Wow, I just bought myself a new wheel. It is not a unicycle, but a penny
farthing with a 42" front wheel and a 12" rear wheel.
I am already dreaming of removing the frame and riding it as a unicycle.
Wayne van Wijk wayne@jester.com.au
Visit www.jester.com.au for Entertainment, Workshops and Circus Supplies
wayne@jester.com.au (Wayne van Wijk) wrote in
<004401c0e72a$4b047580$96322fca@pavilion>:
>Wow, I just bought myself a new wheel. It is not a unicycle, but a penny
>farthing with a 42" front wheel and a 12" rear wheel.
>
>I am already dreaming of removing the frame and riding it as a unicycle.
>
Wayne
Where’d you get the wheel ? In oz, or did you import ?
Phil
Could you give us a picture by any chance?
Getting nine women pregnant doesn’t get you a baby in a month. You just
get 81 babies. -Dilbert.com
“Wayne van Wijk” <wayne@jester.com.au> wrote in message
news:004401c0e72a$4b047580$96322fca@pavilion…
> Wow, I just bought myself a new wheel. It is not a unicycle, but a penny
> farthing with a 42" front wheel and a
12"
> rear wheel.
>
> I am already dreaming of removing the frame and riding it as a unicycle.
>
> Wayne van Wijk wayne@jester.com.au
>
> ____________________
>
> Visit www.jester.com.au for Entertainment, Workshops and Circus Supplies
> ____________________
Wayne,
The story goes that unicycling was “invented” by penny farthing riders who
discovered that they could lift the small wheel. Is that something you
have tried and is it easy to do?
I recently rode a bicycle with a direct drive rear wheel (equal size to
front wheel which had handlebars) and it was easy to ride on the rear
wheel only. I’d imagine it’s more difficult on your penny farthing.
Klaas
On 27 May 2001 21:00:30 -0700, wayne@jester.com.au (Wayne van Wijk) wrote:
>Wow, I just bought myself a new wheel. It is not a unicycle, but a penny
>farthing with a 42" front wheel and a 12" rear wheel.
>
>I am already dreaming of removing the frame and riding it as a unicycle.
>
>Wayne van Wijk wayne@jester.com.au
>
>____________________
>
>Visit www.jester.com.au for Entertainment, Workshops and Circus Supplies
>____________________
>
>
–
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “gun, Lybia, terrorist”
> The story goes that unicycling was “invented” by penny farthing riders
> who discovered that they could lift the small wheel. Is that something
> you have tried and is it easy to do?
The level of difficulty is in direct proportion to the size and weight of
the bike. I used to do this trick on a small penny farthing bicycle that
was part of the Bill Jenack collection. This was a Japanese-made bike
from the 60’s, with a 28" front and 16" rear wheel, basically a penny
farthing for kids. You can see a picture of a young John Jenack riding it
if you own a copy of Jack Wiley’s Bicycle Builders’ Bible (available from
the USA inc.).
In the 1980s we painted this bike all black, to make it look antique.
It worked very well! I used it in some shows and period events. Because
of its small size and light weight, it was easy to get it up on the
front wheel, and keep a little pressure on the seat to keep the back
wheel in line.
But I have also tried it on a 46" Rideable Replicas bike, and it’s a lot
harder. I did this in a show the other day, in downtown Davis, CA. Davis
uses a penny farthing as the city logo, so I felt some responsibility to
get it right. But with only one minute of pre-show practice, my
demonstration was less than perfect. The bike weighs probably 60# or more,
and you’re way up there on that seat. Don’t want to have to dismount
forward, because those handlebars are in the way! The dreaded header.
To ride the penny farthing on the front wheel you have to build a small
amount of speed, then apply braking force to lift the rear wheel. Once
it’s up, you have to do two things. First, balance yourself on that
front wheel, which is plenty heavy (and the crank arms may be short).
Second, you have to keep the frame and rear wheel relatively centered,
or they’ll fall to the side and scrape the ground (followed by you
scraping the ground).
For best results, I try to keep the seat against my butt, by applying some
pressure to the handlebars. So all you have to do to master this
“historic” unicycling trick is to be able to do that, while riding that
front wheel with your hands on the bars.
Yes, expect it to take some practice. Before tackling it seriously,
practice dismounting to the side. Protect the bike as it may bend on
impact. If you don’t have experience with big wheel unicycles, try to get
some, as it will help a lot when you’re up there.
Good luck, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com
Frisbatarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on
the roof and gets stuck there.
It will be a while before I get to this sort of confidence.
The wheel has been made using the standard hub and lollipop bearing
holders from a cheap taiwanese unicycle so I am hesitant to push it too
far.
When I get a phot done it will go up on my website.
Until then,
Bye,
Wayne
----- Original Message ----- From: “John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com>
To: “‘Klaas Bil’” <klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl>;
<unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Wednesday, 30 May 2001 2:24 Subject:
RE: new wheel
> > The story goes that unicycling was “invented” by penny farthing riders
> > who discovered that they could lift the small wheel. Is that something
> > you have tried and is it easy to do?
>
> The level of difficulty is in direct proportion to the size and
> weight of the bike. I used to do this trick on a small penny farthing
> bicycle that
was
> part of the Bill Jenack collection. This was a Japanese-made bike from
> the 60’s, with a 28" front and 16" rear wheel, basically a penny
> farthing for kids. You can see a picture of a young John Jenack riding
> it if you own a copy of Jack Wiley’s Bicycle Builders’ Bible (available
> from the USA
inc.).
>
> In the 1980s we painted this bike all black, to make it look antique. It
> worked very well! I used it in some shows and period events. Because of
its
> small size and light weight, it was easy to get it up on the front
> wheel, and keep a little pressure on the seat to keep the back wheel
> in line.
>
> But I have also tried it on a 46" Rideable Replicas bike, and it’s a lot
> harder. I did this in a show the other day, in downtown Davis, CA. Davis
> uses a penny farthing as the city logo, so I felt some responsibility to
get
> it right. But with only one minute of pre-show practice, my
> demonstration was less than perfect. The bike weighs probably 60# or
> more, and you’re
way
> up there on that seat. Don’t want to have to dismount forward, because
those
> handlebars are in the way! The dreaded header.
>
> To ride the penny farthing on the front wheel you have to build a small
> amount of speed, then apply braking force to lift the rear wheel. Once
it’s
> up, you have to do two things. First, balance yourself on that front
wheel,
> which is plenty heavy (and the crank arms may be short). Second,
> you have
to
> keep the frame and rear wheel relatively centered, or they’ll fall to
> the side and scrape the ground (followed by you scraping the ground).
>
> For best results, I try to keep the seat against my butt, by applying
> some pressure to the handlebars. So all you have to do to master this
“historic”
> unicycling trick is to be able to do that, while riding that front wheel
> with your hands on the bars.
>
> Yes, expect it to take some practice. Before tackling it seriously,
practice
> dismounting to the side. Protect the bike as it may bend on impact.
> If you don’t have experience with big wheel unicycles, try to get
> some, as it
will
> help a lot when you’re up there.
>
> Good luck, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
> www.unicycling.com
>
>
> Frisbatarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up
> on the roof and gets stuck there.