Anyone tried it? And no, I’m not talking about the Coker wheel man. We’re talking about a real Penny like UDC sells with 48"+ tire.
I know it’s got a boneshaker tire.
I know it’s got a big wheel.
I know it’s not ideal.
But has anyone done it? I love 36er muni, and believe that in some aspects, it’s easier. Wonder if that’d carry over with a bigger wheel.
I think the farhing would throw you off the penny …
Those wheels aren’t very strong. I don’t think they could put up with much before they taco.
We had a “Boneshaker” brand bike at the shop in Chicago, and even with the right tension the wheel was pretty flexy. Couple that with the hard rubber tire, and rough terrain becomes questionable. An interesting note is that the first American paved roads were done due to the increasing popularity of bicycles, and the need for smoother roads.
Oh well, dare to dream right?
Dream away…
…And, if it gets past the dreaming phase get it on video!
Maybe you can cobble together a pneumatic 50" tire. Think of the rollover capabilities. I bet you could cruise right over a 4" log without noticing it.
I’m an advocate of mountain unicycling but when I look at this picture I can’t help but smile 
You think the goofy comments we get now are annoying…Just imagine… 
I do like the matching suits tho…
Where did you find that pitcher?
Image search on this one gives some nice results.
This vid is unfortunately on lame version of penny farthing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqTpw6L2pI
You can find the photo here, unfortunately not many other offroad ones: http://rmhwonline.com/PhotoGallery.html
and this posts have more cool photos: http://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/915318-69ers.html#post16121023, http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2014/09/26/seeing-montana-world-penny-farthing/16248789/.
Modern Pennies are considerably stronger than the old ones, they use some new tricks. The frames are CrMo and the wheels are made with modern stainless spokes with double wall 6061 aluminium rims. We have not had a single wheel bend or buckle so far.
As for use off road… are you mad! The chances of doing a header is massive and unlike a unicycle you can not step away from them and you are high! the wheels spin even on the slightest wet ground.
Saying this, the small ones can be used off road and are more like bikes. Even raced against a pair of them at mountain mayhem a few years ago.
Roger
agreed. Crazy idea. far outweighing danger factor of any Muniing.
easy to stall or topple forward on uneven terrain putting the top of your head straight into the ground. The handle bars usually catch legs and your stuck in the riding position all the way to the ground… then the bike will land on you!
Originally pennys i think were raced on hard pack or clay. commuters would have had smooth unsealed roads of very fine gravel or compacted dust.
They are great for todays roads but i wont be going bush with mine anytime soon. if the trees dont take me out the thought of a broken collar bone, arm, back, skull fracture or worse spine compression (easily fatal) will not be preventable by skill or a lousy helmet. There is a reason they didnt wear helmets on bikes in 1870’s
The UDC pennies are laced with Velocity rims and rather large guage spokes. I have no doubt they will take alot of punishment. The size of the rim might aid in some forgiveness too? just a thought i had
36er soo much safer and practical. except big climbs…
Yeah, of course you would know. I haven’t actually seen a modern one in person. I’ve ridden the old Boneshaker (very briefly), and I’ve seen a variety of different antique Pennies. So, from my limited experience it would taco, but as I said “limited.” Modern parts are so much better in so many ways it doesn’t surprise me that you have had good success with them.
I can’t agree more about the danger factor though. That seems nuts.
Cool picture, I didn’t know the BeeGee’s were into penny farthing!
I have a 45" old-school Big Wheel unicycle, with heavy rim, hard rubber tire, etc. The tire has low clearance (rim only about 1/2" off the ground); so even riding on gravel has a tendency to shoot rocks out to the sides when they’re the right size. Any kind of truly rough terrain would make flat spots in the rim. While I used to ride it in New York City parades (rough pavement), that did do rim damage.
Not even great on roads, actually! Hard tires are good if they’re all you have. From the moment I got my Coker, the old 45" has barely been used for anything besides parades. It’s still really good at that (spins, pirouettes, BIG), but it’s no fun for long rides. Give me my smaller-but-air-filled tire any time!
