Originally published at: Want to ride a penny-farthing? You need a top hat! | Boing Boing
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You’ll need a
top hatcrash helmet!
“An attribute of the penny-farthing is that the rider sits high and nearly over the front axle. When the wheel strikes rocks and ruts, or under hard braking, the rider can be pitched forward off the bicycle head-first. Headers were relatively common and a significant, sometimes fatal, hazard. Riders coasting down hills often took their feet off the pedals and put them over the tops of the handlebars, so they would be pitched off feet-first instead of head-first.”
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The top hat helmet in the video was definitely the best piece of tech.
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Because the pavement doesn’t care what you just fell off of.
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As a long term road bike, MTB, tandem and recumbent rider, the first problem I see when I look at one of these is stopping it quickly and safely - without toppling. I find it surprising that wasn’t on @jlw’s list. I have bike commuted for several years in the past, but the idea of using a penny farthing in even light traffic gives me the jeebies.
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My reluctance to further consider the penny-farthing is based on its size and my lack of an appropriate place to store it without fear of theft and vandalism.
Plus, traffic lights and stop signs weren’t much in evidence back then. Try stopping every five mins in traffic on one of these!
Still, at least you have a good helmet - you’d need it.
ETA Yeah, what @NoTouchPaw said
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You said it! I wouldn’t take a contraption like that even on a Dutch bicycle path when in full armour. There is a reason the modern bike frame was marketed as a safety bicycle 
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Essentially a custom made top hat cover over a thin, but still effective skull cap.
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I do not want to ride one of those, ever.
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Just when I finally got comfortable watching him, he goes and puts on a coat with tails that dangle down around the wheel.
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Such a weird invention. It’s as though the automobile went through a phase where suddenly the majority of them were monster trucks for a couple decades. Apparently it was made this way because the larger wheel allowed for greater speed, because people really wanted to kill themselves in gruesome head-first bike accidents back then, I guess.
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It’d be cool if he could pop a wheelie.
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That would be fun to try. Wonder how long it will take to grow a mustache I could twirl?
You would need a suitable bike rack. They race them every year in Maryland. Looks like this year’s race is canceled due to the pandemic but that gives you a year to train for 2022!
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Sounds like the beginning of a good, Brit comedy sketch “Once in Hell, you will be forced to ride a Penny-Farthing for Eternity.”
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