Cool Vintage Photos of Victorian People Posing With Their Penny-Farthings – Design You Trust

Cool Vintage Photos of Victorian People Posing With Their Penny-Farthings

The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, was the first machine to be called a “bicycle”. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds (owing to it traveling a large distance for every rotation of the legs) and comfort (the large wheel provides greater shock absorption).

h/t: vintag.es

It became obsolete from the late 1880s with the development of modern bicycles, which provided similar speed amplification via chain-driven gear trains and comfort through pneumatic tires, and were marketed in comparison to penny-farthings as “safety bicycles” because of the reduced danger of falling and the reduced height to fall from.

The name came from the British penny and farthing coins, the former being much larger than the latter, so that the side view resembles a larger penny leading a smaller farthing.

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.

Take a look at these cool vintage photos to see Victorian people posing with their penny-farthings from between the 1870s and 1890s.






























If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Oh, Design You Trust,' our brand new Facebook page! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

These Photo Portraits Of People Watching Porn Are Funny, Sweet And Very Awkward
A Time Travel To The Happy Childhood Times In The Soviet Russia
Famous People And World Leaders Reimagined As Hipsters By Amit Shimoni
Hilarious Vintage X-Rated Movie Posters From Your Dad's Era
Private Companies have Liftoff
Nostalgic Photos of Kurt Cobain Wearing a “Hi, How Are You” T-Shirt
Gold ATM Activated, but not for Long
Warsteiner International Hot Air Balloon Show
The Futuristic World as Envisioned by Echte Wagner Advertising Cards, 1930
Schlörwagen: The Bizarre German Car from 1939 that Was Super-Aerodynamic but Very Impractical
Beautiful Vintage Photos Show How Cool Moms Were in the 1960s
A Photo Set of The 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix D-500, a Reflection of The Jet-Age Styling of The Late 1950s
Incredible Photos Show LA’s Notorious Crips Gangsters Posing With Drugs And Guns In The 90s
Stunning Vintage Advertising of 1948-49 Futuramic Oldsmobile
This Artist Turns People Into Aliens By Drawing Faces On Their Backs
Wonderful Photos That Prove People Had More Class In The Past
The Unique Hairstyles of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Stunning Interior Views Of The Central Social Institution In Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1937
Rideable «Kuratas» Robot Mecha Unveiled at Wonder Festival
"Wakka Wakka Wakka": Amazing Nostalgic Video Game Artworks By Rachid Lotf
eBay And Jonathan Adler Launch The Inspiration Shop In NYC
The America We Lost: Fascinating Found Photos Show How Life of the US Looked Like in the 1960s
Capturing the Short Shorts Phenomenon in a Photo Journey Through the 70s and 80s
Chinese Men Build Homemade Airbus A320 Passenger Jet