For those not familiar with penny-farthing riding, beyond the weakness of the wheel (even modern ones are relatively weak due to their size) there is also the lack of traction, weight and shortness of crank arms to work against you. It might be fun on some easy trails, but your wheel would take a beating.
Short cranks on hills do pose a legitimate struggle in climbing given the large wheel and weight of the wheel and bike itself.
Still these are far more forgiving than a carbon road bike. If you can introduce a pneumatic tyre to suit i love love to try one.
I would call a 700c tyre @ 110psi a ‘hard tyre’ much harder than the green racer penny tyre on the UDC pennies
Roger has mentioned not one Velocity penny rim has been returned to him for truing. Either
a) he doesnt sell many… or
b) no one takes them back when they need fixing
Possibly
c) although the size/ strength component still they are comparably strong enough for roads, gravel, uneven surfaces, holes, driveway gutters. Anything that doesnt send one for a header them seem to hold up fine. Higher spoke count must have more gain other than negative weight gain. These are strong alloy double walled. unless you jump on the wheel when its laying down on the ground they are strong
if i ran longer cranks there would be only 2 hills in my city i probably could still not climb on a penny. Pennies developed into race bikes before the geared bikes came along. strength and road surface matters little when its a 1/4mile smooth sloped track. My penny after riding all bike and uni sized wheels is the more efficient and comfortable. Geared or ungeared. Not necessarily the fastest by any means.
I you havent ridden one, ride one. if you didnt like what they offer. Ride it more!?
More people each year are racing Pennies. Strange to hear this if they arent great on roads… They are only raced on roads. not velodromes anymore. Maybe oneday
After how many years since its invention people still ride pennies, a few companies (4 im aware of) and custom builders (3 i am aware of in AUS. Not one time builders) still make these bikes.
i would love to compare penny sales internationally to Schlumpf hub sales…
You’ve got to remember Schlumpf hubs are kind of a niche product – among unicyclists. There is no comparison to any bike market, even at the novelty ends. I’m sure the market is orders of magnitude bigger than for Schlumpf hubs.
Yes, it’s true most of the pennies I’ve ridden have somewhat softer rubber than the gray wheelchair rubber on mine. That’s hard stuff; at least equivalent to 100 psi on a bike. The rim is made from two old Schwinn 26" tubular rims (heavy steel). The original wheel was made from three rims, but Tom Miller got better at the technique and was able to make it work with only two for my 1994 re-make. I’m sure Roger’s rims are much better!
Also size is a big factor. I didn’t know about Roger’s UDC pennys and just looked them up. Wow! Very cool, and bigger than my old big wheel! I’m sure they can take more of a beating.
Thinking of trail riding, I imagine one of the other challenges will be that the high perch of the rider will make it harder to respond to sudden changes in pitch of the bike. If you get thrown forward much, it puts the rider’s CG in front of the axle and can lead to a header. Still, it would always be easier than riding just the front wheel on its own. 
I’ve tried offroad riding briefly on my mini-penny (29" front wheel). The main problem I found was not being able to get my weight far back enough when going down steep hills. Its possible to ride sitting/hovering behind the seat, but in this position its hard to apply enough torque to the pedals in order to slow the wheel down! Maybe a freewheeling hub and disc brake it would be more practical, though I’ve no intention of rebuilding my wheel any time soon…
It’s been done…
Howdy all,
I’ve been planning on building a 36"/20"muni penny for a while now, have it designed and all, but sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way of fun projects…
I have a 36" wheel built up with the disc hub tony linked above, compete with Todd tyre. I also built a 20" disc wheel for the back end with a bmx dirt tyre, and a disc ready trials fork that I plan on using as the back fork. I also have all the other bits and pieces in the shed (brakes, bars, stem, headset, grips), just missing a backbone and front fork. Plus I need to find the time to get the rest of it all together. Hopefully sometime soon, but a young family, wife, work, band and house take up most of my waking hours!
Some guys in oz made some muni penny prototypes a while back. You can watch the cool video here
My geometry will be a little different to the buck20, but the idea is the same.
The muni penny will complete my quiver, and fill the gap between my mini pennies (2 x 29"/12") and my maxi penny (54"/16").
Cheers,
Dmac