Old fashioned bicycle: Penny-Farthing (Penny-Farting)

Really cool Bicycle on the road today

Most of the time, nothing surprises me. Yesterday, while test riding my new bicycle around town, a high-rise bicycle passed me by. And, I thought, WTF? Did I just pass through a time portal? Nobody generally rides these things anymore because they aren't practical.  But, this passed me and was going good time. 

 I pulled up beside him at a red light, and asked him, “How long have you had this thing? It's really cool.”

“Oh, two years.”

Keep in mind that he had to dismount his bike every time he stopped at a light. But, he certainly got a lot of stares, and he was making some nice speeds on the thing. I liked this older man's style. He was keeping it old school...old-old school.

Now, the bike goes by the name penny-farthing. And, yes, I thought it was first called Penny-Farting. You know, for a guy that farts pennies. The bike also goes by the name High Wheeler. These Penny-farthing (farting) were the first bicycles. While riding around on a old bike might be considered a hipster move, this guy was an old dude, so that makes it perfectly okay. (It was a fixed gear bike)

The name comes from the terms penny and the British coin Farthing. If you put a regular penny besides a Farthing coin, the penny is much larger and looks like the high wheeler bike.

When I saw that picture, I thought, Wow, that's pretty cool. 

 

 Failed...