy! I made Boston on a penny Farthing!
Obviously not true, but that is truly amazing. Has it been ridden lately?
I have ridden one. It's a little bit terrifying at first, but you get used to it quickly. It's a good thing they have no breaks. Stopping fast is very bad,
Sweet. there was a guy in my neighborhood who used to ride one. He was into that steam punk stuff I think.
Remember your tricycle when you were a kid?
That's a miniature penny farthing...
Conventional mini bikes are designed to turn kids off from motorcycles, and learn how to install new mailboxes.
Conventional petal tricycles are designed to turn kids off from trikes. Big wheel trikes are Perfect. Ingenious. Including the plastic tires allowing spinning out
👍😁👍
Learning something new every day!
@@senatorjosephmccarthy2720mailboxes what
I've been wondering this ALL my life, thank you. I feel like an itch that's been there for ages just got scratched lol
I knew that but I did not know is that they used to call what are now our normal bicycles "safety bicycles". 🤯
Kind of like how they call single bladed razors safety razors, they're safer than a straight razor but much easier to cut yourself with than a modern cartridge razor.
I didnt expect Gary Oldman to be a bicycle history enthusiast
One of those answers that makes so much sense, I have to wonder how it never occurred to me before now…
Finally someone brave enough to address the real issues
I had absolutely no idea why these bikes were ever a thing. They’re so goofy looking. Thank you for educating us!
Thank you for getting this message out there. It's time we talked about it.
THIS.
Phil Edwards Engineering - could be a new channel. Loved this short, great way to explain a simple concept
Actually they had gears before. The roads were very rough back in those days and larger wheel roll smoother on those type of roads. It provided better ride quality on rougher uneven roads.
The inevitable AKSCHWUALLY comment.
The gears weren't reliable and widespread. No need for this smartassing.
@@aliceeliot6389 When you are dump and confident. Reading will help you to become a smart ass. Don’t be that loud idiot. Pneumatic tires made smaller wheels rideable.
@@aliceeliot6389 lol. Hey troll. Do some reading instead. Pneumatic tires made smaller wheels rideable.
On the penny farthing, stoping was a serious problem.
If you could stop suddenly you'd likely rotate over the handlebars.
"The only way we move forward" in that dry tone got me.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!!! Ive been wonsering this my entire life.
I could listen to you ramble all day about random stuff
Hey cool!! I dont have to call them bicentennials anymore. Thank you for expanding my knowledge on the subject. It is always appreciated
Just when I thought I was having a very bad, no good kind of day this short popped up on my YT feed and made me smile 😀.
Thanks for making my day (and historical bicycle knowledge) a little bit better. Have a great day, Phil ✌️
I feel like I simultaneously just learned this, and knew it all along.
I always wondered about the penny farthing and why the big front wheel thanks for this info.
Thank you for this profound information! It has totally changed my life.
Thank you for teaching some Important history.
I'm glad someone finally explained it. I've always wondered that.
Gary Oldman really getting into his role as a bicycle enthusiast.
I've just had to scroll through about 20 comments before finding your mention of Gary Oldman! 😄
@@dannythedoodle that's funny, I scrolled for awhile too because I thought somebody had to have said it already but I didn't see one so I thought why not
@@charliesimpson3658 Haha, I was expecting every other comment to be mentioning Gary! 😄
Thank you. That was amazingly explanatory.
I would Love to own a Modern Penny Farthing!!!! 🤠👍
Subbed for that dead pan sass 😂
I genuinely needed this answer.
" taking a header" is an expression originating with these bicycles.
Thank you for giving us the closure we needed, as a society, to heal from the pain of our collective penny farthing trauma 🙏
Little finger is a man of many talents
You have answered a decades old question Ive had. Thank you!
I've literally wondered about this for years. Thank you
One of the most important historical issues and yet I have never stumbled on the answer until now. Thank you.
The rear derailleur of those times was an amazing feat of engineering. I love where the bikes have come from snd how far they have gone.
I saw pictures like that before, but never knew why the wheels were so big before.
I was this many years old when I learned about those quaint bikes...
Thank you for doing this!
Thank you, commissioner Gordon.
Nah, that’s Littlefinger
Another wonderful innovation was putting pneumatic tires on bicycles. The next leap was frame and fork suspension.
My father and I have a Coker 36 inch Penny, I can’t imagine going bigger on the wheel because the current pedal stroke to wheel ratio is perfect. It’s slower compared to BMX style bike gear ratios and isn’t multi speed like my street bike but it has a decent pace and a lot of climbing power. You won’t think it your first couple times riding them but, as long as you don’t lean too forward, they can handle a lot of different terrain.
I actually need to ride it more and get more confident to the point I could safely mess around on my local BMX track with it. Maybe I’ll start with skate park though, the kids in my city would love seeing me attempt to orbit in the bowl.
My hometown Frederick, Maryland is I believe the only place in the nation who hosts a bicycle race for these penny farthing high wheel bicycles. Fun to watch 😊
I've literally seen a guy riding a penny farthing a few weeks ago in Cheltenham, UK 🇬🇧
I was always curious about that. Thank you for letting us know about it.🎉
Thanks for sharing the science behind the design😊😊
I feel like one day I’m going to read the IMDb profile for this channel and realize that the reason phil looked familiar is because he was played by Gary Oldman and I didn’t recognize him because his acting was just so good!
