Penny Farthing Dan
Handmade Penny Farthing bicycles by Dan Bolwell
They aren't just a bicycle, they're a piece of art
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Wheels
The wheel size is generally but not limited to between 44" upto 60" based on intended use of the Penny Farthing as well as leg length. For e.g. if your doing lots of traffic and tight places you would consider a slightly smaller bike than your leg length will allow, if you want to head out on the open road you may consider as big as you can fit on. Within a range for each person the fit is an important consideration, most people can easily ride different wheel sizes of up to 4" or even more if the saddle design is also changes as well as the adjustment. Another important consideration is crank length. It is really important to select the size so that it is a pleasure to own and ride, Dan will discuss this further upon enquiry. Dan manufactures all his wheel in house to any size without limitations, the rims are either roll formed steel or from Dan's Penny Farthing dedicated designed aluminium extrusion rims, all purpose made for the intended use. The hubs are matched up to each rim so that the correct dimensions of all wheels have perfect geometry regardless of size without any compromise.
Front forks and backbone (main frame)
A Penny Farthing is under some unique and hard forces unlike a modern bicycle, the design of the two do not cross over from an engineering and design point of view, a modern bicycle has a lot of torsional and twisting forces and a Penny Farthing has a lot of leverage forces. A modern bicycle is all braced and secured through being made of braced triangles, whereas a Penny Farthing has no form of triangulations beyond the shape of the tubing itself. With this in mind Dan forms all the tubing in-house from raw material, the front forks are a blade and tapered shape with tubing wall thickness that varies along it's length to increase strength as the force goes along the tube from the wheel, this releases the stress from being at the end of the tubing which causes cracking and distributes it evenly along its length. The backbone is tapered and oval in shape with varied wall thickness to work in a similar way to the forks while also fitting every different wheel size perfectly. The entire main frame is made for the rider in every way without any compromise to performance, safety and comfort, the tube is lighter, feels amazing to ride and has the strength exactly where it needs to be and can even be tuned for your riding needs. The frame being correctly formed is critical to reliability, safety and performance and really distinguishes the design of the entire bicycle, nothing compares to a well made and fitted Penny Farthing.
Handlebars
There is a wide variety of handlebars you can fit onto your Penny Farthing and this comes back to a compromise between looks and practicality. The most popular is the 7\8" moustache bars with shovel handle style end grips, then there is straight moustache style bars without the shovel ends or for a really old look you can go with the smaller 5\8" bars with the bolt in centre. All handlebars are made to fit the riders body dimensions to ensure a neutral and comfortable position and ultimate control, it's always easy to spot a well fitted rider as they are more comfortable, much faster and safer of their bike. Dan has accumulated 20 yrs of rider fit and information into a database which is used to design the entire bike to your body including the handlebars.
Seat
Seats are a handmade leather seat that will mould to your shape and become very comfortable, they have been proven over Century rides (160ks or 100miles) and multiple day rides of about 1000ks a week. Dan hand forms every saddle in 2 different shapes, a wider more relaxed shape and a narrower and more sporty shape, the leather is chosen for its thickness to suit you individually. The hardware that mounts the saddle ingrates with the Penny Farthing to utilise the available space without compromising wheel size options. The design spreads the load of the rider through the backbone of the bike so that it ties in with the bike and balances through the bike and not into one location. Being leather they do take a little care and maintenance particularly if they get wet and they must be kept tight.
Rear step
The rear step is usually on the left side at a convenient height, this can be attached on the right side also or two steps can be added, two steps are highly recommended, in fact it is a real advantage to have double steps for down hill coasting and diverse use, the only reason to choose the traditional single step is purely for aesthetic reasons. The position of the step or steps is really important and is chosen based on your body dimensions along with Dan's extensive database of knowledge. The step needs to allow fast and controlled mounting and dismounting of the bicycle.