The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle distinguished by its large front wheel and comparatively small back wheel. It was popular in the 1
A penny-farthing in the Škoda Auto Museum, Czech Republic
Velocipede c.1870 by Eugène Meyer of Paris, Wielermuseum, Roeselare, Belgium, 2012
Advertisement for "Ariel" bicycle, c.1873
Singer "Xtraordinary", 1879, Coventry Transport Museum, 2009
A safety bicycle is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this st
Penny-farthing
…bicycles, which provided similar speed, via a chain-driven gear train, and comfort, from the use of pneumatic tires. These later bikes were marketed as "safety bicycles" because of the greater ease of mounting and dismounting, the reduced danger of falling, and the reduced height to fall, in comparison to penny-farthings…
1885 Rover safety bicycle in the London Science Museum
1887 advertisement for a safety bicycle, Wolverhampton, England
Early safety bicycle (c. 1879) in the Coventry Transport Museum
1884 McCammon safety bicycle