Growing Up We Had an Antique Penny Farthing Type Child’s Tricycle. It Had a Huge Front Wheel 🛞 and Spring Suspended Leather Seat and You Had To Climb Up It As A Toddler. But It Was a Tricycle So You Actually Didn’t Die Trying. But Man Did You Have To Peddle Harder Stand Up On The Pedals And Rock It To Get The Momentum To Get It Going. It Helped If Someone Pushed Your Trike From The Seat or Trike Platform To Start 🛫 Off.
I'm old enough to actually feel satisfied for finally having an answer that I was curious about, but not enough to research it.
The world might have ended without this video, thank you kind sir.
it's my duty
You are A hero my friend! It's about time someone Is brave enough
to finally say it. you are my hero
Agreed, Observant Sir. This issue for me is finally laid. Thanks.
About 8yrs ago, I worked with a guy who's son was a Doctor and broke his wrist when he crashed his bike in a Penny-Farthing race. I honestly didn't know they still had them, or raced them
I have wondered myself.
Thanks for sharing!
I bet I was one of the last kids to grow up with one of these in the yard. I was too young to really know, but my grandpa must have really worked to maintain it.
Penny Farthing is such a good name. If anyone doesnt get it, an old british penny was like 4 times the size of a US cent. And a farthing was about the size of the US cent. The wheels kinda have that proportion going on.
Penny farthings we're also dangerous bc of the super high center of mass, resulting in the rider flying ass up over the handle bars anytime there was an abrupt stop.
I was just wondering this! Thanks for the explanation.
Thank you for answering this question I forgot I had
I have wanted to ask those questions for so long. Thank you.
The first time I saw a Penny-farthing as a very young kid (I'm 70 and American), I asked my grandfather what it was. He said, "It's an ordinary." That's all I knew them as until the TV series, "The Prisoner" in 1969 popularized them again.
Very interesting. I'd never thought of speed as a factor in the size of the wheel. On the downside, they must have been a heck of a job to get up a hill!
Saftey bicycle vs the ordinary bicycle: It's the bicycle we deserve, but not the bicycle we need right now.
I have a 1900 sears book with those bicycles. Back then you could even get a holster for the bike.
I also think the concept of a chain wasn't thought of until later since gears had been around for a while.
This seems likely. Chain drives had been around for millennia in some form, but I think the modern chain and sprocket was invented just before the penny farthing, but I guess it may have taken some time for the idea to spread, and for it to be reliable and miniaturised enough for use on a bicycle
Thanks for this!
Fun fact, they also wanted to be higher up so it felt like they were riding a horse, and so you were on high-level with people who are also riding horses next to the bicycles
Interesting! And I have had a recurring dream for years that I am falling off of one of these. I always wake up just before I hit the ground. 😮
I feel like we should make a petition to have a tour de France Style bicycle race with the old bicycles.😂
I always wonderred so thank you for this.
Things i never knew i wanted to know but am glad i do. You itched a scratch i didnt know i had.
Gearing ratios used to be expressed in 'wheel inches' indicating the equivalent size of penny farthing front wheel. That went on until surprisingly recently.
A life long question has been answered! Thank you sir 🎉
Most places has carriage blocks 😂 … this was to make it easier to get on and off horses or out of carriages/wagons. People probably were not jumping up and down off them 😂.
Even as a child our tricycles had the hard rubber tire.
It is a topic so many are afraid to talk about, finally thank you! long overdue!
Changes effective final drive ratio, like a taller set of tires improving a cars freeway manners
I always wondered about this!! Thanks~
Gears existed, they had clocks, so why did it take so long for them to figure this out?
They had gears, but a rugged and practical way of mounting gears on a bicycle and getting good market presence didn't happen until the safety bicycle.
Thank you for that information, Gary Oldman.
In 1802, Richard Trevithick patented a "high pressure engine" and created the first steam-powered locomotive engine on rails. Trevithick wrote on February 21, 1804, after the trial of his High Pressure Tram-Engine, that he "carry'd ten tons of Iron, five wagons, and 70 Men
Thank you 🙏🏼 for explaining what Inquiring minds want to know.
Dude looks like the mayor from batman dark knight
The address on that bicycle ad is five blocks down the same road from where my parents lived when I was born. We lived on the 800-block of Asylum Street in the 1980s.
That was actually interesting, thank you!
Thank you! I’ve always wondered this!
Am I the only one who thought that this was the guy who played Commissioner Gordon in the Nolan Batman movies for a split second? 😂
When I was a kid there was a guy who rode a bike like this on the Boardwalk ( or broad walk don't come for me) in Hollywood, FL 😁
Very good explanation thnx.
Thanks for sharing, I never knew ✌🏻
I have always wondered about this thank you for the explanation
For those of you who are curious, a British penny is physically bigger than a farthing and the bicycle resembled one penny and one farthing rolling down the street. Thus the agnomen.
This is why I love history.
Regular bikes existed. *Gears* existed! But no one thought of putting them together until every other _ridiculous_ option had been exhausted. And we still haven't changed a thing 🤦♀️
Thanks Gary Oldman for teaching me about bicycles
It also helped with bumps, because the wheel was bigger it hurt less on bumps
Who knew Gary Oldman knew so much about bikes.
I wondered that my self recently. Thank you