Move Over Dandy Horse, Here Comes The Penny-farthing!

We’re not sure why things had especially gay names early on, but the ‘Dandy Horse’ really takes the cake. The Dandy Horse is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the forerunner of the bicycle. While we’re not sure where this illustration is from, we can only assume the people getting murdered by this savage Dandy Horse gang made fun of them or said that the Penny-farthing was going to make their rides obsolete something and are now paying the price. Reign in blood!

Penny-farthing was a very popular type of bicycle that was most used between the time of the introduction of the French mass-produced chain-driven bicycle Boneshaker in the 1860s and the English “safety bicycle” in the 1880s. During that 20-year period, many inventors tried to revolutionize the design and usability of first bicycles, and the result of those efforts were penny-farthing bicycles that featured a very large front wheel that housed a seat and set of pedals, and a smaller rear wheel that was there for stabilization. Because of the design of this bike, it had many advantages and disadvantages over the other bicycles or dandy horse bikes of its time… read more >