Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel
Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the velocipede, or boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle. They were the first machines to be called 'bicycles'. The description 'penny-farthing' refers to British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing, though this expression does not appear in print until 1927. The description 'ordinary', a retronym, was used to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles. Hi-wheel or HiWheel is used in several modern commercial applications. About 1870, James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size, because larger front wheels, up to m (60 in) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. In 1878 Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside of Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America. Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport.
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