Videos: Penny-farthing crashes compilation ... it's a long way down

If you've been to the Rapha Nocturne in London over the past decade, you may well have caught the penny-farthing race and it really is a sight to behold as the riders whizz around at impressive speeds on the bikes, also known as high wheelers or ordinaries.

You'll have noticed too, that it's a long way down from the saddle to the ground, and when things go wrong, there's a big risk of the rider suffering what in penny-farthing circles is termed a "header" - that's pretty much a "faceplant" to the rest of us.

We thought about this today when we spotted this tweet from Antoine Vayer, showing a nasty looking crash during a penny farthing race.

Comme un Jeudi pic.twitter.com/yKOfDYTpj2

— Antoine VAYER (@festinaboy) October 26, 2017

It turns out that penny-farthing crashes are a bit of a genre on YouTube. Hopefully the riders involved emerged relatively unscathed - although the first one here, filmed on board at a special edition of the London Nocturne at the London Bike Show in January 2013, left Joff Summerfield with a broken elbow despite the fact he was wearing elbow pads.

And after all those crashes, here's one of a penny-farthing rider bombing (well, in relative terms) around the BMX park in Stockwell, South London.