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.
11 thoughts on “Videos: Penny-farthing crashes compilation … it’s a long way down”
Buggering shiteballs –
Buggering shiteballs – another “must have”.
Is this what the n+1 is for?
Is this what the n+1 is for? Think I might pass.
I think this is what
I think this is what SingleSpeed rides.
Stupid hipsters.
Stupid hipsters.
Somebody ought to invent a
Somebody ought to invent a safety bicycle
Still not as funny as
Still not as funny as triathletes crashing in transition zones.
Faceplanting hipsters? Thanks
Faceplanting hipsters? Thanks road.cc!!
Look! Bikes with no front
Look! Bikes with no front brake – and legal with it.
A V Lowe wrote:
they do have front brakes.
Just one question, WHY WHY
Just one question, WHY WHY WHY! People stopped riding this things for a very a number of very good reasons.
I have no doubt there are legions of tweed wearning beard & mustachioed people that have convinced themselves these things are superior in every way over every thing made since. They wear tweed to ride FFS! Nuf Said!
Saw a Penny Farthing e-bike
Saw a Penny Farthing e-bike at the NEC bike show recently, think they missed a trick as it had nowhere to plug in a moustache trimmer. Lots of pre-gear bikes were silly, they still are, these at least look good though.